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Newbury Networks Offers Alternative to Cisco Tracking Appliance
According to Newbury, the Newbury Presence platform uses a unique method for determining the location of tagged assets or Wi-Fi devices. To locate tags, some real-time locating systems (RTLSs), such as those from AeroScout and WhereNet, calculate the amount of time necessary for a signal to reach an access point, as well as the angle at which that signal is received, to determine its location. This calculation requires reads from multiple access points. Newbury's software, on the other hand, collects the relative signal strength indicator (RSSI) of each Wi-Fi tag from the access point that receives it, then uses an algorithm to determine the tag or asset's location by considering the fingerprint that the RF signal reveals through its modulation pattern.
In devising its locating software, Newbury found that Wi-Fi tag signals experience interference from large, immobile objects—such as walls, desks or bookcases—by bouncing off them in a predictable way. Therefore, the company built its locating software to consider an RF signal's fingerprint—the unique pattern the signal takes while traveling from its source to the access point within a given room or zone—combine it with the strength of that signal and determine the location of a tag or asset.
This requires that each room or zone be calibrated before the software is deployed, says Maggio, and the unique pattern that signals transmitted in that location can be saved to a database. But it must only be calibrated once, or each time the room undergoes a major renovation impacting the pattern. Interference from human bodies or objects that regularly change position within a room does not impact the pattern enough to significantly throw off the calibration, he adds.
The Wi-Fi-based systems of PanGo, Finnish RTLS provider Ekahau, and AeroScout (which also track the time of signal arrival) use fingerprinting and RSSI, but Newbury says its location engine can pinpoint a beaconing Wi-Fi tag or operating Wi-Fi device to within 9 feet. Other systems, the company claims, provide a precision level of only 30 feet.
The Newbury Location Appliance costs $14,995, while the Presence platform costs $7,995. Both are now available, as is PanGo's PanOS for the Newbury appliance.
In devising its locating software, Newbury found that Wi-Fi tag signals experience interference from large, immobile objects—such as walls, desks or bookcases—by bouncing off them in a predictable way. Therefore, the company built its locating software to consider an RF signal's fingerprint—the unique pattern the signal takes while traveling from its source to the access point within a given room or zone—combine it with the strength of that signal and determine the location of a tag or asset.
This requires that each room or zone be calibrated before the software is deployed, says Maggio, and the unique pattern that signals transmitted in that location can be saved to a database. But it must only be calibrated once, or each time the room undergoes a major renovation impacting the pattern. Interference from human bodies or objects that regularly change position within a room does not impact the pattern enough to significantly throw off the calibration, he adds.
The Newbury Location Appliance costs $14,995, while the Presence platform costs $7,995. Both are now available, as is PanGo's PanOS for the Newbury appliance.
