RFID Journal Staff asked 8 years ago I have been assigned a real-time location system project involving RFID technology. Which antennas and readers would you recommend I use? My app should monitor people's movements in a hall and create a heat map to visualize them.
—Emincan
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Emincan,
Impinj showed off a heat map in its booth at RFID Journal LIVE! 2014 using the company's xArray reader system. The xArray is mounted overhead and provides locations of specific tags within its read zone. Impinj's software compiles the tag reads into a heat map. If there are a lot of people within a particular area, the map shows a red blotch. Areas with moderate traffic appear in yellow, while lighter-traffic areas are green. You can contact an Impinj partner to buy an xArray reader and the software required to create the heat map.
You can also accomplish the same thing using an active RFID-based real-time location system (RTLS). With an RTLS, the tag sends out a signal every few seconds. Readers around the area pick up the signal and triangulate on it to pinpoint that tag's location. RTLS solutions can utilize Wi-Fi access points to determine a tagged item's location. Ekahau offers a Wi-Fi-based RTLS with a heat-map feature.
—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal
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