May 16, 2018Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology company Kontakt.io has teamed up with wireless networking provider Ruckus Networks to offer a BLE- and Wi-Fi-based solution for health-care, supply-chain and public-venue deployments. The partnership, the companies say, will enable users to leverage their Ruckus Wi-Fi network to also capture and manage beacon transmissions, thereby broadening the ability for Internet of Things (IoT) deployments.
Kontakt.io, based in Krakow, Poland, makes BLE-based solutions for wayfinding, as well as asset tracking, location-based content, and staff and visitor management (see Howler Targets a Variety of Business Sectors for Its Beacon-Based Services, At PGA Tournaments, Bluetooth Beacons are Par for the Course and Historic Library Gets a Beacon Makeover). Kontakt.io has more than two million devices shipped to customers, it reports, involving hundreds of deployments.
Arris acquired Ruckus Wireless in 2017. The company, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., provides networking equipment and services, including IoT solutions, Wi-Fi hotspots and calling. The firm invented a patented wireless voice, video and data technology, including adaptive antenna arrays that extend signal range, increase client data rates and avoid interference via the 802.11 Wi-Fi standard.
With the new partnership, Ruckus will offer beacon-enabled versions of its Wi-Fi access pointssion. By providing BLE functionality in Wi-Fi access points, says Philipp von Gilsa, Kontakt.io's president, the company can make beacon network deployments much easier and more cost-effective to deploy.
Kontakt.io plans to enable IoT deployments that could be used in every sector, the firm reports. "Our number-one goal is integration into every existing infrastructure out there," von Gilsa says. That means BLE, Wi-Fi and RFID technologies could be made ubiquitous in such devices as Wi-Fi access points that previously provided only a single source of communication: Wi-Fi.
According to von Gilsa, the Ruckus access points with BLE functionality will enable companies to forward mobile-based customer experience content to cell phone users. What's more, the system will offer navigation and wayfinding, people or asset tracking, and condition monitoring.
Alternatively, with beacon devices attached to badges, or on assets, data could be collected by the BLE module in the Ruckus access point, and then be forwarded to a back-end server via a Wi-Fi connection.
To enable BLE solutions using Ruckus access points, a user would need to acquire an application programming interface (API) from Kontakt.io, and then access a cloud-based dashboard on which he or she could view and manage location data. The system is now being piloted by companies in North America and Europe, in three industries thus far.
In the hospitality industry, for instance, the Ruckus access points with built-in Kontakt.io beacons are being tested to allow companies to manage safety- and location-based data. Employees are provided with a Kontakt.io beacon built into their ID badge, which also comes equipped with a panic button. The beacon receiver built into the Ruckus Wi-Fi nodes at the facility can communicate with those beacons, thereby enabling management to know the locations of individuals as they go about their work.
In the event of an emergency (an unruly guest, for example) or an injury, a worker can simply press the beacon badge's button. Managers could then view the individual's location and identity and report to that location with emergency services.
Businesses will be testing the technology within schools. In such a scenario, the same Kontakt-io beacon badge is provided to faculty members and school employees. If an employee determines that he or she requires help, such as in the case of a fight, that person can simply press the button.
Finally, the system will be tested to track children in public places. For instance, at an organized event containing large numbers of people, the beacon badges can be provided to parents, to be worn by their children, thereby ensuring that the kids can always be located. By tracking their location with the technology, organizers can provide parents with access to their children's location in real time, using the Ruckus BLE-enabled access points.
The partnership between the two companies, von Gilsa says, "is going to be a major game-changer," since it makes beacon technology deployment easier than with traditional BLE-based systems. The BLE technology could also be used to provide zonal access, so that if an individual were to enter an area in which he or she was not permitted—such as on a construction site where that person lacks sufficient training for the activities taking place there—an alert could be transmitted to the appropriate personnel.
While Ruckus is building the BLE functionality into its new Wi-Fi access points, the company reports, existing access points can be retrofitted to enable BLE transmission via BLE dongles provided by Ruckus.
