Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is among a handful of European manufacturers and logistics companies that are testing a new radio frequency identification solution that offers the benefits of active real-time location system (RTLS) RFID technology without the cost of an active system or the need for batteries. French startup Uwinloc has developed the system to provide 2D or 3D location within about 12 inches of granularity, using low-cost passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags, and its beacon readers, as well as a hosted or dedicated server with software managing the collected read data.
Uwinloc, an indoor location system company, was founded one year ago to solve a problem at production plants and warehouses that was not being properly addressed by existing RFID systems. The company’s founders, CEO Eric Cariou and CTO Jan Mennekens, both have backgrounds in technology and innovation dating back several decades. They launched the firm to develop a system that would help industrial, manufacturing and logistics companies track their tools, equipment, raw materials, supplies and finished goods.
Current automated locating solutions are available in active RTLS varieties requiring battery-powered tags, as well as passive systems that can detect tag location only within zones or as the tags move through portals. In the latter case, Cariou says, passive systems simply do not provide businesses with location information specific enough to identify where a tool, supply or finished part is located within a facility. Only the last seen data, specific to the RFID tag most recently interrogated, is available.
With most active RTLS solutions, the tags must be battery-powered, making them expensive and bulky, as well as requiring maintenance since batteries must be replaced. That is not affordable or feasible for most manufacturers or warehouses, Cariou says, if they want to track thousands or even millions of tagged items within their facility.
Uwinloc technology operates differently, Cariou says, and the company has four patents on its system. “Our solution is the first to track hundreds of millions of tags in harsh environments with metal,” he states.
The tags are energized by beacons that transmit via a UHF RF signal to all tags within an area of 30 to 50 meters (98 to 164 feet). They transmit only energy, not their own unique identifiers or interrogation message, to the tags. The tags themselves, designed by Uwinloc and built by third-party manufacturers, include chips from “leading IC manufacturers,” Cariou reports, though he declines to name those companies. The tags are able to harvest energy from beacons, then simply transmit a unique ID number when energized, without responding specifically to an interrogation. The beacons operate with considerably less power than that required by traditional passive RFID readers, he says, and can operate in the presence of metal. “The nature of the signal sent by passive UHF is less reliable” around metal, he notes, because reflections cause multi-path radio signals.
In the case of the Uwinloc system, the beacons simply emit energy, receive RF transmissions from the tags and forward that data back to a server via a Wi-Fi connection, or using the transmission technology of the customer’s choice. The beacons themselves are powered by being plugged into an outlet. The data is received by either a server on the customer’s own site, or by a cloud-based server in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. In either scenario, Uwinloc software triangulates the beacons to identify the tags’ locations, and then provides a dashboard on which real-time location data can be displayed, along with reports and analytics as required by the customer. According to Uwinloc, the low power required by readers, as well as the lack of reflection of tag transmissions, enables the long read range.
There are two pilot use cases that have been under way by Airbus and other unnamed companies.
For one pilot, the technology is being utilized to track the locations of tools used in manufacturing. An adhesive Uwinloc tag is attached to each tool—the tags operate well when attached to metal, Cariou explains—and beacons around the facility monitor the tags’ UHF transmissions. (The beacons can be installed in such a way that users can track location in either 3D or 2D, depending on their needs.) Airbus and other companies use the software not only to identify where tools are located as they move around a plant, but also to analyze the length of time that the items remain at specific locations, which indicates that they are in use. The system monitors that time in use, and managers can thus be alerted if specific tools will need to be recalibrated.
If the companies use the SaaS version of the system, they can also acquire an Android- or iOS-based app. Users can then walk around the facility viewing a map that displays icons for the tools they seek, so that they can collect those tools and move them to the proper station for calibration.
The technology is also being used to manage spare parts and finished product. In this case, the Uwinloc tags are attached to supplies, as well as to products produced at the facility. Beacons in the warehouse area can receive tag transmissions, identify the tags’ locations within the warehouse and provide that information to company personnel. By using the technology in this way, Cariou explains, the firm can view not only where items are in real time, but when a specific space is under- or over-utilized. They can also use the data to optimize picking plans, so that employees, collecting either parts for assembly or finished products to fill orders, can use a picking list that directs them efficiently through the warehouse. This solution saves them the time that otherwise would be spent inefficiently moving back and forth around the facility.
For the tool-management use case, Cariou says, the technology saves the user the cost of replacing tools when they seem to be missing but actually are not, as well as labor costs related to searching for misplaced tools. It also improves the calibration-tracking system, so that tools are not calibrated on a simple time-schedule, even if they haven’t been used and thus do not require calibration. In terms of parts and product management at warehouses, the technology also reduces the labor cost of workers spending excessive time in the picking process.
The flexible tags measure 4 millimeters (0.16 inch) in thickness and 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) in length and width. The beacons are about half the size of a MacBook, but slightly thicker, the company reports. The software includes an application programming interface (API) so that users or installers can integrate the RFID location-based technology with their own enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
Airbus’ BizLab selected Uwinloc last year for a six-month mentoring and acceleration program. The company is now working with systems integrators that will sell and install the system to potential users in Europe and North America. Approximately 10 million tags have been preordered to date, and the solution is expected to be made commercially available during the third quarter of 2017.