Some companies that might benefit from an active RFID or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology deployment cannot afford the cost of hiring developers or programmers to build them a solution, or the expense of acquiring the necessary tags, readers and gateway hardware. The founders of semiconductor company InPlay say they have developed a solution in the form of their NanoBeacon (IN100) system-on-chip (SoC) for BLE that is intended to be easy to configure and low-cost, and to require a low amount of energy.
According to InPlay, the SoC is expected to enable the development of solutions with which large numbers of wireless devices could track conditions or location information at a relatively low cost. The SoC could cost as little as 20 cents each when ordered in large volumes, which will keep the cost of the active BLE beacons lower than that of existing technologies, says Jason Wu, InPlay’s cofounder and CEO.
Jason Wu
The new SoC offers several benefits over traditional BLE systems, Wu reports. Not only are the tags less expensive, but the NanoBeacon supports the latest Bluetooth 5-coded physical layer (PHY), which extends the communication range by four times that of predecessor BLE systems. That latest Bluetooth system enables the technology to work with fewer Bluetooth readers than traditional systems, he explains.
InPlay was founded in 2016 to further the adoption of wireless technology solutions. The company investigated other communication protocols, such as synchronized multi-node ultra-low latency (SMULL), to provide synchronized data-packet transmission for gaming and other applications. The company has recently been investigating an affordable solution that would provide real-time location functionality to a variety of applications.
The company sought to enable a solution with low-cost tags, similar to the price of passive RFID tags, but without the high cost of a reader infrastructure. “People want real-time information,” Wu says. “They have challenges that are hard to be solved with a passive RFID system.” The solution, he adds, is the Nanobeacon technology. To employ the system, users would configure a predefined ID number, as well as parameters to be linked to that ID, into the IN100’s One Time Programming (OTP) memory. The SoC can then be connected to an analog or digital sensor and be configured to transmit alerts or sensor data information, says Russell Mohn, InPlay’s cofounder and RF director.
The SoC is slated to be released next month. In the meantime, InPlay is in conversations with several businesses that are setting up Bluetooth beacon deployments. For instance, a company that makes smart-grid solutions for utility companies can use the technology to build and manage a wireless temperature-monitoring solution to view temperature conditions in the field. The system could include a digital temperature sensor connected to the SoC, and the unit could issue alerts indicating equipment condition and identity to a server. In such an application, the solution provider or user would simply need to input the threshold temperatures.
The NanoBeacon SoC
To keep the cost low, Wu explains, some other RTLS features have been eliminated. For instance, the system allows only an initial configuration for the chip. If a user wanted to update that configuration, such as by changing acceptable temperature thresholds, he or she would need to acquire an additional microcontroller. In that way, the SoC can be used either in standalone or companion mode. Both versions are expected to be made available in July.
Another use case is the management of the cold supply chain, Mohn says. For example, vaccines, pharmaceuticals or fresh food could be monitored while moving from a factory or field to consumers. A tag would be placed in a carton, or be attached to a product, and its sensors would collect temperature data or other conditions-based information, then forward that data at preset intervals to a smartphone or other 3G or 4G device so that it could be accessed on a server or with an app.
Logistics data could also be collected in blockchains, so that it could be shared with supply chain stakeholders or consumers. Another use case is managing implants or other medical devices, Mohn says. For instance, some medical device companies want visibility into inventory at their hospital customer sites, in order to ensure that product is available while a surgical procedure is under way. Rather than a human sales representative periodically being sent to each site to count inventory, the system could capture data regarding what is onsite and trigger a replenishment order if the numbers drop below an expected minimum.
In addition, the SoC could be linked to a switch built into the tag, which could identify when the product to which it is attached is opened. It would then transmit data via BLE through a cellular device that serves as a gateway to the server. The beacon devices could also be employed in homes to track data such as flood monitoring. In that way, for example, a consumer or commercial device could identify a leak in a basement.
Russell Mohn
The technology supports the latest Bluetooth 5 advertising extensions, Wu says, enabling developers to leverage the system for advertisement messaging. With the extension, the SoC provides 255 bytes of message capacity and 40 channels of advertising capability. This is a boost from the 31 bytes of message capacity and three-channel advertising offered with the legacy BLE standard. “This feature will enable large amounts of data broadcasting capability,” he states, “and improve utilization of the whole 80 MHz of spectrum allocated for Bluetooth beacon applications.”
The device employs from 1.1 to 3.6 volts in order to conserve battery life for as long as possible. Because the system employs low amounts of power, a small battery in the tag could be expected to last for five to 10 years. The technology is designed so that the tag will enter sleep mode, for instance, if a temperature threshold is exceeded. Users could preprogram the frequency of transmissions, such as once daily, or have the system remain in sleep mode until an exception occurs.
“[The customers] want the simplest solution,” Wu says. “They don’t want the software efforts and the headache associated with that.” The system would use traditional triangulation through returned signal strength (RSSI) to locate a tag, typically within a range of 3 to 5 meters (9.8 to 16.4 feet).
Prior to launching InPlay, Mohn and Wu had worked together at Newport Media, which has since been acquired by Atmel (which was then acquired by Microchip). “I have always been thinking about what would be a solution for the market two or three years from now,” Wu says. “I talked to customers and they all complained about the cost of active RTLS solutions.” Therefore, he adds, “I really want to enable this market.” Already, he reports, some systems integrators are seeking or building solutions that integrate active RFID with lower-cost BLE to create combined systems, so as to reduce costs. Based on 100,000-unit orders, the SoC will be priced at 20 cents apiece, he says, while smaller volumes would cost up to about 50 cents each.
InPlay has a third-party manufacturer building the technology to its specifications. In the future, the company also intends to build in security to require authentication to capture data from the tag. The firm has been testing the temperature-triggering functionality in the lab on the first generation of the solution, and it intends to demonstrate the technology with the second generation in July, at which time companies will be able to begin piloting the solution as well.