German communications major Siemens has developed a real-time location system called Moby R, which can locate objects in real time at a range of up to 300 meters to within three meters of their actual position. The system is already being used at the BMW plant in Dingolfing, Germany, where 1,300 cars roll off the assembly line every day. With Moby R, plant employees at Dingolfing can monitor the location of each one of those vehicles at all times on the intranet. Every movement one of these cars makes after leaving the assembly hall is automatically monitored and the current parking location recorded. If the car is called up for finishing, an employee can query its location over the intranet in real time using a Web browser.
The cars are equipped with pocket-sized transmitters that send out distinctive signals at preset intervals of between five seconds and one hour. Those signals are then received by four antennas and forwarded to a computer, which uses the time-shifted signal data to calculate the locations of the vehicles. The computer also makes vehicle information – including type, equipment and special options – available online.
Siemens is already negotiating to deliver the real-time location system to logistics, chemical and aviation companies. Applications for Moby R could, for example, include tracking freight containers in international port facilities. Even when simultaneously monitoring thousands of objects, the system keeps the overview. In warehouses, the system could also warn workers not to store chemical containers in close proximity to one another if safe distance must keep the contents separated. In such instances, Moby R might even deny access to inappropriate storage areas.
The new Moby R Real Time Location System (RTLS) is based on transmitters and antennas, and is more accurate and more cost-effective than satellite-assisted systems. It locates virtually any object equipped with a transmitter, and can be used in all facets of automated, industrial production as well as in logistics and distribution, for example at airports, in automobile production, or for access control to company grounds and multi-storey car parks. The Moby R identification system consists of triggers, transmitters, antennas and servers as well as applications software. The transmitter is attached directly to the object, and actively transmits its own unique identification number.
This number is received by the antennas, which are connected to a central computer such as a PC, which is used to evaluate the data, via a local area network (LAN). The spatial position of the object is determined within a distance of less than three meters. The radio system is not easily susceptible to disturbances such as those caused by Bluetooth or GSM.
Source:
SUDHIR CHOWDHARY
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com
