MachineQ has launched a number of new active RFID asset tracking tags for indoor positioning, along with a new IoT occupancy monitoring solution. They are an extension of its hybrid Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and LoRaWAN real-time location system (RTLS) combo-solution, launched last year. The solution – effectively five new RFID tags in diminutive form factors – delivers “real-time location, sub-room level accuracy, and long battery life”, the firm said.
Comcast-owned MachineQ, headquartered in Philadelphia, said the low-energy tags – Nano RT, Nano LP, the Dura ET, Dura PT, and Dura AC – offer tracking in a variety of new scenarios, from “low-profile tags for tracking small, hand-held assets to ultra-durable tags designed to withstand harsh environments”. The products are pitched to the life sciences industry, as well as food services and hospitality, said MachineQ; the firm said it has been working with “some of the biggest pharmaceutical brands for their asset tracking needs”.
It briefly outlined some of the form-factor highlights. The new Nano RT, one of the firm’s smallest tags, has a (up to) eight-year battery life and includes a remotely triggered LED for last-metre positioning in high-density environments. The new Nano LP offers a (up to) two-year year battery life and slim form factor, and is geared for “tracking hand-held assets, like tools or pipettes, without interfering with the ergonomics of the equipment”. The new tags work variously in a temperature range from -40ºC to +80ºC.
The tags are affixed to sundry equipment, inventory, and consumables; they transmit positioning, health, and other data to the firm’s 2.4 GHz BLE Monitor device, which sends its on (along with other LoRaWAN-based IoT data) via LoRaWAN to an Ethernet / cellular gateway, where the data is aggregated and transmitted to the cloud. The data is then visualized in MachineQ’s MQinsights software app, which provides additional location context via a 2D floor-plan of the space, as well as historical records, and robust alerting capabilities.
Data can also be integrated into customers’ enterprise applications via native integrations or restful API. MachineQ’s new space utilisation solution (“leverages privacy-centric sensors” and) counts the number of people occupying a room, to help facility managers understand space utilisation and traffic patterns and make better decisions about space allocation and layout, resource distribution, and operational efficiency, the company said.
Steve Corbesero, director of products and solutions at MachineQ, explained: “Combining granular asset location data with an occupancy sensor introduces new information about how a space is utilised. For example, in life sciences, a lab manager affixes asset tags to thousands of pieces of equipment and knows the precise location of each asset at any given time… to automate the manual process of auditing the location of assets.
“By placing additional sensors – like occupancy – near equipment in [a lab], the lab manager can also glean other relevant lab utilisation metrics, such as the dwell time in front of the cabinet to infer asset utilisation as well as the under or over-utilization of [the lab]. These insights empower the lab manager to make better decisions about how the labs are equipped, right-sizing maintenance plans, and informing capital purchases.”
The company’s IoT tracking solution enables enterprises to also add other sensor applications, such as for leak detection, ambient temperature and humidity monitoring, freezer and refrigerator monitoring, and smart restrooms; all of them can be deployed using the same network BLE/LoRaWAN infrastructure. Gaurav Naik, head of engineering at MachineQ, said: “These tags were purpose-built to offer customers flexible options for tracking and monitoring equipment and assets critical to their day-to-day operations.”
