As we progress, we are no longer restricted to getting lost in the outdoors. Indoor wayfinding or asset localization has also become a major challenge. Shopping malls, airports and warehouses are such confined areas where we often find ourselves stuck at some point in time, not being able to find our desired shop or counter, etc. GPS takes a back seat as its signals are easily affected by walls and its accuracy is not suitable for confined regions. That’s where Indoor Positioning comes to the rescue.
Major Industries where Indoor Positioning is used are –
Manufacturing – The tracking of items is critical in a busy manufacturing unit where real-time information of critical items can save a lot of time and money. Some of the challenges in a manufacturing unit that can be curbed by using an RTLS are – monitoring staff and visitors’ activity in a large area where keeping a manual track is next to impossible, managing critical equipment, creating restricted zones using geofencing, and managing safety and security inside the unit.
Healthcare – Healthcare is another critical industry that deals with critical equipment alongside the challenge of improving facilities for patients and staff. In a hospital, it becomes imperative to keep track of the equipment as well as staff locations in order to be prepared in the event of an emergency.
Retail – Shopping malls are yet another place where tracking is needed. When it comes to retail, the application of indoor positioning is quite different. Some of the retail use-cases include – in-aisle marketing, staff Location awareness, and indoor navigation for store finding.
Warehousing & Logistics – A number of automation tasks need the use of tracking. In coordination with some sensors, RTLS can help in obstacle detection, wayfinding, and collision avoidance. The challenges of a warehouse or a logistics unit has certain similarities to a manufacturing unit. Thus, geofencing and process automation find use here too.
PathPartner offers a robust and precise RTLS reference solution that can easily be adapted to meet the requirements of all of the above industries, and works for both Indoor and Outdoor Positioning. Our RTLS reference solution uses Decawave’s DW1000 chipset, which is based on Ultra-Wideband technology.
This infographic shares key statistics and data related to indoor positioning and explores some of the technologies used in Indoor Positioning Systems.
