Low-Cost UWB Based Real-Time Locating System: Development, Lab Test, Industrial Implementation and Economic Assessment

Low-Cost UWB Based Real-Time Locating System: Development, Lab Test, Industrial Implementation and Economic Assessment

This paper presents the technical development and subsequent testing of a Real-Time Locating System based on Ultra-Wideband signals, with the aim to appraise its potential implementation in a real industrial case. The system relies on a commercial Radio Indoor Positioning System, called Qorvo MDEK10...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2023-01, Vol.23 (3), p.1124
Main Authors: Volpi, Andrea, Tebaldi, Letizia, Matrella, Guido, Montanari, Roberto, Bottani, Eleonora
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Accuracy
assets tracking
Efficiency
Factories
Flexibility
Global positioning systems
GPS
Laboratories
Localization
Low cost
Manufacturing
Productivity
Radio broadcasting
Radio frequency identification
Real time
Real-Time Locating System
sensor network
Ultra-Wideband
Ultrawideband
warehouse management
Wireless communications
Wireless networks
Workflow
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Summary:This paper presents the technical development and subsequent testing of a Real-Time Locating System based on Ultra-Wideband signals, with the aim to appraise its potential implementation in a real industrial case. The system relies on a commercial Radio Indoor Positioning System, called Qorvo MDEK1001, which makes use of UWB RF technology to determine the position of RF-tags placed on an item of interest, which in turn is located in an area covered by specific fixed antennas (anchors). Testing sessions were carried out both in an Italian laboratory and in a real industrial environment, to determine the best configurations according to some selected performance indicators. The results support the adoption of the proposed solution in industrial environments to track assets and work in progress. Moreover, most importantly, the solution developed is cheap in nature: indeed, normally tracking solutions involve a huge investment, quite often not affordable above all by small-, medium- and micro-sized enterprises. The proposed low-cost solution instead, as demonstrated by the economic assessment completing the work, justifies the feasibility of the investment. Hence, results of this paper ultimately constitute a guidance for those practitioners who intend to adopt a similar system in their business.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220