Intrinsically safe and explosion proof system enables tracking of assets and people
Extronics partners with AeroScout to create WiFi Real Time Location System for Extreme EnvironmentsCongleton, UK, 9th April 2008: Extronics, a leading supplier and manufacturer of intrinsically safe and explosion proof electrical and electronic equipment, has launched a WiFi Real Time Location System (RTLS). The RTLS will enable companies in the process industries to remotely count and locate personnel and assets within hazardous environments and greatly improve staff safety, product security and location of assets.
Applications
for the system are diverse but in the process industries they
include automatic mustering of people to improve safety in
emergency situations, counting of people into life boats for
evacuating Oil & Gas platforms, tracking of containers or tools
in yards and storage facilities and locating valuable assets in a
plant to name a few.
John Hartley, Technical Director of Extronics, commented: "We have developed our RTLS through close relationships with some of the World's leading experts in RFID and WiFi technology and applications. By adapting their existing cutting edge products and tapping into the knowledge of our partners, we know that the end solution we are offering for use in hazardous environments will be the best on the market. In addition, it will also be future proofed as the technology evolves and our customers find new ways of using these tools that have not previously been available to them."
Powered by the market leader in enterprise visibility, AeroScout, Extronics' RTLS is based on an intrinsically safe tag, the iTAG100, which can be tracked on an 802.11 WiFi network down to sub-5 metre location accuracy in specific environments. The iTAG100 has a built in 125KHz low frequency receiver that causes the tag to send a message to the system when it is in the range of the 125KHz field generated by Extronics' iCITE100 Exciter. The field of the Exciter is adjustable from 0.5 metres to 6.5 metres, meaning it can be set to cover choke points, such as a door to a complete gate or site entrance. By using two Exciters together the direction can be determined, allowing users to count people and assets into and out of monitored areas.
Transmissions from the iTAG100 can be received by all the leading WLAN vendors' access points, including Extronics' iWAP range, and are transmitted to the AeroScout location engine running on a server. In applications with only access points, the location is calculated by measurement of the RSSI (Receive Signal Strength Indication) signal. In large open spaces the Extronics iWAP Location Receiver uses TDOA (Time Difference Of Arrival) techniques, making the AeroScout powered system the only WiFi based RTLS using both techniques.
The iTAG100 has additional feature options such as a call button for updating location and sending emergency call messages to signal for help or another action, a temperature sensor to feedback the location temperature to the system and even a motion detector that is used to detect if an asset is moving or not.
To complete the system AeroScout's MobileView software brings all the location data together. As the industry's most advanced end-user application for Unified Asset Visibility solutions, MobileView adds a critical layer of business logic automation to the location and status data. MobileView allows Extronics to provide its customers with the ability to turn the asset visibility information received from the various data sources into real business solutions including, sophisticated mapping, rules-based alerting and reporting.
For more information about Extronics, please visit: www.extronics.com
Marketing Contact
Alison Newcombe
alisonn@extronics.com
+ 44 (0)1260 292651
Sales contact
Paul Lazor
paul@extronics.com
+ 44 (0)1260 292651
