The goal of the project is to develop an indoor tracking system for objects and people in logistics processes. Unlike systems currently available on the market, the system to be developed should require no infrastructure—or only a minimal amount—i.e., no fixed hardware installations, and should be compatible with current smartphone technology. On the hardware side, it will consist of newly developed mobile tags attached to the objects to be tracked (e.g., pallets, reusable containers) and a very small number of stationary gateways that connect to the (local) network, although smartphones can also serve as gateways.
The tags are designed to form a mesh network, perform proximity and signal strength (RSSI) measurements among themselves, and forward this data to the gateways. On the software side, a mesh networking protocol will be developed and implemented to enable the data to be forwarded over the network as energy-efficiently as possible.
Furthermore, a cooperative localization algorithm will be developed to determine the positions of all tags based on the measured values. By developing the tags using Bluetooth Smart (BTsmart), the goal is to achieve long battery life, a long transmission range, and compatibility with current smartphone technology. Unlike other wireless technologies, such as Wi-Fi or UWB, BTsmart enables the use of wireless nodes with low-capacity batteries that have a long operating life. To extend this to several years, energy harvesting will also be employed.
In summary, the project’s key innovations lie in the following points:
- Development of a cooperative real-time localization algorithm that enables the tracking of logistics objects within the network based on proximity and RSSI measurements between the tags.
- Development of sensor nodes (tags) to be implemented using the latest generation of BTsmart chips in combination with energy-harvesting functionality to meet the extremely high requirements regarding minimal power consumption and long transmission range.
- Development of a mesh networking method and an intelligent energy-saving concept for routing within the mesh network.
Project Partner
Funding
Funding Code
ZF4038204ED6