Geofencing: Beacon-enabled RTLS by Bluvision
Geofencing for indoor asset location that guarantees an RTLS solution for all business types. Tenenga offers companies a state of the art system: Bluvision from the HID GLOBAL group, which market analyst Abi Research places among the top 24 best vendors of BLE beacon solutions.
The pluses of geofencing and indoor geolocation services
In detail, Bluvision architecture is a system based on the concept of geofencing, which involves the creation of a virtual boundary (geo-fence) around a given device, utilising RF technology.
In general, geofencing is a solution developed around access management systems, but the benefit of this technology is that the virtual boundary is active even when the device is moving, thus making it possible to know the position of a mobile device at any time and, simultaneously, its proximity to specific pre-defined touch points. If a touch point supplied by the provider penetrates the geo-fence, e.g. ingress or egress of a given device in a store, museum, or service station, a programmed communication can be triggered.
This action is strategic for the front-end and back-end: on one side it triggers an e-mail or SMS alert to the device user, while on the other it triggers an alert to the operator who, having set up the geo-fence, can perform a monitoring and mapping action to generate detailed metrics that are instrumental in the drive to improve the quality of services supplied. There are various applications linked to geofencing technology: from surveillance of vehicles, livestock, children, equipment, pallets and products in a warehouse, to marketing initiatives associated with the transmission of any type of advertising or promotional message to users entering or leaving a store or supermarket.
RTLS and Proximity Location Services (PLS)
In the case of Bluvision, the system is composed of active tags called beacons, and BluFi Gateway hot spots that create the control infrastructure. These devices make it possible to provide two macro solution types:
- RTLS (Real Time Location System)
- PLS (Proximity Location System)
Notably, the PLS solution is suitable for situations in which it is not necessary to track the position of an asset at all times, but rather to know whether an object/person is in a specific location or not. In this case, instead of using an RTLS system, Bluvision recommends the use of a PLS configuration that is effectively a basic version of RTLS that allows users to set up alerts in real time when a specific asset (equipment or person) enters or exits a defined area or is available in the proximity of a specific location. The advantage of the PLS solution lies in its simplicity and speed of installation. There’s no need for hard-wired infrastructure and, unlike the RTLS system, it does not require calibration. The BluFi gateway, which also functions as a Bluetooth scanner, is located at the entrance to the area to be monitored. When a beacon enters or exits the area of coverage, the BluFi Gateway sends this information to the Bluvision software system (Bluzone). Organisations can use Bluzone to create user-defined rules to alert supervisors that an asset/person has entered or exited the controlled area. BluFi gateways can also be positioned in a specific area using criteria created to transmit alerts when an asset enters into close proximity with the gateway.
Bluvision beacons are available in various configurations, from the simplest, i.e. an active tag that transmits its identification number, to a version equipped with temperature and ambient light sensors and a 3-axis accelerometer, making it possible to meet all customer requirements for applications of this type.
