Beacon Asset Location via Floor Segmentation and Signal Strength
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing asset tracking systems fail to accurately determine the location of beacons attached to assets within facilities due to overlapping service areas of nodes, leading to incorrect selection of node locations and thus incorrect asset locations.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising nodes that receive beacon transmissions, a gateway that analyzes node transmissions to identify common beacon identifiers, and generates a beacon location tree to determine the most accurate location by selecting the floor with the most associated nodes and the closest node with the largest signal strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional heuristics are used to select node location for beacon tracking, then the system operation is simple, but the location accuracy deteriorates due to overlapping service areas
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the facility into multiple floors and divides nodes into floor-specific groups. The gateway segments beacon location determination into two stages: first identifying the floor with the most associated nodes, then selecting the closest node on that floor. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by organizing the complex node network into manageable floor-based segments, improving location accuracy without overwhelming system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds a floor dimension to the traditional node-selection approach. Instead of simply selecting the closest node in 2D space, the gateway operates in a 3D conceptual space by first determining the vertical floor dimension and then the horizontal node position on that floor. This dimensional approach resolves the contradiction by providing more precise location determination while maintaining manageable complexity through hierarchical processing.
2Measurement precision
If multiple nodes are used to track a beacon, then the location accuracy improves, but the difficulty of analyzing signals from multiple nodes increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway serves as an intermediary between multiple nodes and the beacon location determination system. It receives signals from multiple nodes, performs the complex analysis of identifying common beacon identifiers and filtering floor-specific nodes, then outputs the determined location. This intermediary approach resolves the contradiction by centralizing the complex signal analysis function, improving location accuracy while managing analysis complexity through a dedicated intermediary component.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway extracts and processes only the relevant subset of node transmissions that contain a common beacon identifier and are associated with the same floor. By extracting this specific subset from the total node transmissions, the system improves location accuracy through focused analysis while reducing the effective complexity of signal analysis by eliminating irrelevant data.
3Measurement precision
If floor-specific node filtering is implemented, then the beacon location accuracy improves, but the processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary organization of nodes by floor association before the actual beacon location determination. Nodes are pre-categorized and stored with their floor identifiers, so when a beacon signal is received, the gateway can quickly filter to the relevant floor without analyzing all nodes from scratch. This preliminary action resolves the contradiction by improving location accuracy through floor-specific filtering while minimizing processing time through pre-organized data structures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances the accuracy of asset location determination by collectively analyzing signals from multiple nodes, reducing errors associated with conventional heuristics and ensuring precise tracking of assets within facilities.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of nodes configured to receive beacon transmissions from a plurality of beacons... each node transmission including a beacon identifier, node identifier, and signal strength
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for tracking asset locations within a facility are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system is provided that includes nodes and a gateway. The nodes may receive beacon transmissions containing beacon identifiers from beacons associated with assets. The nodes may transmit a node transmission including a beacon identifier, a node identifier of the node, and a signal strength of received beacon transmissions. The gateway may receive node transmissions and identify node transmissions that share a common beacon identifier. The gateway may then determine a location of the beacon associated with the common beacon identifier by identifying floors associated with nodes that received a beacon transmission from the beacon. The gateway may also select a beacon floor with the most nodes that received a beacon transmission from the beacon and may select a closest node from among the nodes on the beacon floor with the highest signal strength.