Wireless Asset Tracking via Segmented Tape Nodes
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Solution Overview
Problem
In environments with numerous assets, managing and optimizing asset usage across multiple buildings, wards, or areas is challenging, often resulting in assets becoming lost or difficult to locate, which negatively impacts productivity and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A wireless sensing system that uses adhesive tape platforms with embedded wireless transducing components to identify, locate, and filter assets. The system includes white tape nodes associated with assets and gateway/green tape nodes associated with locations, enabling users to request and receive current information about asset locations through user devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional asset management methods are used in environments with numerous assets, then asset tracking becomes difficult and time-consuming, but implementing a wireless sensing system increases system complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The wireless sensing system is divided into multiple types of nodes (white tape nodes for assets, gateway/green tape nodes for locations, blue tape nodes for intermediate communication) that can be deployed independently throughout the environment. Each node type performs specific functions, allowing the system to scale and manage complexity through modular segmentation of tracking responsibilities.
2Loss of information
If wireless sensing nodes are deployed throughout the environment, then real-time asset location information is obtained, but the cost and complexity of the system increase
Solution Approach 1:
Gateway nodes and blue tape nodes serve as intermediaries between white tape nodes (attached to assets) and the central server. These intermediary nodes relay communication and location data, reducing the direct communication burden on the central system while maintaining real-time information availability about asset locations throughout the environment.
3Reliability
If comprehensive asset tracking is implemented across multiple buildings and wards, then asset visibility is improved, but the time and resources required for system deployment increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-deploying gateway nodes and blue tape nodes throughout the environment before asset tracking is fully implemented. These pre-positioned nodes create an ready-made communication infrastructure that enables rapid deployment of white tape nodes on assets, reducing overall deployment time while maintaining reliable location tracking across multiple buildings and wards.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes receiving, by a node of a wireless sensing system from a user device, a request for information describing an asset. The node establishes communication connections with a set of tape nodes of the wireless sensing system, each tape node of the set of tape nodes being associated with a respective asset of the wireless sensing system. The node receives, via the communication connections, information describing the respective assets of the wireless sensing system. The node then filters the information describing the respective assets of the wireless sensing system and transmits the filtered information to the user device for display.