Low-Cost UWB Based Real-Time Locating System: Development, Lab Test, Industrial Implementation and Economic Assessment

Abstract

This paper presents the technical development and subsequent testing of a Real-Time Locating System based on Ultra-Wideband signals, with the aim to appraise its potential implementation in a real industrial case. The system relies on a commercial Radio Indoor Positioning System, called Qorvo MDEK1001, which makes use of UWB RF technology to determine the position of RF-tags placed on an item of interest, which in turn is located in an area covered by specific fixed antennas (anchors). Testing sessions were carried out both in an Italian laboratory and in a real industrial environment, to determine the best configurations according to some selected performance indicators. The results support the adoption of the proposed solution in industrial environments to track assets and work in progress. Moreover, most importantly, the solution developed is cheap in nature: indeed, normally tracking solutions involve a huge investment, quite often not affordable above all by small-, medium- and micro-sized enterprises. The proposed low-cost solution instead, as demonstrated by the economic assessment completing the work, justifies the feasibility of the investment. Hence, results of this paper ultimately constitute a guidance for those practitioners who intend to adopt a similar system in their business.

Low-Cost Real-Time Locating System Solution Development and Implementation in Manufacturing Industry

“…First of all, to avoid redundancies and to streamline the present manuscript, for the technical details of the Qorvo kit (https://store.qorvo.com/datasheets/qorvo/mdek100 1systemusermanual-1.1.pdf; accessed on 15 May 2023), readers are again invited to refer to [1]. The subsections that follow, instead, detail the methodology followed for the three investigated issues, preceded by a general subsection in which the lab preparation is illustrated.…”

“…For completeness and for the sake of clarity, the flowchart depicted in Figure 1 resumes the involved steps. Note that the first two research stages were presented in [1].…”

“…Given the success from the managerial side of the commissioning company of the lowcost Ultra-Wideband (UWB) based indoor Real-Time Locating System (RTLS) developed in [1], this paper presents the evolution of the abovementioned solution and the deepening of its testing and analyses, so as to make it effectively operational in an industrial environment and, why not, marketable.…”

“…For literature regarding RTLSs, the use of the Qorvo MDEK1001 system, and of the UWB for these purposes, readers can refer to [1] since, in the meantime, no other studies…”

“…According to that, once the system was preliminary positively evaluated and validated, the tests moved to the physical warehouse, where the best position and number of the anchors were determined; clearly, the resulting configuration is suitable for that specific case study and for the warehouse of the company under investigation. For the detail of these test campaigns and their results, see, once again, [1].…”