Inventory Locating with Quuppa: The Design and Development of a Real-Time Process Monitoring Web Application Solution

Viasat, Inc. requires precise inventory tracking at their production facility in San Diego, CA. Viasat has installed the Quuppa indoor real-time locating system (RTLS), which it uses to track the real-time position of high-value work-in-process items. In its current state, the system only displays in-the-moment location information, with no available functionality for storing historical data for review, analysis, or visualization. In addition, the data displayed is noisy and prone to significant random error. This paper provides an overview of RTLS methods and technologies, assesses alternative solutions to Viasat’s issue, demonstrates our RTLS integrated web app solution, analyzes its impact, and offers recommendations for future development

Integration and Prototyping of a Pulsed RF Oscillator with an UWB Antenna for Low-Cost, Low-Power RTLS Applications

The goal of this paper is to present a compact low-cost and low-power prototype of a pulsed UltraWide Band (UWB) oscillator and an UWB elliptical dipole antenna integrated on the same Radio Frequency (RF) Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and its digital control board for Real Time Locating System (RTLS) applications. The design is compatible with IEEE 802.15.4 high rate pulse repetition UWB standard being able to work between 6 GHz and 8.5 GHz with 500 MHz bandwidth and with a pulse duration of 2 ns. The UWB system has been designed using the CST Microwave Studio transient Electro-Magnetic (EM) circuit co-simulation method. This method integrates the functional circuit simulation together with the full wave (EM) simulation of the PCB’s 3D model allowing fast parameter tuning. The PCB has been manufactured and the entire system has been assembled and measured. Simulated and measured results are in excellent agreement with respect to the radiation performances as well as the power consumption. A compact, very low-power and low-cost system has been designed and validated

Externally Powering Wireless Real-Time Locating System Tags

This publication describes techniques and apparatuses relating to powering wireless real‑time locating system tags (e.g., RTLS tags) through an external power source (e.g., an additional DC battery, connection to an AC power source). The external power source may be in addition to power supplied by the internal battery of the RTLS tag or in substitution of internal battery power. The techniques and apparatuses may include accessories utilized to externally power an RTLS tag through an external power source. One example accessory is utilized with a RTLS tag that includes a housing that can be opened by a consumer to replace the battery (e.g., by removal of a battery cover panel). In this example, the accessory is a replacement battery cover panel for the RTLS tag. By providing additional power to the RTLS tag, additional capabilities and use cases are possible. For example, use cases that benefit from lower latency and higher accuracy Angle of Arrival measurements

Green calcium catalyst for biodiesel production: a review

Biodiesel is one of the best choices for fuel alternatives. This is mainly due to its lower production value as it can easily be procured from cheap natural sources. It also has low emission of pollutant. However, some issues in regard to the production of biodiesel is that most production processes use homogeneous catalyst which is irretrievable and has expensive separation procedures. There is a method conducted to negates the outcomes stated above such as transesterification in supercritical conditions. But this method of transesterification also has its downside, high temperature and pressure processes indirectly will lead to higher cost and higher energy wastage. Therefore, presently, using heterogeneous catalyst are the way to go, especially catalyst derived from green resources. These types of catalyst are being extensively researched on due to its versatility, wide range of resources and promising results. Thus, this paper illustrates the compressive studies of biodiesel synthesis and assesses the latest achievement involved in heterogeneous catalyst derived from waste specifically waste from animal sources. Experimental data from great number of papers are reviewed thoroughly to provide an easier framework in producing biodiesel. Most importantly this review aims to diminish problems associated with heterogeneous catalyst while helping the industry to sustain the environment while still meeting energy demands

Application of Machine Learning Identification and Classification of Muturu and Keteku Cattle Species for a Smart Agricultural Practice in Developing Countries such as Nigeria

Smart technologies have drastically reshaped the traditional methods of practicing agriculture as witnessed in husbandry. In this paper, a novel application of machine learning identification and classification of Muturu and Keteku cattle species in Nigeria was proposed as the mainstream model that enables the precision and intelligence perception of animal husbandry for a smart agricultural practice using enhanced mask region-based convolutional neural networks (mask R-CNN). A performance accuracy of 0.92 mAP (mean Average Precision) was achieved by the enhanced mask R-CNN model, making it on a par with the existing models

Simulation of undular bores evolution with damping

Propagation of undular bores with damping is considered in the framework of perturbed extended Korteweg-de Vries (peKdV) equation. Two types of damping terms for the peKdV equation, namely linear and Chezy frictional terms, which describe the turbulent boundary layers in the fluid flow are considered. Solving the peKdV equation numerically using the method of lines shows that under the influence of damping, the lead-ing solitary wave of the undular bores will split from the nonlinear wavetrain, propagates and behaves like an isolated solitary wave. The amplitude of the leading wave will remain the same for some times before it starts to decay again at a larger time. In general the amplitude of the leading wave and the mean level across the undular bore decreases due to the effect of damping

Antena de alta eficiencia para localización en entornos hospitalarios

[EN] In this paper, an omni-directional antenna solution is presented to improve the accuracy of indoor location systems, particularly MYSPHERA Bluetooth Real-Time Locating System (RTLS). Emitting antennas with an irregular radiation pattern are not suitable for existing localization techniques due to received signal strength variation in the locators. The approach to an isotropic radiation pattern in the emitting device is what is achieved with presented design using two time-switched antennas with opposing radiation patterns. This solution allows to receive a uniform signal in the locators and increases precision for any technique, frequency or technology used. For MYSPHERA this means more reliability, allowing better processes optimization and increasing efficiency in hospitals.Casanova-Murillo, M.; Cabedo Fabres, M.; Hernández-Cuartero, JF.; Montón-Sánchez, E. (2021). Antena de alta eficiencia para localización en entornos hospitalarios. Íñigo Cuiñas Gómez. 1-3. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/1910651

Strength, water absorption and thermal comfort of mortar bricks containing crushed ceramic waste

This present study investigated the crushed ceramic waste utilisation as sand replacement in solid mortar bricks. The percentage of crushed ceramic waste used were 0% (CW0), 10% (CW10), 20% (CW20) and 30% (CW30) from the total weight of sand. The dimension prescribed of mortar bricks are 215 mm x 102.5 mm x 65 mm as followed accordance to MS 2281:2010 and BS EN 771-1:2011+A1:2015. Four (4) tests were conducted on mortar bricks namely crushing strength, water absorption, compressive strength of masonry units and thermal comfort. The incorporation of ceramic waste in all designated mortar bricks showed the increment of crushing strength between 23% and 46% at 28 days of curing and decrement water absorption between 34% and 44% was recorded corresponding to control mortar bricks. The prism test of masonry units consists of mortar bricks containing ceramic waste indicated the high increment of compressive strength at about 200% as compared to mortar brick without ceramic waste. The thermal comfort test of ceramic mortar bricks were also showed the good insulation with low interior temperature. Therefore, the ceramic waste can be utilised as a material replacement to fine aggregate in mortar brick productions due to significant outcomes performed

A real-time location-based construction labor safety management system

The construction industry continues to record a high number of accidents compared to other industries. Furthermore, the ramifications of construction accidents are growing in terms of both economic loss and loss of life with trends toward larger-scale, more complex projects. For this reason, there is an increasing awareness of the importance of safety management in the construction industry, and the need for more effective safety management techniques. This paper introduces a real-time location-based construction labor safety management system that tracks and visualizes workers’ locations in real-time and sends early warnings to endangered workers. The system is developed by integrating: a real-time locating system (RTLS) for tracking of workers’ location; a location monitoring system for mapping the workers location on a computerized building model; and alarm technology for sending early warnings. The developed system has been applied to an apartment project and an RTLS technology test center in Korea, and proved to be effective in tracking and monitoring workers in real-time and preventing construction accidents. It is envisioned that the developed system will enable proactive construction safety management in South Korea and the methodologies developed in this study will be applicable to other contexts with minimal customization

A low-cost indoor real time locating system based on TDOA estimation of UWB pulse sequences

One of the most popular technologies adopted for indoor localization is ultrawideband impulse radio (IR-UWB). Due to its peculiar characteristics, it is able to overcome the multipath effect that severely reduces the capability of receivers (sensors) to estimate the position of transmitters (tags) in complex environments. In this article, we introduce a new low-cost real-time locating system (RTLS) that does not require time synchronization among sensors and uses a one-way communication scheme to reduce the cost and complexity of tags. The system is able to evaluate the position of a large number of tags by computing the time difference of arrival (TDOA) of UWB pulse sequences received by at least three sensors. In the presented system, the tags transmit sequences of 2-ns UWB pulses with a carrier frequency of 7.25 GHz. Each sensor processes the received sequences with a two-step correlation analysis performed first on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chip and successively on an on-board processor. The result of the analysis is the time of arrival (TOA) of the tag sequence at each sensor and the ID of the associated tag. The results are sent to a host PC implementing trilateration algorithm based on the TDOA computed among sensors. We will describe the characteristics of the custom hardware that has been designed for this project (tag and sensor) as well as the processing steps implemented that allowed us to achieve an optimum localization accuracy of 10 cm