SBIR Phase I: Development of 802.11 Asset Tag

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will result in the development and testing of an 802.11 asset tag, which is a new concept in asset management and tracking. The innovation is to create a wireless asset tracking tag that will communicate in any wireless network and in particular will work in 802.11 wireless LANs. Tracking assets such as PCs and other office equipment, warehoused inventory pallets and containers, strategic assets, and manufacturing materials can be accomplished by affixing the tag to the pallet/container/object in any facility that has a WLAN. This concept overcomes the power and cost barriers inherent in designing a small battery-powered long-range wireless tag compatible with conventional WLAN access points. The research will demonstrate overcoming the power management challenge as well as the positioning technique. It will use a MEMS accelerometer to both manage the power as well as provide a novel positioning approach based upon motion and signal strength detection. A breadboard asset tag system will be built using a conventional 802.11 chip set, a motion sensor, and a power management module. Software for the tracking function will be built and tested in a typical office, manufacturing and warehouse setting. Positional accuracy versus tag characteristics, calibration effort, and site map detail will be determined. An estimate of the installed cost versus positional accuracy will be made. The results are expected to define a new asset tracking technology. The results of this project will be important, as they should yield an approach that will produce an order of magnitude reduction in cost and complexity over existing RF tracking systems currently used in tracking pallets in warehouses, equipment in hospitals/offices/schools and material in manufacturing processes. By eliminating the complexity and cost of current RF asset tracking systems and creating a tag and server software technology that will work within minutes of being affixed to an object in any WLAN, the proposed technology will move asset tracking/security from a few highly specialized applications to an affordable WLAN appliance in offices, hospitals, warehouses, etc. More broadly, it will demonstrate that motion-sensing technology can enhance the effectiveness of asset management, tracking and positioning opening new approaches for monitoring the location of objects and people.