Modern Asset Tracking

Modern Asset Tracking: RFID, GPS, BLE, and IoT Explained

Asset tracking is the process of determining the location of an asset

Modern applications include RFID, GPS/GNSS, BLE, and IoT-enabled sensors. Each technology has unique data requirements and implementation specifics.

Overview

Many applications for asset tracking serve the basic purpose of determining the location of an asset. Real-world implementations vary, but a system must generally be able to do more than just determine the position of an asset and instead be able to identify it, determine if it has moved, record information about it when needed, or send out alerts.

These are the applications for which technologies such as RFID, GPS/GNSS, BLE, and IoT sensors are useful. Each technology provides various kinds of data and requires different infrastructure.

RFID Tags

RFID is often a good choice for identifying tagged items at specific locations

An RFID tag is typically attached to a tool, asset, equipment, inventory, or some other object. On reading the RFID tag, a system can store this information in a database or process it in another way. One example of processing could be the following:

AssetTag → RFID reader → Identification Event → Database

RFID is thus often useful when the main requirement is to determine what asset has passed through a particular point.

GPS/GNSS

In comparison, GPS and GNSS receivers are useful for tracking the general location of an asset. They provide less precision than some indoor positioning technologies and are often better suited to outdoor or distant travel.

A GPS receiver can relay position information at regular intervals to be processed by an application. An example data flow would be similar to the following:

GPS device → cellular/network connection → cloud platform → application

GPS receivers are thus broadly suited to vehicles, trailers, and other equipment that travel long distances.

It is useful to keep in mind, however, that GPS is not always a substitute for indoor location positioning solutions due to building materials and other factors.

BLE Tags

BLE is also often a good option for positioning assets at indoor locations. BLE tags can provide information for determining the proximity or position of an asset. One example data flow would be similar to the following:

BLE Beacon/Tag → application → proximity/position information

The precision of the information depends upon the specific deployment, including factors such as how the tags are placed, the size of the area being searched, and other variables. In many ways, BLE is similar to GPS, but for indoor spaces. Developers should be aware that each deployment has specific requirements and cannot be assumed to behave consistently across all setups.

IoT Sensors

Finally, IoT-enabled sensors can record and relay information from an asset, including location. Information such as temperature, humidity, and others from the asset can be used to store valuable information about the state of the equipment along with its location. An example data flow would be similar to the following:

Sensor → gateway/network → IoT platform → alerts/analytics

Location information, when available, can be extremely useful in understanding the state of an asset. A system can be used to determine where an asset is, and what it is doing while it is there.

Use Cases and Selection Criteria

It is common in real-world implementations for systems to use multiple technologies for asset tracking, rather than relying on one particular method. Consider the following hypothetical example:

RFID: Determine asset identity.

GPS: Determine position outside of a facility.

BLE: Determine indoor position.

IoT sensors: Determine the state or statistics of the asset.

All this information can then be processed by dashboards, visualized, or used for other purposes in the system. The choice of technology in a given implementation depends on the use case.

When developing an asset tracking application, systems designers and developers should consider the following questions:

Is the asset located mostly indoors or outdoors?

Is the identification of the asset sufficient, or is it necessary to track its location?

What level of precision is necessary for positioning?

Will environmental information be important?

How often will information be needed?

What should be done if something goes wrong?

Having a clear vision of what a system needs to accomplish will allow developers to design a system without unneccessary components.

For more information about using connected technologies to track equipment, see Asset Track Pro’s page about connected asset tracking solutions . The most effective asset tracking systems will be those that acquire and process the appropriate data about an asset, in a given environment, to provide information that is valuable to an application or analyst.