Ubisense Product Spotlight

Ubisense Series 7000 Trimode Tag
Ruggedized location tag for indoor and outdoor asset location

Specifications

Dimensions: 71mm x 64mm x 47mm
Weight: 4.5 oz
Temperature: -20 C to 85 C (-4 F to 185 F)
Humidity: 0 to 95%, non condensing
Operating range: Ultra-wideband link: Up to 160m*/2.4 GHz link: Over 300m (with directional antenna on receiver)

*Dependent on system configuration and environment

Overview

The Ubisense Trimode Tag is a small, rugged device that can be attached to assets, allowing them to located both indoors and outdoors using GPS, 2.4GHz signals (to presence-level accuracy) and/or ultra-wideband technology (to an accuracy of 15cm in 3D in real-time). It is specifically designed for use in sites where assets need to be located precisely indoors and approximately outdoors (e.g. vehicle at an assembly plant). In addition to its tracking capabilities, it includes additional features such as three LEDs for easy status identification, a motion detector to instantly activate a stationary tag and a push button to trigger events.

Qualities

• Rugged and adaptable: mechanically robust, dust and water resistant, and it can be securely mounted using a variety of attachment mechanisms.
• Long battery life: The low current consumption and power management techniques result in long battery lifetimes. Status reports and alters make maintenance easy, and batteries are technician-replaceable.
• User interaction features: The tag has a button to provide context-sensitive input to interactive applications.
• Flexible update rates: The Ubisense software platform allows the tag's update rate to be dynamically and automatically varied depending on the tag activity. When stationary, tags sleep to conserve power, an inbuilt motion detector ensure the tag transmits again when moved.
• Two-way communication: The tag's two-way 2.4GHz communication capability allows the Ubisense system to dynamically manage the tag's update rate, flash the tag's LEDs, report battery status and button presses, and wirelessly reprogram the tag to enable new features.

New Inside Positions Available

Dear readers,

It seems that each edition of Inside Positions begins with the words "the last few months have been eventful ones for Ubisense" and that is never truer than now. Ubisense has once again been expanding in all dimensions, delivering over 40% growth over last year, adding an operating division in France and winning more business with blue-chip customers. If that wasn't enough to keep us busy, there was also the small matter of taking the company public in June of this year.

On June 22nd Ubisense was listed on London's AIM market in a significantly over-subscribed initial public offering. At a time of very few successful IPOs, the over-subscription is a strong endorsement of Ubisense's position as the leading location solutions provider. The IPO puts us on a very strong footing for supporting existing customers while expanding our customer base and bringing new location solutions to market.

Momentum continues to grow in our core manufacturing and public transportation markets, and exciting milestones have been achieved both with our military training solution and by our many research partners. With our second annual User Conference, and further announcements to be made, one thing is certain: the next few months will definitely be eventful ones for Ubisense!

Sincerely,

Richard Green

CEO, Ubisense

If you would like to recieve a hard copy of our latest Inside Positions Magazine, please contact aubree.topai@ubisense.net with your name and address.



GIS Case Studies: What are people doing with our systems?

1. Black Hills Corporation
Project: Electric Office Implementation

Challenges: The rapid growth of the business left BHC with many overlapping information technology systems. As a result, BHC commissioned multiple projects to consolidate the various systems into a single corporate standard based on the GE Smallworld Office Suite platform.

Ubisense Solution: Ubisense completed a system upgrade evaluation phase which concluded that the GE Office Suites (EO and GDO) were the best option for BHC. Ubisense is currently working with BHC to implement Electric Office and Gas Distribution Office. The new solution has been successfully deployed in multiple regions.

Results: "Standardizing all business units on one platform and database is a critical priority for Black Hills," said Matt Seidl, Manager of GIS Support at Black Hills Corp. "The Ubisense team brought a tremendous amount of experience to the project, which as helped us make decisions quickly. We were impressed by Ubisense' professionalism, organizational and management skills, and Smallworld experience."

2. First Energy
Project: Electric Office Project Development
Challenges: First Energy, a long time PowerOn customer, was having issues with the quality of GIS data that was being fed to PowerOn.

Ubisense Solution: Ubisense worked closely with customer to identify the root cause of the data quality issues, and developed the PowerOn Integrity Checker application to identify and resolve data quality issues that impact OMS.

Results: The PowerOn Integrity Checker has greatly improved the quality of First Energy's OMS data. Our solution included automated data repair actions and a logging mechanism to identify areas where manual fixes are required.

3. Duke Energy
Project: Electric Office Implementation

Challenges: The merger of Duke and Cineregy left Duke with many overlapping information technology organizations and systems. Duke commissioned multiple projects to consolidate the various systems into a single corporate standard based on the GE Smallworld Office Suite platform. Duke was the first Electric Office customer.

Ubisense Solution: Ubisense is providing project management, development support, and day to day operational support for Duke's Office Suite implementation. Currently we have 8 consultants assigned to this project, working on EO, GDO, and GTO.

Results: With the support of Ubisense, Duke has successfully rolled out the GE Office Suite projects to several regions.

How can Ubisense help?

• Extensive experience with enterprise GIS for utilities and communications industries
• Trusted partner to mare than 25 customers around the world
• Currently over 400 customers in 30 countries
• Most of our team has more than 15 years experience with the full Smallworld project suite across a broad range of industries and applications
• Founders Richard Green (CEO) and David Theriault were founders of GE Smallworld. Team includes Peter Batty, Terry Phebey, Jorg Poswig, Russ Chandler, and Dave Harris
• Our team has direct experience with all the major GIS technologies: GE Smallworld, Intergraph, ESRI, AutoCAD
• We can provide strategic advice and coaching for business and technical direction, merging utilities, and for data integrity business impact analysis
• We are leading the way in bringing emerging technology to our customers: MyWorld, Google Maps, OpenStreet Map, Field and Web based tools to bring the most out of geospatial information investment.

RTLS Case Studies: What are people doing with our systems?

1. Metro Transit Bus Depots

Minneapolis, MN, USA
Sensors: 450
Accuracy: 100cm in 2D
Solution: Transit Yard Manager (TYM)

Problem: Buses were being manually located and their location input into the Scheduling and Dispatching System using a paper mark-up sheet which was often out of date.

The Ubisense Solution: Each bus of the 1000 buses of Metro Transit is tagged allowing the Ubisense platform to determine an exact bay, lane, and position of each bus, as soon as it is parked inside the garage and in some outdoor areas. Dispatchers have real time visualization of vehicles for assignment.

Results: Elimination of need for dedicated search personnel in each of the five Metro Transit garages.
Faster and more reliable information about bus location.
Assistance in determining bus departure and arrival times and time spent in maintenance.


 2. BNFL Nuclear Power Facility
Sellafield, UK
Sensors: 8
Accuracy: 30 cm in 3D
Solution: Ubisense Location Platform for personal tracking & radiation dosimters for radiation measurements.

Problem: Sellafield is one of the 20 aging U.K. nuclear facilities being decommissioned. Employees involved in decommissioning and clean-up within the facility are exposed to fluctuating radiation. It is vital to ensure that the amount of radiation to which they are exposed during any one work period remains below the specified limits.

The Ubisense Solution: Employees carrying out work assignments at the power plant wear both Ubisense Tags and WiFi dosimeters, which measure radiation levels. BIL Solutions' software provides views of the facility, which radiation levels depicted in different colors combining location data from Ubisense RTLS with the radiation readings. Workers' dose histories are monitored real-time as an aid to scheduling their work in the plant.

Results: The radiation maps and real-time exposure records significantly improve worker safety and efficiency of the operation.

3. Posco Finex Plant

Pohang, Korea
Sensors: 80
Accuracy: 100cm in 3D
Solution: Ubisense Location Platform for personnel tracking and identification

Problem: In a huge processing plant like this blast iron furnace with multiple floors and complex processing units, worker safety is a prime concern.

The Ubisense Solution: Workers have Ubisense Tags attached to their safety helmets. A combination of precise tracking on five floors of the plant and presence detection on seven other floors improves the safety of each person- help can quickly be guided to lonely workers in case of an emergency. The Ubisense system is integrated with the IBM WebSphere Premises Server solution LAS to bring real-time location information to the plant control room.

Results: Greatly improved worker safety in the plant.

We're going to need a bigger wall...

A recent VIP visit to the Ubisense office in Cambridge, UK, prompted us to refresh the display of customers in the foyer. We talk about growth and look at spreadsheets of revenue increasing 40% over last year, number of employees up to 170 so far, and many more indicators of the great health of the company. But none of those numbers is really very tangible until you perform the simple task of framing copies of your key customers’ logos, and hanging them in the foyer. When you stand back and look at that, you can’t help but smile to yourself and think, “this is what success looks like.”

In 2012, as our existing customers roll out our solutions throughout ever more of their facilities, and as new customers come on board, one thing is for certain: we’re going to need a bigger wall.

Latest News

Ubisense Solutions Help Children Explore Swedish Technology Park

Denver, CO (PRWEB) November 02, 2011

A science center in Sweden is using a precise real-time location system (RTLS) from Ubisense (AIM: UBI) to offer children and adolescents a playful introduction to the world of science and technology.

In the visitor area at the Innovatum Technology Park Science Center in Trollhattan, children of all ages can explore the world of technology in an exciting and stimulating environment full of interactive exhibits. Visitors can play in virtual worlds on giant projection screens creating fire-spitting dragons in the setting of a computer-generated medieval castle or indulge in classic family favorites such as ‘Memory’ – turning cards over to find pairs on a screen based on movements in the real world.

Within the center’s gaming environment some of the interactive exhibits come to life thanks to a wireless location solution from Ubisense. Upon entry to the interactive area, visitors are given a large cube enabled with Ubisense’s real-time location system.

Each cube works like an oversized computer mouse. When taken into the ‘play’ area, a network of Ubisense sensors picks up the cube’s 3D location wirelessly. Every real-world motion made with the cube is immediately translated and turned into a virtual action. Based on the way they move their cubes, players can compete and test their skills moving counters, objects or cards on a giant projection screen.

Each tagged cube generates an ultra-wideband (UWB) location signal. Sensors in the gaming area pick up this information in real time and within 30 centimeters of accuracy. For accurate tracking the sensors can take up to 10 measurements per second. Information is then processed through an integrated software system.

Since the Ubisense system was installed, nearly 25,000 enthusiastic visitors of all ages have used the cubes and the center has deemed the project a great success.

Daniel Palmqvist, principal engineer at Innovatum Technology Park, is thrilled to be using Ubisense system. "Ubisense RTLS has never been deployed in this way but we were convinced that this system was just what we needed to realize this project," said Palmqvist.

Adrian Jennings, vice president of marketing at Ubisense, said: “Our location solutions are unique. No other company is deploying UWB quite the way we are. Our solutions are extremely popular in manufacturing environments where items need to be located quickly and efficiently – for example, parts and tools in the automotive industry. However, the project at the Innovatum Technology Park proves that our solutions can be fun as well as offer serious commercial benefits.”

Innovatum Technology Park spans 4,400 square meters of exhibition space, offering a wide range of activities for children of all ages. Every year up to 30,000 children visit the center with their family or on a school visit. Originally, the facilities used to be a production site for steam locomotives and turbines. Apart from its Science Center, Innovatum also offers a Business Incubator and Project Arena. For more information go to: http://www.innovatum.se

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