Ubisense and Savi Technology to Provide Location Intelligence Systems to U.S. Government Agencies in RFID-IV Contract Win

Ubisense has been selected to provide its real-time location intelligence systems to U.S. government agencies by Savi Technology which was awarded a multi-million dollar, five-year contract by the U.S. Army Contracting Command. Savi and Ubisense will provide indoor/outdoor location intelligence systems that enhance global asset planning and logistics tracking to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), coalition partners and other U.S. government agencies.

Ubisense’s indoor location intelligence systems report the precise location of tagged items in real-time (indoor GPS), and also provide real-time alerts, process monitoring and reporting. This ability to gain complete visibility inside facilities enablesorganizations to radically optimize operations logistics, manufacturing and MRO operations, consistently resulting in higher quality, faster delivery and improved reliability.  

“We have put together a world-class team to serve the needs of the Department of Defense and other federal agencies,” said Bill Clark, president and chief executive officer at Savi.  “Combining Ubisense’s expertise in real-time location systems with Savi’s leadership status as the premier provider of military RFID systems provides the U.S. military and our allies with unmatched global asset planning and tracking capabilities.”

The demand for Ubisense’s location intelligence systems is rapidly growing globally in commercial sectors, based on results achieved by existing clients, such as Amtrak, BMW, PACCAR, Caterpillar and Cummins, to name a few. Ubisense has also worked with the U.S. Army to develop indoor training systems to better prepare soldiers for urban terrain combat, and welcomed the opportunity to expand its footprint in the federal government arena.

“This contract signals a valuable opportunity for government agencies to significantly improve a variety of asset planning and logistics-related functions, and we are grateful to be part of this Product Director Automated Movement and Identification Solutions (PD AMIS) mission,” said Richard Green, CEO, Ubisense. “We look forward to working with Savi Technology, a trusted and proven vendor within the government sector, to demonstrate the plethora of benefits federal agencies can achieve using this technology.”

New Faces: Our Geoplan colleagues in Japan

Geoplan colleagues

Managing Director, Mr Nishizawa with Richard Green and the celebration cake

Black Hills Corporation selects Ubisense for Network Conflation Solution

Cambridge, UK - Ubisense Group plc (“Ubisense” or the “Company”) (AIM:UBI), a market leader in location based smart technology, announces it has been selected by Black Hills Corporation for a network asset realignment project.

Black Hills Corporation, a leading North American Energy Company has selected Ubisense and strategic partner, we-do-IT, to provide network asset realignment services for its operations in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado.

The Ubisense solution will align Black Hills Corporation’s electric and gas utility assets with up-to-date basemaps to provide their operations with accurate network data to facilitate and support planning, design, customer service, maintenance and support across a wide area of coverage. The Project entails adjusting areas of approximately 2,430,493 nodes with accurate parcel information.

Richard Green, CEO of Ubisense said: “We are delighted to have been selected by Black Hills Corporation for this important project. Our innovative network alignment solution provides the fundamental building blocks of an accurate utility network. This will provide the foundation upon which other activities, such as service restoration, can be provided with a high degree of certainty of the integrity of the network.”

Large Automotive Manufacturer Deploys Atlas Copco Industrial Tools and Ubisense Smart Factory System across Manufacturing Facility in France

Cambridge, UK - Ubisense Group plc (“Ubisense” or the “Company”) (LSE:UBI), a market leader in location based smart technology, is pleased to announce that a large automotive manufacturer has deployed its Smart Factory System across their manufacturing facility in France.

As part of a joint solution from Atlas Copco and Ubisense, the Smart Factory System has been installed on workstations to control tools across their assembly line. The installation ensures that tightening operations are performed accurately and that the appropriate tool setting adjustments are made, ensuring overall that the tightening operations have been performed correctly.

Prior to the installation of the Ubisense Smart Factory System, the process was manually performed by an operator via a barcode scan which added around six seconds per tool operation per vehicle.

Eric Cassard, Business Line Manager at Atlas Copco, MVI France, said: “We are very pleased to have partnered with Ubisense on this project to offer our customers access to leading edge location manufacturing solutions, with the reassurance of global maintenance and support from the world’s leading industrial tool manufacturer.”

Richard Green, CEO of Ubisense, added: “The outstanding partnership that we have developed with Atlas Copco continues to go from strength to strength and is allowing us to rapidly introduce critically important location manufacturing solutions to a broad range of manufacturing companies.”

Ubisense adds two new German Customers using its Google map based myWorld product

Cambridge, UK – Ubisense Group plc (“Ubisense” or the “Company”) (LSE:UBI), a market leader in location-based smart technology, announces two new sales of the Ubisense myWorld product and Google Maps for Business, to Stadtwerke Kiel and Stadt Heidelberg.

Both customers use the GE Smallworld^_TM enterprise GIS to manage their spatial assets and networks.  Stadtwerke Kiel is a multi-utility that uses GIS to plan and document their networks and manage faults.  Highlights of the solution for Stadtwerke Kiel include improvements in fault management and planning.  When faults are reported it is crucial to be able to identify their location.  Key information which Stadtwerke Kiel uses for this is the address of the customer reporting the fault or that of a nearby place of interest.  myWorld provides a simple and powerful one-box search tool for address lookup, bringing the power of Google’s search engines into the fault analysis application. When the fault location is identified users can use an integrated view of the nearby network, Google mapping data and also Street View information to understand what else is located in the surrounding area and assist in assessing the local risk associated with the faults.

System planners also benefit from the integrated view of network and web data.  When planning a new network they will immediately be able to check the elevation profile and surface type that new build will cross using the terrain data provided by Google.  This will help them to plan associated drainage and ventilation pipe design from their desk, without the need for a field survey, cutting down on time and cost.

Stadt Heidelberg uses Smallworld to manage all of the spatial data for the City of Heidelberg including land registry, land use planning, their waste water network, etc.  myWorld will enhance their operations by adding Google mapping and Google search capabilities to their Smallworld system.  

Richard Green, Ubisense Chief Executive Officer, said; “Uptake of the myWorld products has accelerated rapidly since their launch and these new contracts further demonstrate the power of these applications for our customers.

Sales of the myWorld product doubled during 2012, across a customer base ranging from electricity utilities in Europe to cable TV operators and municipal authorities in North America.

Our innovative myWorld products and solutions are based on the new generation of mobile and internet technologies, which can be used in the office or in the field, to do any number of tasks such as building new networks, restoring service or providing an integrated operational view.  We are developing focused apps for smart devices which combine integrated enterprise and web mapping with other internet and back office systems to provide greater operational visibility and support to benefit our customers.”

Daimler to use Ubisense Assembly Control System on Mercedes S-Class assembly line

The Ubisense Smart Factory System Solution for automotive assembly lines based on its six-sigma Real-Time Location System has achieved the pilot acceptance milestone in Daimler’s project to equip the assembly line for the Mercedes S-Class premium cars in Germany.

Following an extensive proof of concept at the customer’s plant in Rastatt, Ubisense was awarded the contract to equip the S-Class assembly line in the Sindelfingen plant. The project was divided into two phases: the pilot phase covered 2 line segments and the associated DC tools provided the means to integrate and test the solution; the system will now be installed at the remaining stations and all the DC tools will be integrated.

The Ubisense Smart Factory System automates the recognition of tool / vehicle interactions on the production line, eliminating the need to scan vehicle ID numbers and ensuring that the correct tool program is being used for the particular vehicle at the station. In addition, the exact location of each vehicle is tracked continuously and matched to the vehicle ID which is then supplied to external worker assistance systems as the vehicle arrives at each station. This is particularly useful on line segments where traditional vehicle sensing technologies are not available.

The result of using the Ubisense Smart Factory System will be a significant reduction in unproductive assembly time, as well as eliminating many errors that can occur in manual operations such as scanning.

The Smart Factory System is integrated with the car manufacturer’s PLUS manufacturing execution system and with the DC tools via the Atlas Copco Open Protocol. The final solution will also control other devices and the tools of several other vendors. Ubisense is implementing the solution together with Atlas Copco following the strategic partnership which the two companies launched in 2009.


Richard Green, Ubisense CEO, added: “We are delighted to be working with Daimler and Atlas Copco, both renowned for the high quality of their products and their manufacturing excellence. We look forward to supporting our customers in achieving their ambitious manufacturing goals over the years to come.”

Hyundai Kia Expand Deployment of Ubisense Solution

Cambridge, UK – Ubisense Group Plc (“Ubisense” or the “Company”) (LSE:UBI), the real time, location based lean manufacturing solutions company, is pleased to announce the expansion of its installation with Hyundai Kia in Asia.

This phase two expansion follows the success of the pilot installation deployed just two months ago to their assembly line manufacturing plant in South Korea.

Richard Green, Ubisense Chief Executive Officer, said that Hyundai’s decision to increase its RTLS installation reinforces their previous deployment decision and emphasizes growing traction Ubisense’s solution is receiving around the world.

“We took the decision to expand into the Asia Pacific region to focus initially on the automotive industry, within which South Korea represents a significant opportunity. We are therefore particularly pleased to strengthen our relationship with Hyundai Kia further,” Mr Green said.

“Ubisense now supplies RTLS products and solutions to eight of the top fifteen automotive manufacturers globally. Hyundai Kia is a great example of the way in which our customers start using our products, subsequently rapidly request further coverage across the original plant, and then to the rest of their plants globally. By building such close relationships, we continue to innovate and increase the value we add to our customers over the long term.”

Ubisense’s RTLS solution is already deployed under a global license agreement with BMW and installed in their plants across Europe, Asia and North America.

Latest News: Ubisense on course to be Cambridge’s next £1bn company!

Published in Business Weekly

Feb 24, 2012

It’s 10 years since Ubisense spun out of Cambridge University’s Computer Laboratory – such fertile territory for technology greats.

The rich potential identified by the founders has every chance of ensuring the Real Time Location Systems specialist becomes Cambridge’s next £1 billion company. CEO Richard Green certainly believes the achievement is well within Ubisense’s compass.

Events in a dizzy 2011, reinforced by a stunning start to 2012, have strengthened the company’s hand. So, too, has the market intel that highlights the scale of the sectors Ubisense technology can leverage.

A recent report from Cambridge based IDTechEx forecast that the RTLS market would rise from $255 million to $293m in 2012 and then power up to nearly $4 billion in 2022. It stressed how well placed Ubisense was to exploit the opportunity. As Business Weekly recently reported, Ubisense, could increase headcount by 50 per cent in 2012 after winning a string of new orders and lining up a potential bonanza in Asia. Acquisitions could fast-track the growth process, according to Green. He says: “We went from 100 staff at the start of 2011 to 170 by the end of the year. Crystal ball stuff – we could easily be up to 250 people by the end of 2012.

“Cambridge is a great place to be with bags of talent when a technology company is in growth mode and acquisition might be a good way for us to maintain that talent pool.”

In recent months Ubisense has won a surge of new orders with Airbus, truckmaker PACCAR, BMW plus another German automotive company – and broken into Korea by landing a contract with Hyundai.

Green said that after a few false dawns for RF technology, “This time it looks like its time is ripe – the market makers certainly believe so. We had an absolutely stunning year in 2011. We thought the high spot would be the London stockmarket listing in the summer but between then and the end of the year the orders just continued to flow. New contracts are still coming in.”

Prime among these was the signing of a new global licensing agreement with Airbus. Ubisense tracking technology is now installed at 10 Airbus sites – up from three at the start of the relationship.

The relationship with BMW goes from strength to strength – the latest installation being a significant one in China, given the company’s growth ambitions in Asia.

At the end of 2011, Ubisense landed a contract with another big German automotive company. And the cup was overflowing when Ubisense clinched a new relationship with PACCAR, the multinational truckmaker headquartered in Washington State.

Ubisense then broke into Korea – courtesy a landmark Asian deal with Hyundai. An alliance with Jaguar Land Rover, which has its own ambitions for growth throughout Asia, could also prove important.

The sheer diversity of major markets in which Ubisense’s tracking technology holds a USP may prove the most accurate barometer of its future fortunes.

The company was pleased to establish a stronghold in the energy market with two important contracts. It won a landmark deal with partners S3ID for AGIP – the Italian automotive gasoline and diesel retailer subsidiary of multinational petroleum company Eni. This followed its success with partner, PA Consulting Group, in winning a contract with a large energy utility in Washington State.

Ubisense’s collaboration with Atlas Copco is meanwhile opening up some terrific business opportunities in the field of automotive.

In the past six months, Ubisense’s Tool Location System (TLS) solution has been deployed by six new Atlas Copco customers including BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Audi, GM, Hyundai and Paccar. The sizes of the installations vary from single production work stations through to multi-global site installations.

The Atlas Copco-branded TLS software was jointly developed with Ubisense under a collaboration agreement signed in 2009 for the research and development of Real-Time Location Systems applications for industrial tooling.

Green said: “The fact that one in every three cars in the world is assembled with Atlas Copco tools highlights the enormous growth opportunity for the TLS, particularly as the solution is now being sold through the Atlas Copco catalogue providing increased exposure to a greater number of automotive manufacturers across multiple geographies.

“As the TLS is adopted more broadly, we are finding that manufacturers require additional applications relevant to the assembly line, further endorsing our RTLS solution in the automotive industry. It also highlights the important benefits that can be driven by collaborating with the world’s leading industrial tool manufacturer.”

The TLS is comparable to small scale GPS but instead of using satellites, customers use sensors inside their manufacturing plants to monitor the position of tools and assets in real-time and with precision accuracy to 15cm.
This allows error-proofing to be taken to the next level and allows customers to ensure that tightening is performed reliably at the correct tool setting and at the correct work station.

The solution is compelling for automotive manufacturers as it provides a range of benefits for the assembly line floor – including increased productivity, improved quality and, importantly, helps to reduce costs. The TLS is now available from Atlas Copco’s worldwide application and customer centres and installations in North America and Europe have already been achieved.

Ubisense’s financial transparency and clear focus have already made the company something of a darling with London stockmarket investors. More remarkably for any hi-tech business, while its technology has continued to evolve Ubisense hasn’t had to pivot to the contortionist levels forced on some of its Cambridge contemporaries to gain global market traction.

Strong and sustainable international growth will be the likely – and thoroughly deserved – reward.

http://www.ubisense.net/

Latest News: RTL in Longueuil Selects Bus Yard Management Solution Provided by Solotech, ISR Transit and Ubisense

Turn-key system will automate assignment, placement and scheduling of 450 buses that provide transportation to more than 120,000 customers per day.


DENVER — Oct. 4, 2011 —The Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL) public transportation service in Longueuil, Quebec is implementing a fully integrated parking automation and automated driver assignment system based on the Ubisense Transit Yard Manager (TYM) solution for the precise positioning of its buses. RTL’s new fully automated bus management system will improve fleet management of its 450 buses that provide rides to more than 120,000 customers per day across five cities. Solotech and ISR Transit formed a partnership to deliver this solution to RTL and chose the Ubisense TYM solution for the RTL deployment which is scheduled to be completed in March 2012.

The solution will be comprised of:

•Bus Depot Management (BDM) Core Application, integration with RTL’s existing software and project management provided by ISR Transit;

•Digital display, PC panels, card readers, and hardware installation and integration provided by Solotech;

•Transit Yard Manager solution provided by Ubisense, with augmented functionality for RTL.

“The benefits provided by this automated solution will enable us to further streamline our operations so we can optimize the use of our resources and provide our customers with even better transportation services,” said Suzie LeHouillier, director of projects, RTL. “By investing in this leading-edge technology and delivering better service to our community, we are investing in the long-term future for our organization.”

The Ubisense TYM solution utilizes an ultra-wideband (UWB) real-time location system (RTLS) to provide precise location tracking. The Ubisense TYM solution will provide RTL with multiple benefits that will improve fleet management efficiencies and costs. Benefits include decreased human errors due to manual bus-finding, reduced search times, improved pullout-times and increased fleet availability through reduced maintenance down-time.

“Solotech and ISR Transit decided to partner with Ubisense for this project because it supplies the only location solution we have found that provides highly reliable and precise bus location,”said Youval Abenhaim, vice president of business development for ISR Transit. “That is very important for this deployment as ISR’s Driver Assignment Automation software has to give the right bus to the right driver to the right route, all the time.”

“The RTL contract reflects Solotech and ISR Transit’s continued expansion into the Intelligent Transportation System North American market and the continued trust given ISR and its partners by our valued customers.”

How it Works

ISR Transit will install the Ubisense RTLS solution, comprising industrialized bus location tags and a network of sensors, throughout RTL’s three garages. The Ubisense TYM solution will determine the precise position of each bus based on this sensor data and transmit the information to the BDM Core Application.

The location of each bus will be updated in real-time and published to a database so that anyone in the organization can see the status and location of a vehicle. Using a map-based display, dispatchers can view the location and other critical information, such as bus type, equipment options, seating capacity and maintenance status when making vehicle and operator assignments. Buses can be assigned to the bus driver in real-time by touching the distribution console with their smart card. The assigned driver is then given an exact location by the distribution console and screens displayed throughout the garage facilities provide updates.

“We believe RTL has an industry-leading vision of the future of transportation yard automation and we are proud to have been selected to deliver this vision with our partners in Montreal,” said Adrian Jennings, vice president of technology, Ubisense.

Notes to Editors
About ISR

ISR Transit builds solutions for transportation industry such as Automatic Vehicle Location, Computer Aided Dispatch, Operations and Fleet Management, Real-Time Passenger Information System, Trouble Ticket Management System and Mobile Video Security Systems based on ISR hardware, software and from selected 3rd party manufacturers. ISR products enable transit and fleet agencies to improve the operational efficiency, information dissemination, transportation demand management, and security of the public and private transportation systems.
With over twenty three years of R&D and over 60,000 units installed and deployed across the world, ISR is committed to providing world-class software and hardware for transit intelligent transport systems based on quality product and upmost service to our customer. ISR will bring to the table the latest technology while providing reliable delivery and services to the customer.

About Solotech
Solotech specializes in the integration of intelligent transportation systems through the use of various audiovisual and electronic technologies. We propose global solutions that optimize the use of transportation infrastructures and maximize those networks. Our solutions allow our clients to better control their operations and to improve security while at the same time offering better customer service to public transit passengers.

Our field of activity consists of: RFID detection, GPS and video monitoring, network communication between the various components of the systems, operational and control rooms, operational system and data broadcast software, video display and public announcement systems.


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Released: 4 October 2011

Ubisense automates rail yard management with new Real-Time Location System

Transit Yard Manager for Rails precisely and reliably locates locomotives to improve rail yard operations

DENVER - Oct. 3, 2011 – Ubisense (AIM:UBI)today introduced Transit Yard Manager for Rails,a real-time location system (RTLS) that automates yard operations and improves efficiencies and productivity. By precisely locating rolling-stock in both indoor and outdoor areas, operators gain an unprecedented level of visibility into workflow which helps to improve all areas of rail yard operations.

Transit Yard Manager (TYM) is a complete integrated solution that measures the location of rolling-stock using best-in-class sensors and translates that into actionable business intelligence through an intuitive software application. Because rail yards significantly impair the performance of most location systems, TYM is built on Ubisense’s ultra-wideband (UWB) real-time location system (RTLS) which is specifically designed to provide accurate, reliable location data in very challenging circumstances.

“Transit Yard Manager for Rails was developed as a direct result of customer demand,” said Adrian Jennings, vice president of technology, Ubisense. “Rail operators consulted with us to explain their long-time challenges associated with manual rail yard audits, and asked Ubisense to develop a solution that could help automate operations. We developed Transit Yard Manager for Rails to meet their needs, and it is already being used in operations as diverse as commuter light rail and national heavy freight.”

TYM for Rails provides rail operators with several real-time location benefits, including:

•Location of rolling-stock anywhere in the yard, indoors or out

•Reduced number of personnel required for yard auditing

•Real-time visibility of assets to operations and scheduling departments

•Integration of all existing software such as maintenance, dispatching and scheduling into a unified dashboard view

•Precise dwell-time measurements in the maintenance shops and in the yard

•Improved staging to reduce late pull-outs

•Real-time consist assembly

•Real-time view of available tracks

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Latest News: Ubisense Launches FTTx Planning System in North America

Proven Product Reduces Capital Costs and Shortens Time to Revenue for Fiber Rollouts

 DENVER, Sept. 28, 2011 – Ubisense and atesio announced today the North American release of the Ubisense FTTx Planning System. The product automates the strategic planning of fiber access networks and significantly reduces the time and capital investment required for service providers to deliver fiber connectivity to homes and businesses. The solution is in regular use at Deutsche Telekom, one of the largest telecom operators in the world with approximately 40 million access lines.

The Ubisense FTTx Planning System reduces the time it takes to analyze, plan and estimate a cost-optimized, structurally sound network design and configuration from several weeks to a few hours. The solution quickly analyzes multiple planning alternatives to find the scenario that balances revenue and capital costs across dozens of variables. It uses available infrastructure data to produce an optimized network plan that includes equipment and cable material quantities and cost estimates for various deployment scenarios such as greenfield and brownfield.

“We wanted to bring our customers a solution that would get them to market faster, with the best possible network configuration,” said Scott Casey, Ubisense Vice President of Telecom Solutions. “Planning a cost optimized fiber access network with manual methods is daunting – there are simply too many factors and alternatives to process efficiently. With our solution, network operators can quickly create plans based on their existing infrastructure and business requirements.”

Ubisense partnered with atesio on the development of the FTTx Planning System. The solution uses atesio’s powerful computation engine and high-end mathematical optimization algorithms to ensure designs minimize total network deployment costs. Planners quickly get a comprehensive view of the economic efficiency of various planning options, can adjust input parameters and rerun calculations as often as needed to arrive at the optimal network design.

The Ubisense FTTx Planning System integrates with Ubisense myWorld to allow planners to perform desk survey verification of the proposed network layouts against real world conditions using Google Maps API Premier and Street View for Google Maps. The product is also fully integrated with GE’s Smallworld Core Spatial Technology.

Ubisense will demonstrate the FTTx Planning System at the FTTH Expo in Orlando, September 28-30, 2011.

For more information visit http://www.ubisense.net/en/consulting/geo-solutions/ubisense-fttx-planning-system.html


About atesio
atesio turns state-of-the-art mathematical optimization technology into industrial solutions for the telecommunications industry. Leading fixed and mobile operators take strategic decisions (3G, LTE, NGN, FTTX) on the basis of custom-made techno-economic studies by atesio. They also master network optimization and configuration tasks (2G, 3G, SDH, MPLS) by means of atesio's award-winning and powerful network optimization software. atesio was founded in 2000 as a spin-off of a world-wide leading mathematical optimization research institute. For more information, visit: www.atesio.com.



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Latest News: Ubisense acquires InMaps

Acquisition of US geospatial location solutions business

Ubisense Group plc (AIM: UBI, "Ubisense" "the Group"), the market-leading location solutions company, has acquired Integrated Mapping Services Inc (“InMaps”), a US-based company focused on delivering geospatial business solutions to electric and gas utilities, for $700,000 in cash.

InMaps' provides a suite of products, integrated with GPS and geospatial products such as GE Smallworld, to help utilities improve reliability and comply with industry regulations.

The acquisition of InMaps strengthens Ubisense’s offering in the electric and gas industries and solidifies the Group’s position as one of the world’s leading location solutions companies. InMaps will become part of the Group’s Geospatial division and will operate under the Ubisense name.

In the year to 31 December 2010, InMaps had revenues of over $1m.
Richard Green, Ubisense CEO, commented:
“The products that InMaps has developed for the gas industry are a perfect fit with our own offering and the direction we are taking our Geospatial business.

“System safety and reliability are increasingly complicated and critical issues for gas and electric utilities. With the acquisition of InMaps, we will now be able to deliver a comprehensive suite of geospatial business solutions which will help our customers meet these challenges with the best available technologies.”


About InMaps

Since 1996, InMaps has been creating geospatial business solutions for natural gas and electric utilities. The Company is an acknowledged expert in deploying, customizing, and managing Smallworld systems.

InMaps’s newest product, VeroTrack® Automated Survey Tracking (AST) automates record keeping for natural gas leak surveys. Developed in conjunction with the Gas Technology Institute, VeroTrack AST is a unique solution that integrates with multiple GIS platforms.

Latest News

Ubisense to Unveil RTLS Manufacturing Solution Suite at Assembly & Automation Technology Expo

DENVER - Sept. 16, 2011 – Next week at the Assembly & Automation Technology Expo in Chicago, Ubisense (booth #654) will introduce its Location-Based Manufacturing Solution Suite designed to enable manufacturers to gain real-time visibility of, and control over their assembly line operations. With precise location information of all assets and activities, manufacturers can identify areas for improvement to achieve greater efficiencies and quality control.

“For many years, manufacturers have been trying to find ways to gain visibility into their assembly processes but it had been impossible to find technology that would work effectively in that type of work environment, until now,” said Adrian Jennings, vice president of technology, Ubisense. “Ubisense’s ultra-wideband sensing system is designed to provide precise, reliable location information even in the most difficult of environments. Using this information, the new Ubisense Manufacturing Solution Suite gives operators a real-time view of the status of all of their manufacturing processes, down to the subtlest layer of detail. Now they can finally achieve the level of visibility and automatic control to help them improve operational efficiency, quality and cost.”

Ubisense delivers location-based solutions utilizing precise, real-time ultra-wideband (UWB) sensors to locate assets, vehicles or people both indoors and outdoors. Ubisense solutions provide insight into processes and operations that were previously hidden or too complicated to decipher. Customers spanning automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, transport, military, telecommunications and energy are improving their bottom lines by incorporating Ubisense precise real-time location solutions into their business operations. Customers include Airbus, Aston Martin, BMW, Caterpillar, FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies, among others.


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Released: 16 September 2011

Latest News

University of South Florida employs Ubisense's Real-time Location System to predict dementia from person's movement

Ubisense solution provides reliable, precise location accuracy to track the movement of people with cognitive decline and help to identify persons with dementia.


DENVER, Sept. 6, 2011 – A recent study conducted at the University of South Florida employed Ubisense’s real-time location system (RTLS) to track the movements of residents of two assisted living facilities (ALF). Using Ubisense’s solution and fractal mathematics, the researchers discovered that persons with dementia demonstrated more random movement in their walks and this random component was a better predictor of dementia than the Folstein Mini–Mental State Examination (MMSE), a primary tool used by clinicians to test for dementia.

Leading the study was Dr. William Kearns, an associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counselling at the University of South Florida. Dr. Kearns and his team tracked the daytime movements of 25 elder ALF residents, 14 of whom had been diagnosed with dementia. The elders agreed to wear the Ubisense Compact Tags secured by a wristband and be monitored for 30 days during waking hours. Ubisense sensors were installed in the common use areas of the ALF.

The study’s primary aim was to examine the relationship of dementia to path tortuosity (the number of changes in direction of successive movement paths) and to movement speed and path length variability. Ubisense’s RTLS system tracked both changes in path direction and rate and duration of movement. The researchers found path tortuosity was greater in persons with dementia, and may be linked to impaired spatial memory required for successful navigation.

“We consider this to be a substantial finding and one that could potentially help us diagnose dementia earlier and enable us to provide better care for people demonstrating cognitive decline,” said Dr. Kearns.“Peoples’ behavior is the best indicator of what’s going on with them, and Ubisense’s RTLS system is the best solution we’ve found to provide the level of precise accuracy we need to validate our findings.”

Dr Kearns has been studying people with dementia for seven years in order to better understand the relationship of movement changes to future cognitive decline and fall risk. His goal is to discover ways to allow older persons to remain in their homes longer and to ease caregiver burden. More than 35 million people live with dementia worldwide. Over the next 40 years that number is projected to hit 115 million.[1]

Dr. Kearns first attempted to use an RFID-based system for his studies but found it produced inaccurate location data. A colleague in the USF College of Engineering suggested he consider ultra-wideband (UWB) technology for more precise accuracy, and Dr. Kearns sought help from Ubisense.

“This is great validation of our support for academic partners,” said Adrian Jennings, vice president of technology for Ubisense. “It’s people like Dr. Kearns who develop important new applications for our location solutions, applications which would be difficult to research outside of academia. We’re delighted to see the results of that openness, and proud to be a core element of Dr. Kearns’ important work.”
As a result of their valuable research, the United States Patent Office recently awarded a patent to Dr. Kearns and his colleagues for the “Human and Physical Asset Movement Pattern Analyzer,” which is an extension of their research using Ubisense’s RTLS. The Pattern Analyzer, based on UWB technology, helps identify changes in older individuals in ALFs. It is equally applicable to the study of traumatic brain injury in veterans.


For more information on Dr. Kearns’ research, see:
Kearns W.D., Fozard C.H., Nams V.O., Craighead J.D., Wireless telesurveillance system for detecting dementia, Gerontechnology 2011; 10(2):90-102; doi:10.4017/gt.2011.10.2.004.00 or see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM89flOpwWQ


[1] http://www.alz.co.uk/research/statistics

Released: 6 September 2011

Ubisense opens door to Chinese manufacturing with product certification

Cambridge, UK – 3 August 2011: Ubisense, the world’s leading provider of location solutions, today announces that its Series 7000 real-time location system (RTLS) industrial tags and sensors have been certified for use in China by the country’s stringent regulatory authorities – a development that opens up enormous commercial opportunities to the business, which listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in June.

Ubisense’s ultrawideband (UWB)-based RTLS is the first to gain official authorisation for deployment and use within China. The endorsement is the latest in a long list of product certifications secured by Ubisense in the USA, Europe, Canada, Korea and Singapore, which give the company unparalleled reach in terms of UWB RTLS technology approval.

Many world famous brands rely on Ubisense systems to gain real-time visibility of assets passing through production. Popular across different business sectors, the company’s solutions have gained immense traction in the automotive industry, where well-known car manufacturers use them to achieve significant efficiency, throughput and quality improvements in assembly line operations.

With its new certification in place, Ubisense now plans to break into the lucrative Chinese automotive market. In July, the Chinese Association of Automotive Manufacturers (CAAM) announced that the country’s automobile industry produced more than nine million passenger cars and commercial vehicles in the first six months of 2011.^[1] By the end of the year, Scotia Economics estimates that Chinese assemblies will have risen to 21 million units – representing 28% of overall global vehicle output, and meaning China will surpass Europe as the world’s largest vehicle producer. ^[2]

Andy Ward, Chief Technology Officer at Ubisense, said: “Coming so quickly after our public offering, this development provides further evidence of our position at the forefront of global RTLS developments. With approval of our technology in place, we are now ideally positioned to tap into China’s extensive manufacturing sector. Production of the magnitude that occurs in China is increasingly dependent on systems that can eliminate time-consuming, manual identification tasks. Our technology does this, but also adds another layer of intelligence to fast-paced manufacturing environments, where it can generate alerts when there is a deviation from plan, and log activity so manufacturers can scrutinize performance and achieve new efficiencies. This is proving to be an incredibly exciting year for Ubisense and we look forward to the adoption of our technology across China.”

Ubisense’s first automotive project in China is due to commence in Q3 2011, with delivery expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Footnotes
[1] http://www.caam.org.cn/AutomotivesStatistics/20110725/1005058865.html 
[2] http://www.chinacartimes.com/2011/02/26/china-will-become-worlds-largest-vehicle-producer-in-2011/

Released: 3 August 2011

Ubisense Chosen for Fort Bliss Military Operations in Urban Terrain Installation

DENVER – March 7, 2011 – Ubisense announced today that Fort Bliss located in Texas has chosen the Ubisense military training solution to provide precise real-time tracking of personnel and assets, and management of spatial data to enhance the safety and quality of military training at one of its Combined Arms Collective Training Facilities (CACTF).

Ubisense is installing a sensor network throughout a training complex of 25 multi-story buildings that will provide precision tracking in three-dimensions (3-D) throughout the buildings - in rooms, on roof tops and within stairwells.  By combining the General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) Exercise Control (EXCON) and After Action Review (AAR) system with Ubisense’s precision tracking solution, Fort Bliss personnel can track the exact location of all persons inside of the buildings and improve the safety and efficiency of its training exercises.

In addition, the quality of training is enhanced with on-demand generation of AAR reports that provide comprehensive information on an individual’s training performance. And, with Ubisense’s 3-D capabilities, Fort Bliss personnel can simulate a variety of combat scenarios and record and playback all tracking data per individual or group.

Ubisense’s technology has been installed at multiple military training facilities worldwide, such as at the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin in California.

“Our solution has been stringently evaluated against a number of other location technologies in the military training environment over the past four years and our solution continues to deliver consistent performance, improved training quality and reduced training costs,” said Jay Cadman, Americas vice president of sales & marketing, Ubisense. “For these reasons, Ubisense was the best fit to work in the GDIT environment at Fort Bliss and we are proud of the working we are doing there.”

To view a video of the Ubisense military training solution in action, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OSUShslJv0.

Ubisense Appoints Seasoned Non-Executive to Board of Directors

Cambridge, UK - Ubisense, the world's leading provider of precise Real-time Location Solutions, has appointed a new Non-Executive Board Director. Paul Taylor joins Ubisense after twenty-one years at AVEVA Group plc - a global engineering IT software supplier to the plant, power and marine industries.
Working alongside the Ubisense executive management team, Paul will contribute to the company's overall strategy, scrutinising its performance and providing independent views on a range of commercial matters including growth, finance and resourcing.

At AVEVA, Paul held a number of roles and was Group Finance Director for ten years - a position that gave him a unique insight into the demands placed on global technology providers facing rapid and prolonged periods of growth. This knowledge will be invaluable in his new post at Ubisense.

Ubisense ranks among the fastest growing businesses in the world. It has appeared in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA for the last three years and since 2005 has achieved growth figures of 1730%. In 2010, Ubisense won contracts with customers including Airbus, Boeing, BMW, Daimler, General Motors, Fiat and the U.S. Department of Defence - all of which utilise its technology to accurately track assets.

Andy Hopper, Chairman of Ubisense, said: "We are delighted that Paul has joined our Board of Directors. His appointment comes at a very exciting stage in the development of Ubisense. Our business is going from strength to strength. At the end of last year we won a number of important new contracts. We also secured £5 million growth capital, enabling us to move forward with significant expansion plans. Paul's strategic financial insight and operational experience will prove critical moving forward."

Paul is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Anite plc - a provider of software solutions to the international wireless and leisure travel industries.

Ubisense Transit Yard Manager, keeping trains on track

Denver, USA, October 1st 2010. Expanding on their industry leading yard management solution Ubisense has extended its Transit Yard Manager to meet the requirements of rail yards and added the capability to monitor and control maintenance processes.

As its solutions have been deployed in the transit industry, it has become clear to Ubisense that rail yards and maintenance facilities experience similar problems to bus transit facilities.  This has led Ubisense to develop an extension to their award-winning Transit Yard Manager (“TYM”) solution, supporting precision location of engines and cars.  Rail operators can now have complete indoor and outdoor visibility of their yards reducing search times, and providing data on rail yard processes so they can be streamlined, reducing maintenance costs and inventory levels.

The Ubisense solution reliably tracks both the orientation of the engine or car and its location to a precision of 12 inches.  The TYM web based interface provides a simple means to search for specific rolling stock or groups of assets that share similar characteristics.  This reduces the amount of manual time spent documenting their location and provides reliable data to more effectively manage yard operations.

Additionally, TYM now reports on the dwell times of an engine as it moves through maintenance processes allowing managers to be alerted by email or SMS, if a process is taking too long or the correct steps are not followed.  Historical data can also be gathered and used to determine process improvements.  This data is commonly utilized in six sigma or lean manufacturing methodologies to eliminate cost.

Ubisense is installed in several bus transit organizations around the world and is completing its first installation in a large American passenger rail company.

“We are pleased to be able to expand our transit industry solutions to the rail industry,” commented Jay Cadman, VP Sales and Marketing. “Accurate location is driving process improvements for our customers and we anticipate expanding further into other areas such as MRO and terminal solutions by working closely in conjunction with our customers.”

Ubisense "cruises" to automotive success

Cambridge, 23 August, 2010 - Ubisense, the world Leader in Precise Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) supports a weekend of spectacular motoring events, including the Ramshackle Rally, Valencia and the Woodward Dream Cruise, Detroit.

Driving a highly decorative, Ubisense-sponsored car, purchased for only £ 150, Pascal Green joined the Ramshackle Rally Valencia to raise funds for Cancer Research.  The rally involves driving 1450 miles and taking part in daily challenges to score points.  At the end of the rally the team with the most points win, and all of the participants join the finale at the La Tomatina festival in Bunol, just outside Valencia.

Ubisense Americas’ team and CEO, Richard Green were also representing the company, in support  of their Strategic Partner, the world-leading industrial tool manufacturer, Atlas Copco at the world’s largest automotive cruise, the Woodward Dream Cruise, held annually in Detroit.

The Woodward Dream Cruise attracts almost two million visitors every year and is a haven for car fanatics cruisin’ along the 16 miles of Woodward Avenue, enjoying the attractions, and viewing a number of corporate sponsors demonstrating their products along the sidewalk areas. This year’s event clearly demonstrated an uplifted mood of anticipation throughout the industry.

Ubisense counts many automotive manufacturers, including BMW, Aston Martin, Fiat, Daimler and most recently General Motors amongst its customers and partners, and were very pleased to be able to support Atlas Copco at the event

Significant increase in production deployments secures additional top talent at Ubisense

Cambridge, UK, 26 July 2010 - Ubisense, the world Leader in Precise Real-Time Location Systems announce the arrival of ten new full-time staff members along with over 30 contractors, as they ramp up the delivery capacity for new production deployments.

Bucking the economic downturn trend during 2009, Ubisense experienced over fifty per cent business growth, and gained many new industrial clients, including customers such as EDF Nuclear, Duke Power Caterpillar, Airbus, Shell, Posco, Cummins and Boeing along with repeat orders with existing production customers.  In order to support new and existing customers and to maintain their leading edge product innovation, Ubisense have expanded their operations to include 40 new positions (ten full–time staff members and thirty contract staff) in both delivery and engineering teams.

Amongst the new appointments, Joe Newman, world renowned researcher of real-time location use in mixed reality joins the Ubisense software engineering team.  Joe is a leading authority in indoor location and its fusion with other digital enhanced virtual experiences, and was a key figure in the exploitation of location based extensions to augmented reality while at the Technical Universities of Vienna and Graz, and Cambridge University.

Arnaud Martin joins Ubisense in its new organisation in France to support such strategic accounts as Airbus, EDF Nuclear and the French Army. Arnaud brings many years of first hand experience of running multi facetted projects across geographically dispersed organisations such as EDF. Most recently he was a key member of the GE Energy Delivery Management team in France. In addition to outsourced operations in Eastern Europe the appointment of Don D’Mello strengthens the company’s position with India as an additional outsourced development location.

“We are delighted to have been able to add such a large number of talented people to our already great Ubisense team during 2010,” said Richard Green, Ubisense CEO. “Ubisense is entering a really exciting phase. I maintain that any business is only as good as its people and we are lucky to have such an exceptionally talented team at Ubisense, including our world renowned Chairman who heads one of the few computer labs in the world to attract research funding from companies such as Google!”