Streamlining Manufacturing

The small plastic tags developed by a University spin-out are helping make modern assembly lines up to ten per cent more efficient, by tracking hundreds of components in three dimensions and in real time.

Getting the maximum visibility over what’s happening in a plant allows for maximum improvements in quality and process speed.

Andy Ward

Tracking technology developed by Cambridge company Ubisense can greatly improve the accuracy and reliability of manufacturing lines, while reducing assembly times by up to ten per cent, by determining the exact coordinates of an item within a given space.

Ubisense, which spun-out from the University’s Computer Laboratory in 2002 and went public in 2011, has developed a highly-sensitive real-time tracking system, which decreases losses and increases efficiency in the manufacturing sector. The company’s products are used by more than 500 companies in 50 countries worldwide, including major companies such as BMW and Airbus.

The assembly line which Henry Ford envisioned, where “any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black,” is a world away from modern lines. Today, purchasing a car involves a head-spinning number of options, from paint colour to engine size to satnav. While this is a plus for the consumer, it has made assembly lines vastly more complicated, where each car on the line is different than the one ahead of it, meaning that tool settings must be manually changed for each car. Ubisense’s technology can improve accuracy while reducing assembly time by as much as ten per cent, automatically adjusting tool settings so that the correct settings are always used on the correct car.

The technology was developed by Andy Ward while he was a PhD student at the Computer Laboratory. Dr Ward, who is now Ubisense’s Chief Technology Officer, originally devised a system to track individuals as they moved around the Lab.

“This was in the mid-1990s, before most people had mobile phones,” he says. “At the time, it was considered totally revolutionary, because you could find out where your colleagues were without having to play phone tag. But we soon figured out that not only could you reroute phone calls, you could do lots of other interesting things too: computer systems in the building could alter the way that they worked based on who was near them and what was going on around them.”

After leaving the University, Ward co-founded Ubisense and set out to develop a more accurate version of his tracking system, which could not only determine which room an individual or piece of equipment was in, but also exactly where they were located in that room, what equipment was nearby and what that equipment was doing.

Ubisense’s system can be likened to a super-charged radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. RFID tags, such as those found in Oyster cards, send out a signal when it reaches a particular point, such as a card reader, but Ubisense’s system allows for highly precise, continuous tracking. The radio-based system consists of transmitters embedded in small tags, roughly two centimetres square, and base stations installed around a building.

As a tagged item moves through a space, the base stations will identify its precise coordinates in real time. Where RFID is useful in applications such as inventory control, the Ubisense system is ideal for manufacturing lines, where many different component parts need to come together at a certain point in time.

For example, the company has recently established a relationship with Airbus. Although Airbus builds its aeroplanes in Toulouse, the major component assemblies (MCAs) of the planes are constructed at facilities all over Europe. As Airbus does not have storage in Toulouse for huge stockpiles of aeroplane parts, all of the MCAs must arrive in Toulouse together. Airbus tags the MCAs with Ubisense technology, so that Toulouse can track their progress in factories across Europe to ensure that they all arrive in Toulouse at the same time, where they are bolted together and the finished aeroplane is flown off.

In addition to Airbus, the Ubisense technology is used by BMW in several of its car factories, saving time by ensuring that the settings on the various tools used on the line are automatically adjusted as an individual worker moves from car to car along the line. Industry estimates that the Ubisense technology can cut assembly time for each car by as much as ten per cent.

“The goal of the technology is to get the most accurate view of what’s happening, because then the computer can make the most sensible decision about what to do next,” says Dr Ward. “We’re trying to build systems which reduce the amount of human interaction which is required. By taking people out of the loop, you can make a system more error-proof. Getting the maximum visibility over what’s happening in a plant allows for maximum improvements in quality and process speed.”

In just over a decade, the company has grown from four staff to nearly 200, and in addition to its head office and research facilities in Cambridge, it has offices in Paris, Dusseldorf, Denver, Singapore and Seoul.

The company maintains links with the Computer Laboratory, where it originated, collaborating on various research projects. Its technology is manufactured in the UK, at a facility in Bedford.

Ward says it was the characteristics of the Cambridge Cluster which enabled the company to get off the ground in the first place. “Everything we needed to build a successful company was right here, because Cambridge is such an interesting mix of industrial know-how, funding opportunities and academic expertise.”

For more information, contact sarah.collins@admin.cam.ac.uk. 

- See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/streamlining-manufacturing#sthash.ZQuA7nH5.dpuf

Snapshot or movie? Exploring the differences between RFID and RTLS

The terms Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Real-Time Location System (RTLS) can cause confusion since they are often used interchangeably. In fact, they mean something very different and RFID and RTLS solutions are used in very different ways.

RFID is the term used to describe the wireless retrieval of an identification code from an electronic tag using a radio signal emitted from the tag. These systems were developed to solve some of the shortcomings of barcodes, which can only be read at very short range, are easily damaged and become unreadable - if you can’t see the barcode you can’t read it. RFID systems solve this problem by using a radio signal rather than an optical scanner, and that radio signal can be read over longer ranges, even when no line-of sight exists between the tag and the reader. RFID tags come in two varieties: passive and active. Passive tags use no battery, and instead derive power from the radio signal emitted by a reader. These tags can truly be thought of as “next generation barcodes.” By contrast, active tags are powered by batteries, and as a result can transmit signals much further (10s and even more than hundred meters). This type of tag has advantages in certain situations but the battery makes them more expensive both from a manufacturing and maintenance standpoint.

Degrees of location

Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) not only retrieve the ID of an electronic tag but also pinpoint its location in real-time. In order to do this, the signal from the tag is received at multiple sensor locations which use methods such as triangulation or multilateration to calculate the tag position. This seems to be very different from the definition of an RFID system. So why is there confusion? The confusion comes from defining exactly what is meant by “location information” and the following examples helps to illustrate the point.

Area location

RFID systems only provide
 limited location information

A single RFID reader is placed at the center of a warehouse,and items are identified using long range RFID tags. Since the reader cannot physically hear tags outside the warehouse, it makes a list of all the tags that it can hear, and labels them as “in the warehouse.” In this case “in the warehouse” is location information derived from an RFID system comprising a single reader and active tags.

Proximity location

Two RFID readers are placed at either end of a warehouse populated as above with active tags. Both readers hear all tags, but they are connected via a network to a software application which compares the signal strength received. For a given tag, this application determines that the northern reader is receiving far more signal than the southern reader, and determines that the tag is therefore in the northern part of the warehouse. Again “in the northern part of the warehouse” is location information derived from a RFID system comprising multiple readers and active tags.

Choke point location

A single RFID reader is placed over a doorway, under which items pass which are identified using passive tags. The reader can only detect tags that are within 1,5 meters (due to their short range), confirming that any tag that it does hear must be in the vicinity of the doorway. Each tag ID is recorded as “at the doorway” along with the time at which it was detected. In this case “at the doorway” is location information derived from a RFID system comprising a single reader and passive tags.

Real-time location

A network of RTLS sensors is distributed throughout a building, and items in the building are identified using active tags. Anywhere in the building, multiple sensors can receive the signal from a given tag and measure either its signal strength, its time of arrival or its angle of arrival (or sometimes more than one of these). This information is passed via a network to an application that calculates the tags coordinates in the building. In this case “coordinates in the building” is location information derived from a network of RTLS sensors and active tags.

RTLS allows users to identify products at any stage
 of the assembly line and to control processes
based on the relative location of
products, tools, and mobile devices.

A better definition

These examples make both the reason for the confusion and the solution clear. Any system can be thought of as providing “location information” - even a barcode scanner. But a better definition of the term “RTLS” can immediately distinguish these systems from RFID systems: A Real-Time Location System is any system using a network of sensors to determine the coordinates of a tag in real-time, anywhere within an instrumented area. Using this definition we immediately understand that “in the warehouse” and “at the door just a minute ago” do not fall under the definition of RTLS. Rather “on shelf B7 on aisle 9 of the warehouse” and “entering through the door and turning towards aisle 3” are the hallmarks of location information delivered by an RTLS solution.This definition also makes no mention of radio frequency on purpose. RFID very clearly means radio frequency ID, without exception.

One further differentiator is that RTLS tags and sensors, whereas predominantly RF, can also use other technologies such as infrared and ultrasound. A good way to think about the difference is to think of RFID as a fixed still camera, and RTLS as a panning video camera. The fixed still camera can provide information about the scene within its field of view at the time a photo is taken. By contrast, a video camera that can pan and zoom provides continuous, real-time scene information over the entire area. This is the fundamental difference between RFID and RTLS: snapshot vs. movie. A series of snapshots at strategic times and locations can help build a picture of what was going on in the past, but only a video camera with a live feed can give real-time information about what’s going on, all the time.  That’s the power of RTLS.

Exploring How RTLS Can Begin to Reduce the 7 Wastes of Production

By Lyndsey Heavner, Manager, Operational Strategy at Ubisense

The concept of Lean Manufacturing is no longer just buzz terminology. Lean Manufacturing concepts are proven and practiced approaches to holistically improve operations through the streamlining of processes via the reduction of specific wastes. Coming from the Japanese philosophies of the Toyota Production System, the original categorization of "wastes" within production resulted in 7 Wastes - Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Over processing, and Defects. (A helpful acronym to remember the 7 Wastes is “TIM WOOD”.) Without going into to much detail of what each of these wastes are, we can effectively say that having any of these wastes in a production facility adds up to one business issue: more money is tied up in goods, assets and labor than necessary. So, reducing the 7 Wastes means reducing costs, and in today's economy, that's big money.

Within the manufacturing sector, notably in large industrial equipment manufacturing arenas such as automotive, aerospace, etc., applying Lean Manufacturing philosophies can be challenging. Where do you start? How do you identify the areas to target for improvement projects? How can you quantitatively and qualitatively measure wastes? The use of Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) can provide the automated, accurate visibility of process performance, asset usage, space usage, etc., that is needed to identify wastes and define improvement initiatives to reduce them. There are 2 key areas where Ubisense Location-driven manufacturing solutions can highlight the 7 wastes and enable process improvements - real-time process tracking and real-time asset tracking.

Real-time Process Tracking

Tracking parts or components as they move through an assembly process will provide visibility on a few of the mentioned waste areas. Let's start with Inventory. At a very basic level, real-time process tracking ultimately enables the accurate identification of all work in progress (WIP) in a factory. Visibility of WIP = visibility of inventory, both in progress part inventory and parts in stock. Lean philosophy is all about moving to single part flow and just-in-time manufacturing – i.e, reducing the ‘waste’ of on hand inventory. Having stock on hand - either pre-process parts, excessive work in process inventory, or finalized goods in stock – means more cash has been invested than necessary to keep the processes moving. High inventory levels are commonly a result of inaccurate or poor inventory visibility, causing (and also resulting from) poor demand planning (i.e., the “Bullwhip Effect”). This is exactly where real-time tracking of components can help! Using location information, it’s possible to begin to monitor and track part flow accurately, unveiling areas where unnecessary inventory build-up is occurring. Are there parts in non-value added areas - i.e, waiting to be processed? Are there finished goods building up in stock (Overproduction)? Is there a surplus of parts at 50% complete (preempting Overproduction)? As you can see, having accurate visibility of your process and inventory also starts to shed light on the other wastes as well.

Real-time Asset Tracking

The waste of Inventory is not just about part stock; it’s also about asset inventory, such as logistics media, specific tools or other equipment used to keep goods flowing through the process. Ubisense location-driven manufacturing solutions can also provide visibility of your asset inventory, allowing you to understand what further wastes you can reduce. Using location information gathered about tracked asset inventory, it’s possible to accurately analyse asset usage. Are assets waiting to be used, or are they used to their full capacity? With real-time tracking it’s possible to calculate the “down time” of assets and analyze if all the media, equipment, tools in stock are truly needed, which in turn can drive an inventory reduction. Additionally, real-time tracking of assets can reveal other wastes within operational processes that may not be evident until you actually see them. Think about logistic movements. Are transport flows as lean as they can be? How far are good transported and how often they are transported? Using historical location information, “spaghetti diagrams” can be built, depicting the travel paths of tracked asset. Seeing how assets are truly utilized enables the analysis of motion and transportation which paves the way for further waste reduction via flow optimization, and perhaps even plant layout optimization.

The few points that have been discussed are just starting to scratch the surface of how real-time location solutions can drive waste reduction and process improvements in manufacturing. Location information provides visibility, and visibility is necessary to begin to measure current the state of operations and effectively analyze areas where wastes exist.

Reliability, Reliability, Reliability

By Adrian Jennings.

As a company developing and selling location-based solutions is all too easy to slip into thinking that “location, location, location” is the critical factor. After all, why not? That’s the whole point, isn’t it?

Well, rarely actually: very few users of location-based solutions are directly interested in the location of things. It’s far more likely that the location of things is used as an indicator of the status of things, and it’s process-status that is critical in terms of efficiency and quality. Ubisense’s VIP application is a great example of this: users’ don’t so much care where items are in the factory so much as where they are in the process (which, oh by the way, we infer from where they are in the factory).

So maybe the adage for location-based solutions is “status, status, status”? That’s closer to the truth, but still not quite. When we stop thinking about location and start thinking about status we have started to see these solutions from a customer perspective: it’s not about the tags and sensors, it’s about the business value of the application that consumes location data. So indeed, “status” is critical thinking for a vendor in this space, and that’s becoming commonplace: Ubisense alone has solutions focused on manufacturing process visibility and control (VIP, ACS), tool accountability (Asset Manager), transport facility management (TYM), military training (LDT) and we’re just getting started.

When it comes down to it however, when a company rolls out these solutions, there is one customer expectation that is absolutely critical to meet: the solution has to work, just like you said it would, for absolute certain, all the time. Here’s the critical issue that we must never lose sight of: if we expect our customers to use and keep using our solutions then they must be absolutely reliable.

And that brings us back to thinking about sensors and tags, because when your highest aspiration is reliability you’d better build it in at the lowest level. Ubisense UWB systems are unique in measuring tag location in two different ways simultaneously: measuring the time of arrival of signals and also the angle of arrival. Two heads really are better that one: by using two different location determination methods the reliability of the data is dramatically increased. In an example application in automotive manufacturing, Ubisense achieves reliability better than six-sigma, and that’s unique in the industry.

Reliability, reliability, reliability: that’s the key to providing value, and to Ubisene's core principles and unique products.

Ubisense Tag combines UWB and GPS for 'best-of-both worlds' tracking named as CSR Location Summit Fast-Pitch finalist

Cambridge, 6th October, 2010.  Ubisense, the world leader in precise real-time location systems announces the Trimode Tag, the latest addition to its line of location tracking equipment for industrial users. The unique Trimode tag combines ultra-accurate ultra-wideband (UWB) location, low-cost presence sensing, and outdoor GPS tracking in a single device.

Inside buildings, the tag operates in the standard Ubisense UWB tracking mode, transmitting UWB signals to a network of base stations for unrivalled centimetre-level 3D location sensing. Within indoor areas, where low infrastructure cost is more important than tracking accuracy, the tag can operate in a 'presence' mode, using its on-board radio to simply indicate that the tag is at hand. When the tag is outdoors, it automatically switches to GPS mode, calculating its position from the satellite signals, and reporting them to the Ubisense system using its on-board radio.

"We're very excited by the possibilities afforded by the Trimode tag," said Andy Ward, Ubisense's Chief Technology Officer. "Our customers can now deploy a single tag to locate assets in real-time across their sites, both indoors and outdoors. We're providing the best of both worlds – precision tracking where it's needed indoors, and cost-effective, low-infrastructure tracking across large outdoor areas."

Powered by a high-capacity lithium battery, and housed in a rugged IP67 enclosure, the device is suitable for a wide range of mixed indoor/outdoor applications in the manufacturing, transit and military sectors.

Learning that the Trimode tag had been named as a finalist at the CSR Location Summit Fast-Pitch awards, in the “Most Innovative Connected Location Device” category, Ubisense CEO Richard Green, said: "Our major manufacturing customers like BMW, Aston Martin and Airbus rely on our precise UWB tracking to keep their production processes running smoothly, and we can now integrate large-area outdoor tracking into the same solution. I'm delighted that this innovative product is already receiving plaudits from industry experts."

Ubisense Announces Scheduling Interface with HASTUS™

San Antonio, Texas, 3 October, 2010. Ubisense, the world leader in transit yard location solutions and provider of the Transit Yard Manager™ solution for transit agencies, now integrates with GIRO's HASTUS™ software and supports real-time information exchange with HASTUS, an integrated and modular solution for optimized transit planning, scheduling, and operations installed at more than 250 transit companies in 23 countries.

Transit Yard Manager from Ubisense provides real-time visibility for indoor garages and outdoor transit yards to an accuracy of less than one meter, delivering exact bay, lane, and position information instantaneously. The system utilizes ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to provide up-to-the-minute, precise location tracking performance in tightly enclosed cluttered areas where other RFID and wireless technologies fail.  Ubisense Transit Yard Manager eliminates the costs associated with manually logging the constantly moving vehicles in a yard, and ensures that the vehicle is parked exactly where is shown in the system.  Ubisense Transit Yard Manager is installed in both bus and rail operations at locations around the world including Metro Transit (Minneapolis) and JNGV in Jena, Germany.

By providing schedule system integration through a real-time connection to the HASTUS solution, a dispatcher can select a piece of work in the scheduling system, highlight a bus on the interactive map in Transit Yard Manager, and “click to assign”. The application can then send the vehicle number and location to HASTUS.  With exact vehicle location in a yard, it is also possible to further automate the scheduling process using optimization tools available within HASTUS.

“One of the principal driving forces for transit agencies to deploy an automated vehicle location system within garages and yards is to increase the efficiencies with scheduling.  By connecting to HASTUS in real time, agencies will now be able to automatically indicate to driver operators the location of the vehicle without having to enter this information manually,” said Ubisense CEO Americas, Russ Chandler. “We are excited to be able to work with our partners at GIRO to provide this additional capability to our customers.”

 According to GIRO’s Benoît Lacroix, Director of Product Management - HASTUS, “GIRO recognizes our customers' avid interest in technology such as Transit Yard Manager. We are pleased this partnership will allow HASTUS users to benefit from automated yard tracking capabilities as well as further optimize daily operations with dynamic integration through our HASTUS-Connect tools.”

(end)

Crossing Over by Adrian Jennings

It’s an odd thing to find yourself working for your main competitor. After ten years at Time Domain, the last several of which as CTO, here I am at a conference with Ubisense embroidered on my shirt. Leaving Time Domain was a tough decision of course – after dedicating a decade of your life to a company it’s not easy to leave behind; harder still to say goodbye to close friends and respected colleagues. I wish them all every success.

But as I look again at my name and the Ubisense logo side-by-side on the same business card, it’s clear that I have made the right decision. Imagine my surprise, for example, to discover that Ubisense products actually work! Who knew? I’m also very relieved to find out that the company is staffed by capable, dedicated, fun people, and not the evildoers that I had pictured at all. I haven’t found a single altar dedicated to arcane ritual, but I’m still looking. I know it’s here somewhere.

During the process of moving over, more than a few people asked me if I hadn’t had enough of UWB – after so long working to make it successful wasn’t I ready to move on to something else? Not at all! I’m a physicist at heart, and after asking yourself which RF technology is best for locating objects with high precision, it’s a simple thing to start from the physics of RF and end up with UWB as the answer. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe that.

For a while there it seemed like the only people who knew this were those developing UWB RTLS products. But a lot has changed in the last decade: location based services have not only become the norm, but the expectation; location technologies have multiplied, spread, and settled in their niches; users have integrated location into their core operations; and UWB has moved to the forefront as the only choice for precise, real-time process control and optimization.

What better example than the Ubisense Users Conference that just wrapped up here in Cambridge? Several people have asked me what I thought of the conference, and my answer is about what you’d expect: fascinating and successful: two days of packed agenda with users talking about how UWB has transformed businesses ranging from aerospace to cattle, from Madame Butterfly to rehabilitating injured soldiers. But the real question is not “how do you think the conference went?” but “what do you think of the fact that there is such a conference?”

Two years ago this wouldn’t have been possible: UWB RTLS hadn’t transformed anything. A lot has happened since then: hardware has matured into proven, mission-ready systems, generic software platforms have matured into robust value-added solutions, and UWB has taken hold. For me this conference meant two important things: Ubisense is a company that is really making UWB RTLS happen, and the industry has matured significantly from sporadic pilot programs to real operational deployment.

Am I done with UWB? Far from it – it’s just starting to get interesting.

Eximia win RFID Security Award for Ubisense based Meerkat

Cambridge, UK, 6 August 2010 - Italian specialist RFID company Eximia, has been awarded the RFID Award 2010 for Innovation, for their Meerkat personnel safety monitoring system. Meerkat is based on the award-winning Ubisense solution.

"The Meerkat product has been developed to closely monitor and ensure access for authorised personnel in hazardous environments such as refineries, power plants, mines, shipyards, inland terminals and airports,” says Dariush Behboudi, CTO of Eximia,  “The system ensures personnel can only gain access to areas for which they have the proper work permit. The system also records all activity, both in terms of position and video.  Meerkat includes an alarm system, which is triggered if there is any deviation from standard operational procedure."

Meerkat is currently being used to monitor activities within a very large maintenance hangar of a major Italian airline. The introduction of the system has allowed the hanger access policies to be constantly reviewed: each employee wears an ultra-wideband (UWB) Ubisense Tag, which is encased in a leather wallet bearing the company badge, and must always be exposed to view.  The Ubisense system identifies the location of the individual at around 50cm accuracy in 3D within a 100m x 100m hangar.

The Meerkat system integrates optical and thermal imaging cameras for video surveillance, motion detection and pattern recognition, measuring temperature, pressure and the unique ID of each badge.
"Meerkat manages and integrates information from different technologies,” continues Behboudi, “such as DCS, SCADA, PLC, ERP systems, supervision and control, video surveillance platforms and utliises localisation platforms such as Ubisense UWB and GPS to provide real-time positioning. The dashboard allows Meerkat to display spatial information alongside summary tables."

In addition to improving overall process monitoring and quality assurance, the system decreases the overall risk to passengers and crew, and a number of other advantages have also been noted such as increasing security at work, more efficient risk management and a proven audit system which can be used in any potential reconstruction during risk investigations.

Finally, complete visibility of the hangar and all personnel provides additional security in the event of an accident.  The system is now in daily operation and it is expected that Meerkat will be extended to the airline’s other hangars in the near term.

New Ubisense Tag Module puts precise ultra-wide band (UWB) tracking at the heart of third-party products

Ubisense, the global leader in precise Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS), reveals the new Ubisense Tag Module. Designed for direct integration into third-party devices, the Ubisense Tag Module is the first ultra-wide band (UWB) location tracking device certified in the US, Canada and the EU.

The new Ubisense Tag Module is an advanced version of the standard Ubisense location-tracking tag, which is used for tracking people and assets and managing critical production processes by organisations such as BMW, Airbus, Aston Martin and the US Army. It transmits UWB radio signals that allow the Ubisense location system to find its position in real-time to within 15cm in 3D, dependent on system configuration and environment.

The Ubisense Tag Module measures only 24.5mm x 24.5mm x 9.1mm, and its design allows it to be integrated into and receive power from a host device, letting third-parties ‘location-enable’ their products with ease. It has received Modular Certification in the US, Canada and EU, so integrators do not need to perform expensive and time-consuming UWB emissions testing on their final products. Furthermore, its data port allows the host device to transfer information bi-directionally to and from other systems via the Tag Module’s wireless link.

“We are delighted to announce immediate availability of the Ubisense Tag Module,” says Andy Ward, Chief Technology Officer at Ubisense. “We’re very excited about the new opportunities that this component will offer our customers, who can now include precision location tracking capability directly into their products. And since integrators can send simple telemetry to and from their products via the Tag Module’s wireless link, they don’t need to include a separate radio module in their system for that purpose.”

Ubisense has also introduced a Module Development Research Kit, to support integrators who are considering location-enabling their products. The package includes Tag Modules, sensors, software and documentation – everything necessary to allow experimentation with the Ubisense Tag Module.

RFId Journal Article - Airbus Installs RTLS for Large-Component Assembly

Ubisense RFID tags, readers and software will make it easier for the French aircraft manufacturer to track production of key components for its A380 double-decker planes.
By Claire Swedberg

Feb. 19, 2010—Furthering its initiative to employ radio frequency identification technology to improve its efficiency in the manufacture and maintenance of its aircraft, Airbus is installing a real-time locating system (RTLS) provided by Ubisense at some of its assembly plants in Europe. The system, expected to go live by the end of this year's second quarter, will enable the company to track the production of large components for its A380 commercial passenger airliners, as the double-deck, wide-body, four-engine planes move from one zone to another within those facilities.

A Ubisense battery-powered RFID tag transmits a unique ID number via an ultra-wideband (UWB) RF band between 6 and 8.5 GHz. Readers (which Ubisense calls sensor units) capture that ID number and send it to a server via a cabled connection, along with location data. Software running on that server compares the tag signals as received from several readers, and then calculates the tag's location based on time difference of arrival (TDOA). Tags typically can be read at a distance of up to 160 meters (525 feet). The system can pinpoint each tag's location within 30 centimeters (12 inches), says Richard Green, Ubisense's CEO.

Currently, manual data entry is required to track the progress of a specific component in assembly. However, with the RFID system in place, the component's location would become automatically visible and in real time.

Once the system goes live, a tag will be affixed to the core of each large component before the assembly process begins. Within the facility, Ubisense sensor units will read the unique ID number of every tag as it moves through the plant. The Ubisense software creates zones based on locations within the assembly area in which each sensor unit is located, Green says, and can thereby determine when a given component has moved into a new zone, thus indicating it has begun a new procedure.

Internet-based Ubisense software can then send an alert if, for example, a component has remained too long in a specific location or zone, or issue a notification when a part passes from one process to the next. Once a component is fully constructed, its tag is removed for reuse on another item undergoing assembly.

Link to complete Article

BMW revolutionises vehicle assembly using new Ubisense solution

Final acceptance of Tool Assistance System to automatically relate vehicles and torque tools successfully achieved at BMW plant in Regensburg. Solution extends the automation of vehicle assembly, reducing both defect rate and production costs.

Cambridge, August 3^rd 2009 – Ubisense has successfully completed the implementation of a new Tool Assistance System (TAS) at BMW’s production facility in Regensburg. TAS is based on the Location Identification System, which, as the name implies, is designed to locate and identify production assets. LIS/TAS has been developed jointly by Ubisense and IBS AG and is the result of bringing together the Ubisense real-time location system (RTLS) and the IBS software systems, which provide the link between the location system and the existing BMW IT environment.

The Tool Assistance System rolled out in Regensburg provides automatic recognition of the vehicles being assembled as well as automatically detecting their proximity to production automation equipment such as intelligent tools and test equipment. TAS eliminates both the need to scan barcodes on vehicle work-orders, in itself not a value adding activity, as well as manually generated defects arising from scanning the wrong asset. The system works by evaluating the spatial relationship between production automation systems and the vehicles continuously in real-time. A positive “relationship event” is generated when a mobile tool enters a pre-defined zone around the vehicle or when a vehicle enters a zone around an item of automation equipment.

LIS/TAS is fully integrated into BMW’s production IT environment via the IBS Communications Platform which provides all the necessary interfaces to the relevant systems. In particular this includes the administration of the tools and vehicles as well as passing on the tool control events via IP telegrammes. A relationship event causes a new vehicle-specific program to be loaded into the tool or starts an automation system with the correct program for the particular vehicle detected. Typical tools and equipment in this context are torque tools, riveting hammers, diagnostic equipment, and programmable logic controllers.

The system is in production across the entire Regensburg assembly plant where around 120 tool systems are used to produce approximately 1,000 cars per day. The vehicle location in 3D is performed in real-time via Ubisense tags located on the cars. These tags are small transponders which are located using ultra-wideband radio technology by sensors mounted at fixed locations along the production line. The location and identification information is analysed for relationship events and the information passed on directly to the BMW IT environment. Ultra-wideband technology enables high precision location by transmitting extremely short pulses with very low energy (less than 0.1 milliwatts per m²) which means there are no negative effects on other systems or the health of the staff.

“The introduction of LIS/TAS has resulted in the elimination of the need to scan vehicles in order to identify them”, comments Andreas Lehner, project manager at BMW in Regensburg. “All the project objectives have been met on time and within the planned budget. From the standpoint of value creation, the project is a complete success”.

Richard Green, CEO of Ubisense, is very pleased with the results achieved. “Ubisense, together with our partner IBS, is the only RTLS vendor able to fulfil all BMW’s requirements and LIS/TAS is a unique tool for the automotive industry. We have here a clear differentiator and are delighted with the praise from BMW.”