Savi Technology, a Lockheed Martin company, today unveiled a wireless Real Time Locating System (RTLS) to automatically locate assets in facilities or industrial yards that's far less expensive and easier to implement than conventional RTLS systems. The announcement was made here at the National Press Club along with availability of two other Savi innovations - a hybrid RFID/SatCom GlobalTag and upgraded SmartChain 6.0 Adaptive Application suite - on the company's 20th year in business.
Savi RTLS breaks through the "cost, complexity and configuration barriers" of other RTLS solutions that are based on Wi-Fi, WLAN or other wireless data technologies. A DASH7 technology based on ISO-compliant active, battery-powered RFID, Savi RTLS can slash time spent locating assets while improving operational efficiency.
Savi RTLS also performs well in harsh and heavy-metal environments, and is ideally suited for defense and government supply depots; heavy manufacturing plants; job shops; oil and gas refineries; aerospace and automotive material, repair and overhaul operations; hospitals; and, outdoor areas storing heavy equipment such as trailers, chassis, containers, bulk emergency supplies, power equipment, etc.
"Savi RTLS breaks through the cost, complexity and configuration barriers of other RTLS solutions," said Steve Farrell, Savi Technology's vice president of Hardware Engineering. "The Savi RTLS Solution adds a further dimension to our growing portfolio of interoperable solutions that identify, track, and manage assets, whether in-transit across the supply chain or at rest at a precise location. Because of the elegant simplicity of our design, the Savi RTLS Solution can be installed within hours at very low cost to reduce capital infrastructure investments."
Conventional RTLS solutions can take weeks or months to install, requiring complex site analyses and systems integration services to install multiple, high-cost readers that are hard-wired into a central processer. This large network of readers is required to determine the location of tagged assets sending signals to the readers.
The Savi RTLS Solution offers a much simpler approach with dramatically less reader infrastructure. The Savi solution utilizes low-cost, battery-operated "Location Markers," which are about the size and shape of hockey pucks. These Location Markers can easily be placed most anywhere in a facility or yard. Location Markers communicate their "reference points" to assets equipped with Savi's new ST-632 active RFID asset tag. The RFID tag collects and transmits its identity and nearby reference point to Savi SmartChain software, which calculates that tag's location and displays it on a site map of the customer's facility.
Because of the ease-of-implementation of the Location Markers, the Savi solution also is highly scalable and flexible in the most challenging and complex environments. The ST-632 tags also have lights and buzzers on them that can be activated, if necessary, to help staff quickly find the asset's location.
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