This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project seeks to transform the real time location system (RTLS) industry by bringing to fruition a simple, inexpensive, yet highly accurate location awareness technology called Near Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER). The proposed research will assess a radically new tracking technology by focusing on the technology's two primary technical uncertainties. First, the research will determine limits to antenna miniaturization without compromising a reliable link (i.e., how small a tag is possible). Second, the research will determine limits to system capacity (i.e., how many items can be tracked at a particular update rate). Phase I will ascertain these uncertainties through a combination of theoretical analysis and real-world testing of prototype systems.
Real time locating systems (RTLS) is an important and rapidly growing segment within the radio frequency identification (RFID) industry. In today's world of just-in-time commerce, supply chain management (SCM) requires inexpensive RTLS to improve efficiency and maintain competitiveness. Established technologies such as global positioning system (GPS), ultra-wideband (UWB), and traditional time-of-flight ranging are unable to perform satisfactorily within complicated real-world, indoor propagation environments.
