For most of us who’ve been involved in this industry for any length of time, it’s easy to think of Zebra Technologies first as a source for barcode printers. Indeed, the company’s presence in that important industry category is so huge that its wide experience with location solutions is sometimes overshadowed. But, I was reminded of its commitment to location solutions recently by the announcement of its new System Builder software, a planning tool for deployment of Zebra’s Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS).
System Builder employs the Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) positioning method to exploit the full potential of Zebra’s WhereNet and Dart UWB networks. TDOA information is derived by paired subtraction of uplink Time of Arrival (TOA) values measured at the Serving Mobile Location Center (SMLC). Device position is then calculated by “hyperbolic trilateration,” similar to GPS systems. The result is exceptional accuracy of real-time location data.
Among the features I’m most excited about is that System Builder is so easy to install and use thanks to its intuitive installation wizard and user interface. Scalability is built in, allowing management of hundreds of WhereNet and Dart UWB location devices from one or from multiple maps.
System Builder is also specifically designed to simplify planning of placement and area coverage of location sensors, including compensation for known RF blockers within the plan area. Bottom line: You’re far more likely to get your RTLS design right the first time with the help of System Builder.
System Builder also incorporates a unique publish feature that provides the ability to “push” the planned system configuration to all sensors and hubs from its central files, while validating the consistency of the installed configuration.