Next-generation wireless technology advances asset management
With billions of business assets left unmanaged, demand for more cost-effective connectivity systems is growing.
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Reducing operating expenses and improving productivity are goals on nearly everyone's mind right now. A new class of GPS-enabled, wireless-networked asset management modules with integrated tracking application software is changing the way assets can be located in organizations.
Asset tracking has long been considered a perfect fit for integrated global positioning and wide area data communications technologies. Fleet management and automotive tracking systems, the pioneer users of wide area networking technologies, leveraged circuit-switched data and text messaging along with evolving wireless Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructures as communications platforms for their demanding applications.
Today, the latest-generation architectures including GSM and GPRS are driving mobile communications and becoming relatively ubiquitous across the globe. Coupled with GPS chipsets that are smaller and less expensive than seemed possible five years ago, these elements make up some of today's tracking applications for fleets of all sizes. These developments have given rise to an emerging asset management market where billions of potentially connected assets exist.
Where the assets are
While numerous systems have come to market, providing developers and designers the ability to choose from a wide array of connectivity alternatives, several issues are inhibiting their broad-based adoption. For example, targeted assets tend to be nomadic, which means these devices are mobile but not necessarily in constant motion, nor do they always need regular communication. Instead, they tend to move only periodically, and as a result, location awareness is less real-time driven and more event or moment based.
As long as an asset is where it needs to be – when it is supposed to be there communications can be kept to a minimum, saving valuable power resources. These assets are usually remote and stored for extended periods of time, demanding little to no user interaction. Services such as asset maintenance and repair, security monitoring, and location-based asset tracking for accounting and operational provisioning are driving the demand for low-power assets and their connectivity.
With billions of business assets left unmanaged, demand for more cost-effective connectivity systems is growing. Until recently, three factors have limited the market feasibility of these systems: device cost, IT connectivity, and maintenance burdens. It is difficult for companies to justify broad-scale wireless asset management deployment when the tracking devices cost half as much or more as the assets to which they are attached. Furthermore, proprietary systems make it challenging to communicate with tracking devices from existing back-end applications when maintenance requires physical contact with every device.
Tracking building blocks
In terms of more practical concerns, asset management devices or tags must be capable of long battery life (on the order of months or years) and be rugged enough to survive the extreme environments in which they are often deployed. They must be easy to integrate into a corporate IT infrastructure that lends itself to an IP-based data transfer. Due to the pay-per-bit nature of cellular networks, transfer protocols must be optimized around packet size, ensuring effective cost-based performance.
Longstanding barriers such as size, performance, and cost (upfront and recurring) have impeded adoption of these systems. Until now, asset management devices have had to compromise on at least one of those dimensions, if not all three.
Tags such as the example shown in Figure 1 contain three fundamental building blocks: an applications processor, GPS module, and GSM/GPRS processor.
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| Figure 1 (click image to zoom by 1.3x) |
Because the GPS and GSM modules are the major power limiters, both must be used as little as possible to conserve valuable power resources. Low-power microcontrollers are the preferred applications processors for energy consumption reasons; however, they have limited processing and memory capability, which can severely reduce the potential for optimizing data transfer. Location-based services such as geo-fencing and “bread crumb trails” also can be constrained by lack of MIPS and memory capacity. More powerful applications processors are available but can diminish power efficiency while at the same time increasing total system cost.
Compounding these problems are the costs of changing an application to adapt to a dynamic wireless network environment. Devices intended for years of use in remote, out-of-reach locations must be flexible enough to allow changes to the operating parameters as well as the application itself.
Crossing the barriers
Early entrants in the marketplace have not been able to cross the cost and performance barriers due to the lack of access to market-leading GSM and GPS chipsets, along with their embedded software stacks. These key factors cripple competitive architectures from the point of design and integration through deployment and operation. An example might include the ability to access a tag in a remote facility, updating a particular parameter in software designed for a new business process. Remotely accessing the tag is a critical element for application efficiency and business operation. The ability to make changes to a wireless data connection in today's fluid communications network environment can be a daunting task.
Some GPS modules have targeted the navigation markets but do not directly address the challenges of low-power location with periodic tracking. Further aggravating the problem is the lack of back-end systems. Many great ideas have failed to reach the market because they could not overcome the challenges of scaling, remote provisioning, and device/application management.
Low-power innovation
The next generation of wireless asset management systems based on low-power hardware and service gateway hardware are overcoming these barriers and providing cost-effective alternatives that address energy, regulatory, and time-to-market issues. An example of this type of technology is Enfora's Enabler Low-Power Platform (LPP).
At first glance, this tag has appears to have all the same features as other typical designs: GPS, GSM/GPRS, and a microcontroller. (See block diagram in Figure 2.) However, it is built with energy efficiency in mind utilizing three devices from Texas Instruments, including a LoCosto GSM/GPRS processor, MSP430 microcontroller, and NaviLink 5.0 GPS receiver. When tightly coupled with value-added software, this tag delivers an advanced, fully integrated, low-power communications platform.
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| Figure 2 (click image to zoom) |
To help evolve next-generation wireless asset management systems, the platform distributes and optimizes responsibilities throughout the device. The MSP430 handles most of the power management, application, and I/O requirements. The GPS chip controls location-based services and is responsible for processing geo-fence calculations needed for advanced asset tracking services. If a fence violation is detected, the LoCosto processor takes over tracking responsibility while establishing, monitoring, and maintaining the IP connection. It also stores all connection parameters and hosts the TCP and UDP stack, enhancing overall operation. Transfer efficiency is achieved within the same processor by expanding on the transport. For designs that utilize rechargeable batteries, the GSM block also performs that task, reducing size, cost, and complexity.
Being energy efficient
In addition to the low-power hardware and breadth of device responsibility, it is important to ensure that next-generation systems provide flexibility and adaptability to create maximum efficiency. Additionally, these systems should offer current meters to give an indication of a device's battery life.
For example, the Enabler LPP keeps track of how much time was spent in the different operating states, providing an accurate report of how much current has been used and where the energy is being spent. Based on that information, the application can choose to alter the operating parameters. For instance, if the device is getting frequent indications of movement but the GPS readings do not show and confirm associated movement, sensitivity settings can be altered remotely, and a new battery life projection will be calculated.
Graphical user interfaces can help designers create use case studies that will predict how long a device will last in the field. By doing so, designers can quickly see the effects on battery life if they change reporting intervals, GPS tracking times, and sleep intervals. With the Enabler LPP, once a model is built, the application will automatically generate the script file needed to configure the device.
When this tag is used in conjunction with the Enfora Service Gateway Provisioner (Figure 3), the settings can be pushed to one or all devices in the field, simplifying maintenance, network tuning, and application performance. The software will store and forward configuration data to the devices, handle all protocol conversions, accept device data, and make that data available to standard database applications.
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| Figure 3 (click image to zoom by 2.0x) |
Connecting to the enterprise
Moving forward, asset management will play an ever-increasing role in corporate capital management and asset utilization. These wirelessly connected devices will help reduce operating expenses and improve business productivity. Through the Internet, this next-generation technology will enable powerful new levels of asset management and permit companies to connect a broader array of devices to their IT and accounting infrastructures.
Scott D. Constien is the VP of technology and CTO at Enfora, Inc., based in Richardson, Texas, where he is responsible for setting the company's technology direction. He played a key role in leading Enfora's technology migration from cellular digital packet data to GSM/GPRS product development. Prior to joining Enfora, Scott worked with INET Technologies and Texas Instruments Defense and Electronics Group. Scott graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Enfora, Inc.
972-633-4400
sconstien@enfora.com
www.enfora.com
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