Ubisense News

Ubisense launches Location Driven Military Training Solution with Integrated Weapon Orientation at I/ITSEC

2010-01-04T15:18:00.000-07:00

Denver, Colorado - November 23 2009. To meet the growing demand for integrating location-driven solutions in the modern military training environment, Ubisense has developed a new ground breaking training suite. The Ubisense Location Driven Training Suite combines precision tracking from Ubisense, GPS data, real-time virtual world views, video cameras and weapons orientation from Innalabs into a single platform for a fully interactive Exercise Control (EXCON) and After Action Review (AAR) system.

Through the confluence of technologies After Action Reviews can be generated immediately, helping to improve training effectiveness. Video streams are indexed using spatial location and new weapons effects improve the variety and realism of training.

“By combining the Ubisense ultrawideband precise location with the Innalabs miniature orientation sensor, training systems can now track weaponry, head position, or full-body movements. ” said Jamie Marraccini, COO of Innalabs. “The system works indoors and outdoors, in dense urban environments, and independent of lighting conditions”.

Another key element of the After Action Review is automatic video indexing which enables analysts to rapidly build relevant reports. The system can automatically generate events such as a person entering a zone or a simulated kill from a weapon and it can also be integrated into external event systems such as Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) 2000. By knowing the correct location and time for each event, the best virtual and video footage can be automatically retrieved and placed in an index. This dramatically reduces the time it takes analysts to generate reports minimizing the time between an exercise and the after action learning session.

“Our solution design is based on our extensive experience gathered from working with customers such as the National Training Center at Fort Irwin where 14 buildings are instrumented with our location tracking technology,” said Ubisense CEO Richard Green. “We believe this will have significant value for the training community by providing not just precision location tracking but a solution to easily deploy and integrate that technology into other training centers”.

Ubisense opens Canadian Office

2010-01-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

Cambridge, 20 November 2009. Ubisense, the world leader in Precise Real-Time Location Systems announces that it has opened a new office in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Ubisense Canada was formed in September and officially opened on October 1, 2009. Ubisense’s Canadian team will be continuing to support existing Canadian customers, including Manitoba Hydro and Terasen Gas. Ubisense will also be expanding their consulting and Precision Real Time Location Systems business within the region.

During the past year, Ubisense has dramatically increased its worldwide presence, expanding operations in Korea, Australia and New Zealand, as adoption rates have increased despite downward global economic pressure.

Ubisense Americas CEO Russ Chandler commented "As business has increased for us across North America, we have chosen to establish ourselves in Canada to better serve the needs of our rapidly growing base of Canadian customers and employees. Operating directly in Canada offers us many advantages and puts us into a better position to respond rapidly to the needs of our Canada-based customers and partners."

Ubisense and Atlas Copco Industrial Technique enter development partnership.

2009-12-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Ubisense, the world Leader in precise Real-time Location Systems, and Atlas Copco Industrial Technique, the world-leading provider of industrial productivity solutions, are collaborating in the research and development of real-time locations systems for industrial tooling.

“Collaborating with the world’s leading precise real-time location system provider will allow us to continue to develop innovative solutions for our customers who wish to significantly increase their productivity and quality in these tough economic times,” explains Anders Lindquist, President MVI Division at Atlas Copco Industrial Technique. “We became aware of the potential of the Ubisense approach to real-time location at our mutual customer, BMW in Regensburg, Germany. Subsequent discussions with potential customers for this type of technology not only in the Motor Vehicles market but also in aerospace, mining and construction equipment as well as discrete manufacturing led us to the idea of pooling our knowledge and resources to create a new family of solutions for our customers.”

The Ubisense system is installed in the production facilities of companies such as BMW, Aston Martin, Caterpillar and Honda. The application at BMW called LIS/TAS involves tracking the industrial tools used on the final assembly line and loading the correct program into the tool automatically based on the specific vehicle being worked upon.

“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”.

“This unique relationship allows Atlas Copco Industrial Technique and Ubisense to investigate the key innovations that will drive the next set of standards for use in manufacturing production and enable significant process improvements”, comments Terry Phebey, VP Sales Ubisense.

About Atlas Copco Industrial Technique

Atlas Copco’s Industrial Technique business area develops, manufactures and markets industrial power tools, assembly systems, software and service. It innovates for superior productivity for applications in the automotive and aerospace industry, general industrial manufacturing and maintenance, and vehicle service worldwide. Principal product development and main manufacturing units are in Sweden and France.
More information on the company is available at www.atlascopco.com.

Ubisense adds WiFi deployment option

2009-11-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

Ubisense adds WiFi deployment option to its world-leading UWB-based precise real-time location system and is shortlisted as a finalist in the IET Innovation Awards for 2009

Cambridge, UK -October 13, 2009 - Ubisense, shortlisted for the Institute of Engineering and Technology 2009 Innovation Awards for development of its precise real-time location system (RTLS), announces a new wireless deployment option for its systems, allowing customers to reduce installation costs whilst still achieving class-leading 3D RTLS accuracy.

Andy Ward, Ubisense's Chief Technology Officer, says: "Ubisense sensors can now operate in a 'wireless' mode, where they only need a local power supply and communicate over standard WiFi networks with the rest of the RTLS. This allows cost-effective coverage in areas which have existing mains power supply but would be expensive to reach with data cabling."

Ubisense has seen strong interest in this capability from the manufacturing, transit, and worker safety sectors, particularly in large open areas where sites have existing coverage for power (for example, for lighting or security systems), but where cabling costs for RTLS deployment might be prohibitive. Both wired and wireless sensors can be mixed within the same Ubisense RTLS, providing a spectrum of deployment options through which the RTLS can be tailored to the requirements of each specific site and application.

"We are delighted to offer this new capability to our customers. It's important to minimise installation costs in any RTLS deployment, and this added flexibility helps us do just that", says Richard Green, Ubisense CEO. "By reducing the number of cable runs that need to be made we can dramatically cut the cost of ownership of these systems and achieve a return-on-investment even more quickly."

The new functionality has already been deployed with customers at transit and shipyard sites, and is available to both existing and new Ubisense customers as part of the latest revisions of the Ubisense location platform software.

Link

Ubisense launches Transit Yard Manager

2009-11-03T12:38:00.002-07:00

Ubisense launches Transit Yard Manager with the world's leading precise real-time location system at the American Public Transportation Association Annual Meeting in Orlando Oct 5-8, 2009.

Orlando, Florida - October 8, 2009 - Ubisense, the world leader in precise Real-Time Location Systems, announced today that it has released the Ubisense Transit Yard Manager which provides complete visibility to yard and garage operations for transit organizations of any size. Traditionally, Transit companies have had visibility of where their vehicles are when they are on routes but once they enter garages and yards the location is collected using manual, paper-based tracking. With Ubisense, transit agencies are provided in real-time with the exact parking space location of vehicles and assets allowing processes to be improved and operating costs to be reduced.
Transit Yard Manager provides a 2D and 3D web based view of any garage and yard and automatically generates electronic versions of mark up sheets that can be accessed from any Internet enabled PC or mobile device. Benefits include eliminating search time for vehicles, improving yard pull out efficiency through more intelligent staging, integration with maintenance management to easily identify or hold vehicles in need of maintenance reducing road side call outs, and automated vehicle entry and lane assignment. Transit Yard Manager, when integrated with scheduling, dispatch, maintenance, and GPS-based automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems provides a real-time, seamless and intuitive view of all transit operations.

"Transit Yard Management is one of a suite of industry-focused applications we are launching which utilize the Ubisense superior location technology and software platform to deliver significant value for particular industries, including transit, manufacturing, military, and agriculture," said Richard Green, CEO of Ubisense. "Transit Yard Manager demonstrates how the combination of a precise real-time location when combined with software tailored to a specific set of industry needs can transform an organization to the next level."

Ubisense has recently been deployed by Metro Transit in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. At Metro Transit, dispatchers are given instant access to the location of each bus along with up to date maintenance information for each vehicle. Access to location also gives maintenance supervisors a fast way to check if buses have left a service bay. It also helps staff more quickly recover items reported lost by customers and benefits transit supervisors who need to quickly retrieve security video on buses with VHS recording systems.

"It's important that transit agencies use technology to gain efficiencies", said Brian Lamb, General Manager at Metro Transit. "This new dispatching system will help us work smarter. We know instantly where every bus is at every garage."

Ubisense is deploying transit solutions across North America and Europe teaming with leading transit solution providers.

Link to transit information

Aston Martin knows precisely where their cars are in production in real-time with Ubisense

2009-10-29T13:56:00.000-06:00

Aston Martin, famous the world over for precision engineering and performance has turned to the number one supplier of precision real-time location systems to gain complete visibility of its production processes.

Cambridge UK — 3rd September 2009 — Aston Martin, the prestigious sports car manufacturer, is using the Ubisense precise real-time location system in its daily production operations at the company's headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire.

The Ubisense system enhances already rigorous off-line finishing processes, through analysis and optimisation of each process, ensuring its efficiency at all times.

Ubisense tags are attached inside the windscreen of the prestigious cars as they begin their off-line finishing process. From that moment on, Ubisense Process Tracker provides production engineers complete visibility of each Aston Martin as it progresses through the facility. The tags are only removed when the car is dispatched to sales.

Using a web browser, a production engineer can locate any car on a map, and watch its progress in real-time. They can also view a log of which process steps a car has been through and the time spent in each step. An alert is raised immediately if a car deviates from the process. The system operates over a standard network and is managed day to day by internal Aston Martin production employees.

Richard Green, CEO of Ubisense, says “We are very proud to have installed this bespoke system within Aston Martin, one of the worlds leading sports car manufacturers. We work with many automotive and manufacturing companies demonstrating the accuracy and strength of our system.”

Link to full article

Ubisense announces immediate availability of Korean compliant product

2009-10-26T16:47:00.003-06:00

Ubisense announces immediate availability of Korean compliant product and announces production installations in World’s most hostile environments

Cambridge, August 28th, 2009 Ubisense, the world Leader in Precise Real Time Location Systems, announces availability of its award winning solution in Korea and acceptance of the worlds most reliable RTLS System at POSCO’s Finex Plant in Pohang, S. Korea

“The Korean version of Ubisense will allow us to satisfy the enormous demand we have witnessed since first introducing the product to research institutes in 2006”, says HB Choi, General Manager, Ubisense Korea. “We already have deployments in 25 organisations and with immediate availability of a fully compliant product we will be able to satisfy the enormous pent-up demand we have seen from the Industrial and Manufacturing Market”

Korean Manufacturers include some of the highest volume automotive plants in the world, so the timing of the availability of Ubisense, already with a worldwide reputation at reducing costs and improving productivity for leading companies such as BMW, Honda and Caterpillar is pertinent, says, Simon Holloway of Manufacturing Consultancy, Bloor Associates.

About POSCO

The fourth largest steel producer in the world and a bedrock of Korea's industrial development, POSCO is an innovative leader in Korean industry, ranked by Business Week in 2007 as the “most admired company in Asia”.

Link to Complete Release

Ubisense gaming in Ireland

2009-08-19T09:53:00.002-06:00

Scientists are developing sensor- based computer games to get children moving while they think. CLAIRE O’CONNELL reports

IT’S A scene many young families have faced over the dismal summer – rain stops play outside, and soon the indoor attention turns to computer games that engage kids in little more physical activity than twiddling their fingers while hunched over a console.

Of course, innovations such as the Wii have helped get kids off the couch, using sensors to transform living rooms into virtual tennis courts, boxing rings and even snowy pistes.

But an Irish research consortium has been exploring computer games at a new level, developing approaches that get young players moving across larger spaces and engaging with each other.

It’s all down to the most simple of sensors, nothing too grand, explains Prof Alan Smeaton, deputy director of Clarity, a Science Foundation Ireland centre that links Dublin City University, University College Dublin and Tyndall National Institute in Cork.

“We do all kinds of complex measurements here on phosphates and water quality and we look at the pH of sweat – it’s all very high end,” says Smeaton. “But sometimes the simplest of sensors can give you applications that you wouldn’t have thought of before. So we started to think about what could we do based on games.”

Out of that grew two approaches – one based on sheep-herding where players run around a virtual “field” steering sheep into a central pen, the other on a dance-mat that encourages children to jump on the correct answer.

And how did they iron out teething problems with the new computer games? By recruiting crowds of kids to put them through their paces – once a week, participants in DCU’s summer camp have been visiting the labs to put the game to the ultimate road test.

“It has been known on this corridor all summer that Tuesday morning is not a good time to get any work done because of the screaming and roaring,” says Smeaton, as we walk into a sparse room with a large screen at one end showing an animated field. In a few minutes the de-cluttered lab will be full of seven and eight year olds running around in pairs or egging on players from the sidelines, but for now he demonstrates how the game works, popping a small gadget called Ubisense into his pocket.

“It has got accelerometers and sensors in it,” he explains. “When [Ubisense] is moved it emits pulses many times a second and those are picked up by [receivers], which use Inter Cert trigonometry to calculate where you are.”

The system maps Smeaton onto the onscreen field and tracks him as he dashes around the room, chasing virtual sheep into a central pen that corresponds to a marked section on the floor.

“This is great as a little toy but at the back of it we are scientists and we have been working with School of Health and Human Performance to figure out how the game should evolve,” he says of the system, developed by Marc Gowing.

“Getting the sheep into the pen builds spatial awareness and co-ordination, but you can then progress that further by insisting the kids only move backwards, or hopping on one foot.”

Nor does it take long for the seven and eight-year-old testers to learn the basics – within minutes of filing into the darkened lab from the summer camp they are working in pairs to herd the sheep around the field with plenty of sideline instruction from their peers.

But while the sensors are cheap, the cost of the indoor prototype runs to thousands of euro, making it too pricey at the moment for general use.

Less costly, but no less active, is the other “exerlearning” game, which involves a souped up electronic dance mat. Instead of throwing shapes to music, individual players jump on particular squares on the mat to answer maths problems or to spell out answers to questions.

“Again it’s simple sensors but it’s surrounded by an application that gets the crowd going,” says Smeaton of the system, developed by Brendan O’Huiginn at UCD, who used off-the-shelf or free components and software.

And as with the sheep chasing, the children immediately engage with the dance mat setup, shouting out answers to the player in the hotspot and cheering as the scores go up.

As well as having fun, the testers have been helping to improve the games, explains Smeaton. “We are not keeping data on the kids, we are not storing any information apart from the high score – and there’s plenty of competition for that. But we are learning how the game works and to maximise it.”

And where Smeaton really sees the sensor-based computer games coming into their own is using differential GPS to track players as they move around outdoors.

There’s even a project that uses sensor-kitted wireless headphones to construct a virtual soundscape that changes as the player moves around.

“We all have very good sound source localisation to about five degrees and this can reach the same level,” says Smeaton. “It can pick up which way you are facing and we can generate the correct right-left balance. So your changing location is picked up and adjusted so you hear these sounds.”

And while the large headset is still somewhat clunky and under development, Smeaton envisages it becoming as streamlined as an MP3-player-sized gadget with ear buds that allows the player to navigate by sound through a virtual soundscape such as an orchestra, maze or zoo.

“It’s really about the limits of your creativity,” he says.

LINK to article

BMW revolutionises vehicle assembly using new Ubisense solution

2009-08-03T10:02:00.000-06:00

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.”

Ubisense 60 day software evaluation

2009-07-23T10:22:00.002-06:00

This Evaluation Suite is a free-to-download fully-functional copy of the Ubisense Location Platform and Developer Software available under a 60-day evaluation license. It includes everything you need to build, test and deploy real-time location-aware applications.

For more information please see http://eval.ubisense.net

Smarter dairy farming

2009-07-23T10:11:00.002-06:00

SMARTERFARMING and Ubisense revolutionise Livestock Management

Horsens, Denmark, Cambridge, UK, Jul 23rd 2009 - SMARTERFARMING and Ubisense, the world Leader in Precise Real-Time Location Systems, announce the results of their first three “CowDetect” installations in working Dairy Farms in

Denmark

Aage Hindhede, a tenth generation dairy farmer based in Ringkøbing-Skjern, Denmark, is a man with a vision who continues to keep his family business at the forefront of modern farming methods. While managing his dairy herd, Aage thought that if he could detect changes in behavior of his cows in real-time then he would have a much better view of their health and welfare. His vision coupled with the innovative skills of his partner Keld Florczak, CEO of SMARTERFARMING, allowed him to realize his vision and “CowDetect” was born. A system that visualizes and monitors the behavior of cows in real-time to a positional accuracy of 15 cm! The system has been installed not only in the Hindhede family farm but also in an additional two farms tracking over 1000 cows every second.

The Danish science office AgroTech has already made some calculations to understand the value and possible benefits of knowing the real-time position of each animal. AgroTech - Institute for Agri Technology and Food Innovation - is a Danish Government Authorised Technology Service Institute working with knowledge transfer in the field of biology based natural science and technology. For cows in lactation the potential value of this knowledge is said to be EUR 315 – 355 per animal if the information is converted into action by the farm manager. In addition there are many soft benefits derived by using the system such as better animal welfare and health. One example is a well-known eating behaviour known as ketoses. Normally 3.6 days before the disease can be seen, the cow’s eating time decreases significantly. This change in behavior can automatically be detected by the real-time location system and the dairy manager can be alerted.

“Knowing the precise real-time location of animals will revolutionise the industry”, says Professor Don Broom, University of Cambridge and world expert in animal welfare. “For years farm managers and vets have needed to know more precisely the patterns of movement that will allow them to correlate behavior with health and it appears that SMARTERFARMING and Ubisense have made that possible”.

Farmer John Torrence, of UK Farmers Cooperative, said “Having seen the system first hand, it is clear that there are immediate benefits and a payback in less than 12 months”.

About SMARTERFARMING AS

SMARTERFARMINGAS is based on an idea from a farmer in need of better management data for improving the production in his barn. From idea to real technology has been a long process, but thanks to patient investors and energy from the people involved “CowDetect” is now a reality. SMARTERFARMINGAS is a public company having the needed financial strength to bring the knowledge and technology to the market and further improve and add features to the system.

www.CowDetect.com

Measuring emotions at a museum

2009-07-23T10:07:00.003-06:00

Swiss Academy of Art and Design together with Ubisense integrate precise real-time location and biometric sensors to research art museum experience

In a unique setting at the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen in Switzerland, the BaselAcademy of Art and Design has implemented a solution which monitors museum visitors as they move through the exhibition, providing new insights into emotional and cognitive reactions to art objects.

Dortmund, St. Gallen, July 22 2009 - eMotion is a multi-faceted research and media art platform combining the disciplines of art sociology and art psychology, art administration and art pedagogy, curatorial practice and museum research, media art and performance.

“The museum experience is analysed from a psycho-geographical perspective, encompassing the emotional, cognitive and physical effects upon viewer reception, and how those factors influence the implicit decision making processes of visitors”, explains Dr. Martin Troendle, the eMotion project initiator and manager.” Methodologically, the project sets in motion a trans-disciplinary platform integrating both scientific and artistic modes of ‘knowing’ and strategies of dissemination, directly within the museum”.

Upon registration at the art museum entrance, visitors receive a special glove which contains biometric sensors and a Ubisense active location tag. The visitors respond to a series of questions regarding their familiarity with and expectations of the exhibition as well as biometrically relevant data such as whether they smoke cigarettes or have just drunk a cup of coffee. The art exhibition is equipped with 20 Ubisense sensors which record the positions of the visitors as they move among the exhibits to an accuracy of 15cm and at a sampling frequency up to 4 times per second. In parallel, the heart rate and electrical conductivity of the visitor’s skin is measured and transmitted to a central server which records and analyses the results. At the end of the exhibition, the visitor can view the results on a table top plasma screen. Statistical data on the most viewed objects and the aggregate motion patterns of visitors is presented audio-visually in a number of innovative ways.

“We are delighted with the performance of the Ubisense tracking system”, declares Roland Waespe, director of the Kunstmuseum St. Gallen. “Our museum building presents a number of architectural challenges for radio based systems and we have been impressed with the reliability and precision of the system in this environment.”

eMotion is a research project at the Institute for Research in Art and Design, University of Applied Science Northwestern Switzerland, Academy of Art and Design and has been generously supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and Ubisense. “We are very grateful to Ubisense both for the financial support and the dedication of the professional team which helped this project become such a success”, adds Troendle.

More information can be found at http://www.mapping-museum-experience.com/en.

Ubisense tracking cows

2009-07-21T17:42:00.003-06:00

Just had to post this great picture of a cow modeling one of our Compact Tags.

Ubisense Tracking Tennis Players

2009-05-13T16:06:00.002-06:00

The Clarity Center and Tennis Ireland have built a fantastic application that tracks and records the movements of tennis players for analysis and real-time camera control.

Visit the TennisSense web page for more information LINK

Ubisense and Skillweb launch pre-integrated precise real time location system for effective warehouse management

2009-05-06T05:08:00.000-06:00

Ubisense, the world leader in precise real-time location systems, together with Skillweb, a recognised UK leader for logistics support systems, announce a partnership and immediate availability of purpose-built applications for the UK Transport and Logistics market

Cambridge, UK, 4 May 2009 - “The challenge of acquiring reliable location data on assets and equipment in complex warehouse layouts has been a major obstacle, and has so far prevented substantial improvements in productivity” says Paul Ridden, Managing Director of Skillweb. “We have been searching for a solution that could reliably find individual pallets, fork-lifts, scanners or people and track their movements in real-time. Having evaluated many systems that claim to do so, we were delighted to see Ubisense installations that really work and are reliably accurate – right down to 6 inches.

Using the precision and reliability of the Ubisense Solution allows us to track individual asset locations and trace their movements anywhere within the warehouse, in 3D. This allows us to design much more sophisticated solutions for our customers who want the flexibility of a warehouse management system that doesn’t rely on a fixed network of RFID readers and locations. By simply integrating with our standard track and trace software we can deploy the Ubisense System quickly, with minimal equipment, and maintain a very flexible approach across the whole warehouse/depot environment”.

Skillweb have invested in a test laboratory installation at their Headquarters in High Wycombe where they have extensively tested the system with real operational requirements. Customers are invited to experience the technology first hand. Skillweb are integrating the technology with their portfolio of systems in order to make it available for their customers such as DHL, Air Products, British Telecom, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man Post offices

Ubisense Process Tracker drives production optimization for manufacturing market

2009-05-06T05:07:00.001-06:00

Ubisense, the World leader in precise real-time location systems, today announces the availability of its Process Tracker Application meeting the needs of its rapidly growing Industrial customer base.

The application already in use at customers such as Aston Martin and Cummins provides real-time visibility throughout processes such as rework and finishing in automotive manufacturing plants, engine manufacturing plants, aircraft assembly and MRO. Visibility alone can highlight problem areas and can be used to significantly reduce costly work-in-process by generating alerts when a product becomes stuck. But Process Tracker adds to this with weekly or daily key performance indicators (KPIs) that include such data as the ageing of product in-process, direct measurement of mean times in process steps, and more advanced measurements such as “Right-First-Time” and “Non-Value-Added-Time” by product model or across the entire process.

The application allows production engineers to draw their process step locations on a map, and to enter basic process parameters such as how long a step should take (dwell time) and constraints on step ordering (process flow definition). Combining this data with the location of tagged assets, the application delivers product tracking, dwell time and process flow monitoring, along with a range of standard output and analysis options.

Simon Holloway, Practice Leader for Process and RFID at Bloor Research says, “precise RTLS from Ubisense is clearly delivering major process improvement opportunities for manufacturing companies and Ubisense is becoming a standard in challenging manufacturing environments where both precision and reliability are key”.

Ubisense precise Real-time Location System (RTLS) is a winner for Aston Martin and BMW

2009-04-16T14:45:00.001-06:00

Investment in the Ubisense precise real-time location system enables high-end automotive manufacturers to reduce costs by improving productivity in their assembly plants, reinforcing Ubisense’s position as the market leader.

Cambridge, UK, April 16 2009 - Ubisense, the leading global supplier of precise real-time location systems, announces further wins for its award winning product line. Two of the world’s top automotive brands are part of a growing community of leading blue-chip companies employing Ubisense to accurately track and monitor manufacturing processes providing previously unattainable visibility and automation. In challenging economic times, manufacturers are looking at ways of significantly reducing their costs while maintaining their competitive advantage, Ubisense facilitates new efficient manufacturing methodologies with its precise real-time location system (“RTLS”).

Ubisense has now delivered to more than 375 customers in over 25 countries since the launch of its precise RTLS and has an extensive network of global partners and applications that support customers including Aston Martin, BMW, BP, Caterpillar, Continental, Cummins, DHL, IBM, Lockheed Martin and the US Army. Ubisense specializes in automating processes by identifying in real-time exactly where products, tools, assets and people are in complex processes, automating those processes, improving safety and helping customers drive out costs.

Michael Gilvar, CEO of Dallas based Fish Software and one of Ubisense’s leading partners, says, “We searched the market for a complete precision location platform upon which to build our real-time measurement system for the exhibition industry and found nothing that could compare to the breadth and depth of functionality, or market traction, of Ubisense.” Fish recently announced that they had secured a world first in agreeing to deploy their real-time measurement system (based on Ubisense) at the UK’s leading exhibition centre ExCel.

Richard Green, CEO of Ubisense, comments “This is incredibly rewarding for everyone who has contributed to the success of Ubisense. I wish to thank our customers and partners for their confidence in us and our employees and shareholders for their dedication and support.”

Cummins Jamestown Engine Plant implements Ubisense Precise Real-time location to improve plant efficiency

2009-04-14T13:51:00.001-06:00

Ubisense improves efficiency at Cummins by precisely tracking and recording engines as they move through the test process.

DENVER, CO, January 25 2009 - Ubisense, the market leading provider of precise Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) is working in conjunction with Cummins Jamestown Engine Plant to track engines as they move through each stage of the testing process. By recording when an engine enters or leaves a test or work cell Cummins can see exactly how quickly an engine moves through the testing process and identify any differences between engine types and options. The system is integrated with an Allen-Bradley Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) from Rockwell Automation.

Cummins Jamestown Engine Plant (JEP) was established in 1974 and produced its 1 millionth engine on March 31, 2008. JEP is the sole manufacturer of heavy-duty Cummins engines in North America and is one of the Company's largest manufacturing facilities. The facility currently employs over 1,300 people making it the largest private employer in Chautauqua County, New York.

A key business challenge at any manufacturing facility is process improvement and Jamestown is no exception. JEP faced additional challenges due to the highly metallic and reflective environment within its facility, limiting the viability of most available tracking technologies. Using the Ubisense system with its Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology, an engine enters the test area and a tag is associated and attached to the engine. From that point on the Ubisense sensors operating over a standard network, monitor the areas required and report in real-time on the location of the engine to 1 foot precision. Every time an engine enters or exits a work cell the exact time is recorded in a standard database and passed into the Allen-Bradley PLC. Visibility of the complete process has provided Cummins’ production engineers with a new tool with which they can evaluate improvements.

“By precisely knowing the time each engine spends in each work and test cell we can streamline the process to improve throughput,” said Joshua Pickup, Technical Services Leader at JEP. “Previously we would be working with a limited amount of data which was manually gathered, now we can continuously gather data and monitor each change to the process we make for quality control. Ubisense was the best solution we found for tracking engines within our environment.”

Ubisense is committed to helping its manufacturing customers streamline processes and cut costs. “In these challenging economic times we see it as vitally important to work with market leaders such as Cummins to develop applications that provide real business benefits. Cummins has provided great insight into the requirements and our goal is to provide them compete visibility of their testing process.” says, Richard Green, CEO Ubisense.

Complete release

S3-ID launch an integrated Location Awareness and Muster system

2009-04-14T13:49:00.002-06:00

Following testing and development stimulated by demand from leading companies such as BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, AGIP/ENI and StatoilHydro, S3-ID have integrated their hazardous area e-Locator™ and e-Muster™ system with the market leading precise real-time locating system from Ubisense to provide a fully integrated Personnel solution

Cambridge and Rotherham UK – February 2009 – S3-ID and Ubisense announced today that they had achieved a level of integration of S3-ID’s patented approach to personnel location and mustering used on many offshore Oil and Gas Complexes with the world’s leading precise real-time location system used in many industrial complexes, creating a unique product for the oil and gas industry.

"The features of the new product were put together following a combined 25 year pedigree in the deployment of systems to many Oil companies like BP, Statoil Hydro, bhp billiton and Nexen" says Eivind Frediksen, Managing Director of S3-ID "this will revolutionise personnel safety on offshore and on-shore installations. Never before has this level of integration been achieved in such complex and harsh environments as encountered in the offshore industry."

The combined product will allow our customers to extend current location and muster systems capability from identifying when personnel enter or exit defined areas to that of continuous monitoring wherever they may be. In the event of an incident continuous monitoring decreases the time to identifying the location of all personnel in a timely manner.

Ubisense’s CEO, Richard Green stated "The adoption of our system by such a long-standing and respected company in the safety market is testimony to the robustness of our system in such challenging environments. This development further expands the applicability of our solution to the whole oil and gas market and expands our customer base to the offshore field as well as on-shore".

Complete release

Ortrander Ironworks Rolls Out Real-Time Location System

2009-02-09T10:08:00.002-07:00

RFID Journal

The German foundry is deploying a combination of active and passive RFID technology so it can track the location and movement of forklifts and containers.

By Rhea Wessel

Feb. 9, 2009—Ortrander Eisenhütte, an iron foundry located near Dresden, Germany, is rolling out an RFID-based system to track forklifts and containers at its facilities. The system, when fully implemented, will employ ultra-wideband (UWB) active RFID tags for tracking 20 to 30 forklifts, as well as passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID for tracking 10,000 metal containers and their contents.

Ortrander—which reported sales of €23 million ($30 million) in 2008, for its fiscal year ending June 30—casts iron parts for the automotive and domestic appliance industries. In 2001 and 2002, the firm invested heavily to expand its production, and by 2008 it had doubled product turnover. In 2007, the company's management launched an enterprise initiative to update its material flow, storage and information processes so they'd be more transparent and efficient, and better equipped to handle its higher-production volumes.

Ortrander will attach RFID tags to 10,000 containers and the forklifts that move them around the foundry.

Complete Article

New Military Training Demonstration

2009-01-28T15:04:00.003-07:00

Tracking soldiers as they move through Urban Combat training exercises provides many different location and real-time challenges. Ubisense is ideally suited to be able to precisely locate and report on the locations in real-time. Ubisense also allows events to be generated as soldiers enter and exit user defined spaces. These can be used to control cameras, shooting targets or activate events such as smoke, lights and sound. This demonstration is from a real training run at the Marines Infantry Immersive Trainer at Camp Pendleton.

Honda Italia Shifts Its RFID Deployment Into Second Gear

2009-01-27T14:10:00.002-07:00

RFID Journal

The company is now using active ultrawide-band tags to track motorcycle production and parts inventory, ensuring that the proper components are installed, as well as automating orders for parts.

By Rhea Wessel

Jan. 26, 2009—Honda Italia is employing a combination of active and passive RFID to track components of the motorbikes it produces in what may be one of Italy's first active ultrawide-band (UWB) RFID applications since the country's government amended a law in early 2008 to allow for use of the technology. Italy had previously blocked the use of UWB RFID on the grounds that it could interfere with frequencies utilized by the Italian military.

The RFID application is an extension of a pilot Honda Italia implemented in mid-2007 (see RFID Revs Up Honda Italia's Motorcycle Production). During that pilot, the company affixed passive 13.56 MHz high-frequency (HF) tags to the motorcycles' chassis and certain components, in order to track the assembly process.

Angelo Coletta

Angelo Coletta, Honda Italia's project manager, says the company was happy with the system designed for the first pilot, which it dubbed Ariana. However, workers were bothered by the antennas that had been installed close to the production line to enable interrogation of the passive HF tags, which have a short read range. In addition, he says, since employees had to confirm that tags were successfully interrogated during the production steps, the RFID application essentially added an additional step to the existing work process.

To eliminate this extra step, and to move antennas farther from the production line, Honda Italia switched to active tags in April 2008, launching a project it calls New Ariana, with IBM serving as systems integrator. The vehicle manufacturer now temporarily installs a UWB active tag made by Ubisense to each motorbike's chassis. Thirteen ultrawide-band RFID readers form a tag-reading zone around the production line.

"We found that active tags were more operator-friendly," Coletta explains.

The system enables Honda Italia to assure that the proper parts are built onto the right motorcycle frames. For instance, the company must make sure bikes shipped to the United Kingdom have the correct headlight design for that nation, where vehicles drive on the left side of the road instead of the right, as they do in the United States and continental Europe. Honda Italia can also utilize the RFID system to trace the production of individual motorcycles. Such historical production information is essential if a bike needs to be recalled for safety repairs.

Complete Article

RFID Helps Diagnose Early Dementia

2009-01-22T08:30:00.002-07:00

A system developed by researchers at the University of South Florida wanted to determine if an RFID-based system could be used as a diagnosis tool by tracking and analyzing a patient's movements.

By Mary Catherine O'Connor

Jan. 14, 2009—In Greek mythology, Hermes acted as a messenger, relaying information between humans and the gods, while also protecting boundaries. That makes him an apt namesake for the Health Research Management and Evaluation System, or HERMES—a preventative health-care system developed at the University of South Florida that has already been tested at one assisted-living facility and is currently being evaluated at another. The system uses radio frequency identification to track residents' movements. These movement patterns are then mined for clues that could indicate early stages of dementia.

A large body of research links wandering behaviors with dementia. In fact, the tendency of individuals suffering from various forms of the disease to wander from their homes is one major reason their families place them in assisted-living facilities or nursing homes, where they can be closely monitored. RFID is already being employed increasingly within these facilities, where the technology can be combined with an alarm system designed to prevent residents from leaving the facilities unaccompanied.

Complete Article

Ubisense presentation at Cambridge University

2009-01-22T08:20:00.002-07:00

Ubisense Chairman Dr Andy Hopper and Paul Webster Head of Hardware present to a class at Cambridge University on "Maintaining focus, and the challenges facing Ubisense".

LINK

Faire Solutions launch new website

2008-12-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Ubisense partner Faire solutions has just launched a new website detailing their precision animal tracking solutions.

www.faire-solutions.com

A revolutionary platform for precision animal monitoring that delivers quality assurance, health, welfare and fertility benefits.

Imagine One system that would monitor your animals continuously. A system that could see what you would see, if you stood looking at your animals 24 hours a day. A system that would show your animals moving around, feeding, drinking, lying, displaying oestrous signs – without having to install a single video camera on your premises.

Imagine further that this one system would send you continuously updated profiles of each animal and alerts, providing you with key information on their health, fertility and welfare status.

Together with high-accuracy 3D sensors, revolutionary software utilizing broadband connectivity to the Web, an information platform of precision animal monitoring is now available to farmers/producers, research organisations, veterinary and supply companies.

Faire Precision Animal Monitoring allows you to realise the significant ROI benefits that total management control of your animal assets can deliver in terms of:

* Animal Tracking
* Animal Health and Welfare
* Animal Fertility
* Animal Quality Assurance
* Animal Movement Control

An animal’s exact position and activities are detected, analysed and made available instantly - every second of the day.