The SPEDE Locator System use a Bluetooth Low Energy Beacon, which can be affixed via magnet to a steel coil or WIP container, to uniquely identify and track the coil or container's location. The SPEDE Locator App, which resides on a PC, also automates and controls the tracking, picking, shipping and physical counting of each coil or WIP container to eliminate manual data entry and errors.
Key Features of the Bluetooth Beacon
- Small Size (1.5 in diameter, .5 in height)
- Long Battery Life (3 years)
- Replaceable internal button battery (CR2032)
- Extended Bluetooth (BT) transmit distance (up to 300+ feet)
- Internal Accelerometer inside Beacon wakes up on coil movement, and automatically triggers BT data transmission
- Beacon has a magnet for easy attachment to coil
- Beacon has an optional 2D barcode that can be scanned to associate the Beacon ID to the coil’s data, e.g., part nbr, heat, supplier, etc.
- Beacon transmits its unique Beacon ID to a SPEDE BT App on a handheld Windows 10 PC tablet, where the Coil Location database resides
- Optional WiFi support for multiple tablets and/or interface to a host computer system
Advantages of Bluetooth Beacons:
- Simple to use
- Inexpensive
- Precise - Data transmission occurs only when the target item is moved (Beacon wakes up)
- Earlier solutions used RFID tags on coils
- RFID reader often picked up signals from surrounding RFID tags resulting incorrect RFID reads and errors in picking, locating, shipping, inventory counts
- RFID tags are more expensive than Bluetooth Beacons