Editor’s choice
in real time and is often the choice for use outside and during transport between factories. Inside factories and warehouses, RTLS typically uses either UWB (Ultra Wide Band) Radio or BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) as both are low power, relatively short transmission range 30 to 200 metres, are resistant to interference, and highly accurate, typically 50cm to 90cm. RTLS would seem like the perfect solution to the warehousing problem. Put a “Tag” on every item and you can find its location, wherever it is, in real time. Unfortunately the RTLS equivalent of a Tag is often more expensive that the item it would be attached to and requires a battery. So typically RTLS is only used to track high value assets, vehicles and people. However if you are an expert in these technologies like Turck Banner’s sister company Turck Vilant, you have the skills required to combine these technologies to create an accurate and reliable warehousing solution, that integrates seamlessly with a company’s ERP (Enterprise resource planning) and WMS (Warehouse Management System) to automate the track and trace of goods in real time. The principal is quite simple but the execution requires expertise.
RFID tags can be passing readers in many directions at the same time. i.e. Goods being loaded or unloaded and goods being transported to and from other storage locations. The inventory system must be able to distinguish between all of these cases and accurately identify the tags that it should be reading and ignore any other tags in the vicinity, including the stray tag that has become stuck to the forklift that is transporting the goods.
As RFID tags need to be within a few meters of the reader to be read and installing enough read
heads to cover every location in a warehouse would normally be impractical. RFID warehousing systems are still reliant upon the operator placing the items in the location they were directed to and not moving an item to create space for another item. Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) which, in simplistic terms, use beacons in fixed locations within the warehouse or factory that are used to triangulate the position of the receiver, in a similar way to GPS navigation in cars and mobile phones. GPS can be used to track goods
The unique Turck Vilant system tracks the position of the forklift trucks and other transport devices using RTLS, this is combined with the height data from the position of the forks and an RFID reader mounted on the truck to inventory the pallet. This combined data allows the system to know exactly where any pallet has been placed and what is on that pallet. Other systems fail due to unauthorised movement of goods, whereas, any time that a pallet is lifted or moved with the Turck Vilant system, it automatically tracks the new location in real time. In the medical industry track and trace are a legal requirement, this unique solution provides a complete, real time, stock inventory at the push of a button.
There will always be a balance between single item cost and the cost of methods available to track them. This is why Turck Banner have experts dedicated to track and trace who can not only give advice on the most cost effective solutions but who are constantly pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation to achieve better solutions.
Turck Banner Instrumentation Monthly August 2024
www.turckbanner.co.uk 15
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