Asset tracking is basically defined as a system that enables one to track an asset using several technologies. Asset tracking is an essential part of many industries, in particular, those concerned with logistics, purchasing and manufacturing.
Gas cylinders are used in many different situations, such as in
research, in industry, in healthcare, and even in the home. They are tanks or pressure vessels used to store gases at high pressure. The transportation and storage of gas cylinders is regulated by most governments. Due to
the demand for monitoring and tracking in such a wide variety of circumstances, there is an inevitable
ambition of gas suppliers to improve the efficiency of their business. A prototype system developed at Liverpool John Moores University addresses a new idea to use Motes to provide a tracking system that would improve efficiency while also integrating sensors in
order to monitor gas cylinders from a safety perspective.
The aim of the prototype system was to discover whether or not communication between motes was possible and reasonably reliable despite signal attenuation which would be caused by the metallic surroundings. This simulated asset tracking environment contained caged gas cylinders which were stored outdoors. Each of the cyclers used during testing has a MICA2 Mote securely attached to its collar via a nylon cable tie with each mote arranged randomly to create non-line of sight (NLOS) conditions. The antennas were in various orientations and touching the metal gas cylinders. The situation was setup as a worst case scenario for RF communications in this application.
The base gateway received the data from the network and would communicate the information to the computer which had stored the network addresses or node IDs of the motes which were arbitrarily associated with a particular type of gas (e.g. Nitrogen, Oxygen, etc.). In order to ensure reliable communication between the base station and the motes attached to the gas cylinders outside, an intermediate relay node was used - it was placed outdoors with a brick walled building between. The prototype system was successful in collecting data within such an environment. Users were able to determine which tags were active at any one time, communicate with individual tags via their unique node ID in order to trigger an event such as sounding the buzzer on board. This two-way communication allowed tags to be identified and provide sensory data.
This idea for an automated gas storage facility is to monitor the gas cylinders when they are in motion. The facility could be unmanned and treated as a location where the gas cylinders were picked up and dropped off. When entering the facility, motes could be interrogated to identify themselves (i.e. their contents, from where they were being returned, etc.). Each mote would not need to rely on a specific reader to send its data, but could communicate the data over the multi-hop mesh network. This would allow data on what the cylinders needed to be filled with, when, or for who to be sent quickly and efficiently to the warehouse. This type of data would prove advantageous to the end users as well to automatically trigger an order of new stock of the particular gas that had been used, etc. Primarily, It also helps with safety issues if interfacing some type of pressure sensor to monitor the contents and prevent a dangerous or explosive situation. Accelerometers could be used to determine the orientation of the cylinder and worn the user if it is stored incorrectly. The flexibility of the mote platform to interface with various sensors is greatly useful for such an application.
This capability to monitor and track assets intelligently will enable a more reliable and safe environment especially for critical applications such as the storage and transportation of packaged gases!
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