Oct 04, 2009 | Siemens researchers have developed a method for precisely locating objects in factories without the need for special devices or installations. The method uses the existing infrastructure and standard components, such as mobile input devices, existing WLAN networks, and sensors. Intelligent data processing and analysis plus optimized WLAN base stations are used to locate tools, materials, or even persons to an accuracy of less than a meter. This level of accuracy is needed to determine whether and when a certain work step was performed on a product. Ultimately it is this information that enables production quality to be increased.

The demands on quality in production are becoming increasingly complex and stringent while production volumes continue to increase. At the same time, there are more customer-specific variants of the products. It is therefore becoming increasingly important that all workflows are documented as thoroughly as possible. Whenever possible, intelligent systems in the factory should therefore be able to recognize automatically whether a certain action has taken place. This can be done by continuously recording the location of all objects present in the factory. To determine unequivocally that a certain tool was used on a certain product, you have to be able to locate both very accurately. Previously this was only possible using complex localization systems featuring sensors and networks developed specifically for this purpose. Solutions using standard components are currently accurate to only around three meters.

The researchers at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) have now developed a method that also uses standard components that are frequently found in factories. They apply newly derived algorithms to optimize the use of the information available. For example, new methods are used to analyze the sensor data, and the data obtained are encoded in such a way that they can be transmitted over the existing WLAN networks and used by input devices. The procurement and operating costs of the new radiolocation technology from Siemens CT are lower than those for systems delivering comparable accuracy. Initial trials in the automotive industry have already been completed very successfully.