
The Object Tag hardware design. Already in its third prototype version the Tag is performing extremely well. Using its low-power mode it is able to monitor and track an object up to 3 years using a small off-the-shelf 1/2 AA battery! The Tag will be able to localize and track objects indoor and outdoor, effectively anything that has the potential of moving. The update rates can be as high as Potential markets will be campus environments where there are high-value asset objects that need tracking such as master-keys.
While master-keys may not seem exciting at first when a campus/university loses one, all of the back-doors have to be re-keyed. This can be a very expensive and time consuming process. But we hope that these tags are used for much more than that. Actually we are hoping to change how we think of objects as a resource in our environment. So the pricing in these units will be designed so that we can bring tracking to most any items...anything from a bicycle, golf cart, moving cart, wheelchair, utility vehicles, campus shuttles, etc.
The vehicle tracking has been typically address via GPS, however, GPS is fairly expensive to use in a broad sense. In addition, battery life on GPS is quite short, typically a few days. These Tags have the ability to be used in a similar manner but for a much wider use.