Most wireless technologies to be used for industrial asset tracking are nowhere near the point of offering plug-and-play operation. Before you decide to use a system based on RSSI, RuBee, or UWB in a RTLS, make sure you know what you're signing up for.

Real-time location systems require accuracy and reliability. Will RFID-, GPS-, or chirped frequency-based systems meet your minimum requirements?

Before you can come to grips with industrial real-time location systems, you must understand the environment in which they function and the communications that empower them.

The next generation of networks will move beyond disconnected device-specific networks and systems and toward a distributed infrastructure, with intelligent functions residing across the entire network, from its edge to its core.

The cry of "man overboard!" is second only to "fire on shipboard!" as a general alarm for all hands. But what if no one sees that fellow boater or shipmate (or pet) fall into the drink? The Raymarine (www.raymarine.com) LifeTag system, using Ember's ZigBee (www.zigbee.org) networking technology, does away with that unhappy scenario.