[Chinese below]
Oslo, Norway, 19 April, 2022 – The ‘SG Wireless Indoor Asset Tracking Solution Kit’, launched by Hong Kong-based IoT technology solutions company, SG Wireless, can be used to track assets in real time across pre-defined zones. Powered by Nordic’s nRF52840 Bluetooth® 5.3/Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) advanced multiprotocol System-on-Chip (SoC), the solution tells users in which zone a particular asset is located or has been moved to. The company states the system provides a sensing accuracy of 98 percent in 3 m-radius zone areas. One Kit can cover a floor area of up to 500 square meters.
Each SG Wireless Indoor Asset Tracking Solution Kit contains eight ‘SGW8130C BLE Beacon Tags’ and four ‘SGW6008C BLE-WiFi Gateways’ for tracking eight assets across four zones on a web-based IoT application. Nordic’s nRF52840 SoC is employed in proprietary, pre-certified ‘SGW1110 BLE Modules’ integrated in both the Beacon Tags and the Gateways. Both devices use the nRF52840’s 2.4 GHz multiprotocol radio (also supporting Bluetooth 5.3, Long Range, Bluetooth mesh, ANT™, Thread, Zigbee, IEEE 802.15.4, NFC, and proprietary 2.4 GHz RF protocol software) which features 8 dBm output power and -95 dBm RX sensitivity for a link budget of 103 dBm. This link budget enables good range for extended coverage for indoor asset tracking applications, for example tracking hospital, warehouse, and factory assets.
SGW8130C BLE Beacon Tags are attached to the assets that require tracking, with one Tag per asset. Each Tag broadcasts a unique Bluetooth LE data message to be picked up by the Gateways. The Tags broadcast every five seconds to optimize battery life. As the SGW6008C BLE-WiFi Gateway receives the Bluetooth LE data messages from its surrounding Tags it determines the signal strength. The Gateways send all data via Wi-Fi to the associated web application, where the information received is aggregated and processed through a proprietary algorithm to determine the zones in which each Tag, and therefore the corresponding asset, is located. Users can instantly locate a valuable asset through the web application on their PC or via their smartphone. In addition, users can gain a more thorough understanding of asset utilization rates, enabling business optimization through better planning of asset maintenance, repair, and necessary replacement.
No additional processing requirement
The nRF52840 SoC’s embedded 64 MHz, 32-bit Arm® Cortex® M4 processor with floating point unit (FPU) performs as a host on the SGW6008C Gateway to directly forward data between Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi without requiring additional processing. The SoC’s generous 1 MB Flash and 256 KB RAM memory allocation allows for storage and caching of large amounts of data.
The SGW6008C Gateway is mains-powered through a micro-USB interface, while the SGW8130C Beacon Tags run on a CR2032 coin cell battery that can provide up to three million location updates over a period of up to three years, thanks in part to the ultra low power operating characteristics of the Nordic nRF52840 SoC.
Powerful Bluetooth LE module
“Nordic’s nRF52840 SoC is arguably the most well-rounded and cost-effective solution in the Bluetooth LE class for its size,” says Ken Wong, CTO at SG Wireless. “The SoC’s Arm Cortex M4 processor and adequate on-chip memory eliminate the need for additional processing chips for advanced IoT applications, which has enabled our company to develop a compact yet powerful Bluetooth LE module.
“Moreover, reference codes from Nordic’s comprehensive SDK [Software Development Kit] have undoubtedly shortened the product development cycle.”
Nordic助力低功耗蓝牙信标标签和网关实现室内物品追踪解决方案
SGW无线室内物品追踪解决方案套件使用 Nordic nRF52840 SoC实现低功耗蓝牙连接
香港物联网技术解决方案企业SG Wireless 推出用于实时物品追踪的「SGW 无线室内物品追踪解决方案套件」，能够在预先定义的区域內追踪物品。这款解决方案采用Nordic 的 nRF52840 蓝牙 5.3/低功耗蓝牙 (Bluetooth® Low Energy (Bluetooth LE))先进多协议系统级芯片(SoC)，可以告知用户特定物品的所在位置，或者被移动到的位置。该公司指这款系统在三米半径区域内提供 98%的感测精度，每套套件能够覆盖多达500平方米建筑面积。
每套SGW无线室内物品追踪解决方案包含八个「SGW8130C BLE信标标签」和四个「SGW6008C BLE-WiFi 网关」，用于物联网应用网站程序，可在四个区域中追踪八件物品。Nordic的nRF52840 SoC 应用在备有专利及认证的「SGW1110 BLE」模块上，集成于信标标签及网关内。两款设备均使用 nRF52840的2.4 GHz多协议无线电（nRF52840还支持蓝牙5.3、远程、蓝牙mesh、ANT™、Thread、Zigbee、IEEE 802.15.4、NFC和专有2.4 GHz RF协议软件），具有8 dBm输出功率和-95 dBm RX灵敏度，链路预算为 103 dBm。此链路预算为室内物品追踪应用（例如追踪医院、仓库和工厂中的物品）提供了良好的扩展覆盖范围。
用户可将SGW8130C BLE信标标签附着在需要追踪的物品上，每个物品使用一个信标标签。每个信标标签都会广播一条独特的低功耗蓝牙数据信息以供网关接收。为优化电池的使用寿命，信标标签每五秒广播一次数据信息。当SGW6008C BLE-WiFi 网关从其周围的信标标签接收到低功耗蓝牙数据消息时，就会确定信号的强度。网关通过 Wi-Fi连接将所有的数据发送到相关的应用网站程序，通过专有算法将接收到的信息进行汇总和处理，以确定每个信标标签所在的区域，从而判定相应的物品位置。用户能够通过电脑或智能手机上的应用网站程序来即时定位贵重的物品。此外，用户还可以更全面地了解物品的使用率，从而更好地规划资产维护、维修和进行必要的更换来优化业务运作。
nRF52840 SoC带有浮点单元(FPU)的嵌入式 64 MHz、32位Arm® Cortex® M4 处理器可用作SGW6008C 网关上的主机，可以在低功耗蓝牙 和 Wi-Fi 装置之间直接转发数据，而无需额外的处理操作。这款SoC具有充足的1 MB 闪存和 256 KB RAM内存分配，允许实现大量数据的存储和缓存。
SGW6008C网关通过micro-USB接口供电，而 SGW8130C 信标标签则使用 CR2032 纽扣电池运行，能够在长达三年的时间内提供多达 300 万次位置更新，这部分归功于Nordic nRF52840 SoC 的低功耗运作特性。
SG Wireless首席技术官王永德表示：「就产品体积而言，Nordic的nRF52840 SoC 可以称得上是低功耗蓝牙类别中最完善和最具成本效益的解决方案。这款SoC具有Arm Cortex M4 处理器和充足的片上内存，无需使用额外的处理芯片也可运行先进的物联网应用，推动我们开发出体积小且功能强大的低功耗蓝牙模块产品。」
「此外，Nordic综合软件开发套件(SDK)提供了参考编码，大大缩短了产品开发周期。」
