IoT Based Smart Asset Tracking And Monitoring System
Construction Business Owner Magazine
IoT technology takes asset tracking and inventory management automation to the next level.
Use conditions monitoring sensors, BLE beacon tags, a smartphone or a gateway, and a cloud software for the smart, automated asset tracking and remote asset monitoring.
Real time asset and inventory tracking and monitoring data with little or no employees' participation.
IoT Asset Tracking
Automate asset tracking with BLE tags and sensors.
Always know where your assets are, assets usage and movement history.
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IoT WIP Tracking
Automatically track work orders through the production process using BLE tags and IoT gateways.
Access live work order status and history from anywhere.
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IoT Inventory Management
Have a real time visibility into the inventory stock and locations. Use smartphones for bulk scanning or IoT gateways for automated inventory tracking.
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IoT Remote Conditions Monitoring
Use IoT sensors to remotely monitor assets, inventory and storage locations conditions, such as temperature and humidity.
Prevent assets damage and breakdowns.
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Asset Tracking And Monitoring System With Modern Technologies
QR Inventory software gives you the right tools and set of technologies for your needs and budget. Use IoT sensors and gateways, cloud software, mobile devices, BLE tags, NFC, QR codes, digital forms
for the efficient asset tracking and asset conditions monitoring.
Investing in the right technology will be key to securing future work.
What might seem like a costly nice-to-have today will likely become a competitive must-have in the near future...
Construction Executive Magazine
QR Inventory software uses modern technologies to help you digitize and automate your business process. The flexible, modular structure
of QR Inventory software allows you to pick the right technologies and modules combination that fit your needs and budget. Use QR Inventory software system for the
real time assets and inventory management
in the field and warehouse. Complete all types of paperwork, from inspections and safety audits, to quality
control and equipment maintenance, using digital mobile forms. Track workflows and processes, and achieve
full traceability. Create a fully automated solution using Bluetooth IoT asset tracking technologies, or
use a simpler asset tracking system
with the smartphones and QR code scanning.
Advantages Of Using An IoT Based Software System For The Asset Tracking And Inventory Management
Automated Asset And Inventory Tracking
QR Inventory software uses
BLE tags
as the most functional and the least expensive option for the IoT asset tracking. BLE tags are constantly broadcasting an asset identification number that can be picked up
by a smartphone or a dedicated
Bluetooth IoT gateway. Regardless of which
BLE signal receiver you pick, the
asset information is transferred to the cloud software in real time, and is immediately available to the authorized personnel via reports.
Use a smartphone for the fast bulk asset scanning and entering additional information, or a BLE gateway for asset tracking without any human participation.
Remote Asset Conditions Monitoring, Preventing Damages to Assets And Properties
A network of BLE sensors ensures that assets and inventory are stored at the right conditions. You can monitor a variety of conditions, such as temperature, humidity,
gas or water leaks, unusual vibration patterns, etc. BLE sensors automatically and continuously measure the corresponding parameters, and send data to the cloud software
through the IoT gateway. You configure how often the measurements received from the sensors should be sent to the remote cloud server,
as well as a gateway edge data processing rules.
If any of the reported asset conditions are outside of the acceptable range, you receive an immediate alert and can act quickly to correct the problem.
IoT based remote conditions monitoring can save you a lot of money and headache by
preventing costly damages to the assets, materials and properties.
Increasing Job Site Safety, Preventing Accidents
IoT technologies help you increase workplace safety, prevent accidents and decrease insurance costs. This is especially relevant for the construction sites
with a high number of the workplace accidents. Wearable BLE devices or smartphones help you monitor employees and visitors location, alert them
on the approaching of the heavy construction vehicles, and ensure that unauthorized personnel on the construction site stays out of the restricted areas.
Project managers receive instant alerts on any hazardous situation, and can act on it quickly.
Components Of The IoT Asset Tracking And Monitoring System
IoT based asset tracking systems can have very different configuration and components. Which components you need depends on your
business process, requirements and typical workflow.
In general, you will need IoT hardware,
which may include BLE tags, sensors and gateways. You will always need a cloud software for the data processing and reporting. Optionally you may use a mobile
application for monitoring asset location, interacting with the sensors and for data collection. For the automated asset tracking systems that
use IoT gateways you will need a gateway software. A QR Inventory software allows you to select the
right configuration and components
of the IoT based asset tracking and monitoring system for your project.
Hardware Used In The IoT Asset Tracking And Monitoring System
BLE Sensors
A bluetooth sensor for temperature and humidity conditions monitoring is a wireless, easy to install device which is
operated on the battery. Once you install the sensor and added it to the list of your IoT devices, the sensor
starts sending temperature and humidity values to the gateway at the specified time intervals.
The measured values are also logged on the sensor. If a connection between the gateway and the sensor is interrupted for any reason
the data are preserved and can be retrieved later.
When adding a sensor to the system you can specify the meaningful temperature and humidity step at which data should be logged, and
configure temperature and humidity thresholds.
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BLE Beacon Tags
BLE beacon tags are the most practical and the least expensive option for the IoT asset tracking. BLE tags
broadcast the asset identifier that can be picked up by the nearby bluetooth receiver. A receiver can be a mobile device,
a computer, or a dedicated bluetooth gateway. Depending on the specific BLE tags, a receiver and the environment, the
BLE signal can be picked up at a distance from tens of meters to 500-600 meters or more.
BLE asset tags are small plastic tags, around 3-6 cm and about 1 cm in thickness. They can be rugged, waterproof, and are suitable for the
harsh outdoor environment. BLE tags are attached to the asset using an adhesive surface, with a zip tie or screws. There are also wearable
BLE tags for tracking employees and site visitors.
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Bluetooth IoT Gateway
A gateway reads data from the BLE beacons and sensors,
and sends data to the cloud software for the processing and reporting. A single gateway collects data from the multiple sensors and BLE beacons.
AHG provides a BLE gateway with the edge processing capabilities - meaning that a gateway can pre-process and filter data before sending them to the
remote cloud server.
You can configure the edge processing rules, temperature and humidity thresholds, asset tracking alerts, time intervals and more.
You can configure the system by logging directly into the gateway on the local network, or via a cloud software interface.
A gateway stores data locally until the data are successfully sent to the cloud software, so collected information is never lost.
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Software Used In The IoT Asset Tracking System
A Cloud Software
A cloud software is an essential part of any IoT system. It is responsible for accepting data from the gateways,
processing and storing data, and producing human readable reports.
You can also manage and configure gateways and sensors using a cloud software interface. Alternatively, you
can configure each gateway by logging into it locally on the company's internal network.
QR Inventory software gives you flexible options for hosting a cloud software part of the IoT system. You can host it with us, internally on your
company network,
or with a cloud hosting provider of your choice, such as Azure or AWS.
A Mobile Application
Depending on your exact requirements you may or may not need a mobile application as a part of your IoT asset tracking and monitoring system.
A smartphone with the mobile application can be used as a gateway for collecting data from the sensors and BLE beacons and transferring data to the
backend cloud software.
Using a smartphone as a gateway can give you more flexibility. Smartphones allow employees to collect additional information to
accompany asset tracking and conditions logs reported by the sensors and BLE beacons. Using smartphones as gateways also reduces the overall
expense of the IoT asset tracking system.
You may use a mobile application,
or a combination of the mobile application and fixed bluetooth gateways - depending on your project and requirements.
An IoT Gateway Software
A function of a gateway is to serve as a bridge between the cloud software and local IoT devices. A gateway transfers information both ways. It collects data
from the sensors and BLE beacons, pre-processes data and sends them to the cloud software. You also use a gateway to manage and configure local IoT devices, and set
alerts for the adverse conditions that may be reported by the sensors. The software installed
on the gateway is responsible for supporting this functionality. The gateway software should be able to understand the messages sent by the sensors,
and know what data format is expected by the cloud software. The customization of the gateway software may be required to
support sensors and cloud software from the different vendors.
We provide a complete IoT asset tracking and monitoring system. The system includes BLE beacons,
a Bluetooth temperature and humidity sensor for the assets conditions monitoring, a BLE IoT gateway with the edge data processing capabilities and custom configuration,
as well as a cloud software, a mobile application and a gateway software. You will likely not require all of these components in your asset tracking system.
We will recommend the right components based on your specific project, and can modify the components of the system as needed to accommodate
various IoT devices and cloud hosting options.
Business Use Cases For The Smart IoT Tracking And Monitoring System
Bluetooth IoT Asset Tracking
IoT technologies allow for a real time asset tracking with little or no human participation. QR Inventory software uses
BLE asset tags to automate assets tracking. You can use a smartphone or a dedicated IoT gateway for transferring asset data
to the backend cloud software. Regardless of the method, you can always review real time assets locations and usage history.
Bluetooth IoT Inventory Management
Bluetooth low energy emerges as a viable lower cost alternative to the RFID for inventory management. BLE tags allow for the
fast bulk scanning of inventory, without a need to locate and scan a barcode on each single inventory item. Unlike RFID, you can use
regular smartphones and tablets for the bulk scanning of BLE inventory tags.
IoT Technology For WIP Tracking
Track work in progress inventory and work orders automatically using IoT technology.
Install a gateway at each workstation, or use employees owned smartphones for automatically detecting inventory and work orders
at each process step. Review real time WIP inventory and work order status via the QR Inventory software web dashboard from anywhere.
IoT Temperature And Humidity Monitoring
Make sure that environmentally sensitive assets and inventory are stored at the right conditions. Prevent assets damage, inventory spoilage and waste.
A network of BLE sensors continuously monitor temperature and humidity conditions in the designated zones, and send data to the cloud software in real time.
An IoT system provides a completely automated climate conditions monitoring without any manual labor involved.
Using IoT Sensors For Damage Prevention
Use sensors to detect the conditions that can cause damage to the assets or properties. Detect higher or lower temperature,
unusually high humidity that can indicate water leaks, leakage of the harmful substances, unusual vibration patterns, etc.
Receive instant alerts if something goes wrong. Correct the conditions in time, preventing costly repairs to the properties or assets.
Safety Management Using IoT Technology
Use wearable BLE beacons for the job sites employees and visitors to monitor their location. Make sure that
unauthorized personnel and visitors stay out of the danger zones, and do not accidentally wander in the path of the heavy construction machinery.
Alert project management teams of a hazardous situation that require immediate attention, and reduce risk of the accidents and injuries
on the construction sites.