Real-Time Locating Systems with Radio Frequency

What is it about?

Misplaced items in retail stores lead to inaccurate inventory assumptions, unsatisfied customers, and even lost sales. Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS) promise to locate mobile objects in a defined space. The RTLS market offers a vast number of available solutions and technologies. Unfortunately the majority of users – especially in retail – are still waiting for cheaper offerings. This paper describes the current state-of-the-art in RTLS and shows a use-case of locating passive RFID in retail applications.

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Why is it important?

This paper provides an overview of existing and commercially available active and passive Real-Time Locating Systems. An implementation of a locating solution based on passive RFID, as well as the achieved inventory and locating accuracy is described in detail. Additionally, current research on improving locating accuracy for future improvements of the described real-world implementation is investigated.