Last month, a Q-Track team traveled to the historic Safety Research Coal Mine in Bruceton, Pennsylvania to conduct RF propagation and performance tests on a Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER®) Real-Time Location System (RTLS). We optimized the system for use in a mine environment in an effort funded by NIOSH. We deployed three receivers spaced 150-200 feet along a single passage and demonstrated accurate tracking in a 400ft x 100ft (40,000 sqft) area of the mine. The low frequency (575kHz) signals bend and diffract around corners, enabling accurate tracking in a parallel passageway substantially beyond line-of-sight of the three receivers in the primary passageway. This ability to obtain accurate tracking in non-line-of-sight environments is a hallmark of NFER® RTLS. Here’s a brief (82 second) clip showing the performance.
Hans
Hans Schantz is CTO of The Q-Track Corporation, and a co-inventor of NFER® technology. His prior work experience includes stints with IBM, the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, The ElectroScience Lab of the Ohio State University, and Time Domain Corporation. Author of The Art and Science of Ultra-wideband Antennas (Artech House, 2005), his thirty-five U.S. patents include antennas, RF systems, RF-based location systems, and related inventions. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, and an amateur radio operator [KC5VLD]. Schantz earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds degrees in Industrial Engineering and Physics from Purdue University. Dr. Schantz blogs at ÆtherCzar and is @ÆtherCzar on Twitter. His wife, Barbara, invented The Baby Dipper® Bowl. Hans and Barbara have two sets of twins: girls aged seven, and boys three years old. The views expressed are the author's and are not necessarily the views of his employer, clients, investors, sponsors, or customers.
