Rugged Bluetooth LE beacon tracks staff and assets across industrial worksites

ELA Innovation’s Blue Lite ID beacon provides long range wireless connectivity up to 300 meters

ELA Innovation, a Montpellier, France-based developer of wireless sensors and beacons, has selected Nordic Semiconductor’s nRF52832 Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) System-on-Chip (SoC) to provide the wireless connectivity for its ‘Blue Lite ID’ beacon. The beacon is designed for a wide range of applications, including locating and identifying staff and equipment on industrial worksites.

High link budget

The lightweight Blue Lite ID beacon comes in a robust, IP55-rated 45 by 23.2 by 5.3mm housing and can either be adhered to equipment or worn by staff members as a badge or around the neck. This, says ELA, enables management and staff to know the whereabouts of colleagues, as well as valuable assets, throughout the work day. The nRF52832 SoC’s high link budget 2.4GHz radio offers a maximum receive (RX) sensitivity of -96-dBm and a maximum transmit (TX) output of +4-dBm, and a total link budget of >100dBm. This enables the Blue Lite ID beacon to transmit RF signals over an open field (unobstructed) range of 300 meters.

The beacon can be implemented based on either the iBeacon and Eddystone protocol, and can be configured and provisioned via a ‘Device Manager Mobile’ Android app. The Blue Lite ID can be programmed for transmission at intervals between 0.1 and 10 seconds with an output power up to +4dBm. Using Bluetooth LE wireless connectivity provided by the Nordic SoC, the location of each beacon is relayed to a Bluetooth 4.0 (and later) smartphone or tablet where via a second Android app the user can identify and review the beacon position. iOS apps are under development. A ‘Pick to Light’ LED integrated into the beacon can also be activated remotely, making it easier to identify and locate small assets.