Best of Sensors Awards were presented in June at the 2022 Sensors Converge Conference and Expo. The finalists, selected by a panel of industry experts, recognize the most innovative and transformative people, companies, and products across 14 categories. This year’s finalist in the Industrial Sensors category was the Rechargeable SuperTag by Link Labs.
The Link Labs Rechargeable SuperTag combines five different technologies into a single compact, power-efficient device:
• GPS/GNSS for global position tracking anywhere in the world
• Wi-Fi location positioning, a lower-power alternative to GPS/GNSS that utilizes surrounding Wi-Fi network signals to triangulate and pinpoint a location
• Cell ID positioning, which relies on the signal strength from the nearest cell tower to determine a location
• Position Over LTE (POLTE), a proprietary technology by Link Labs’ SuperTag partner, enables cell tower triangulation and combines the precision of GPS/GNSS with the low-power requirements of Cell ID positioning, both indoors and outdoors
• AirFinder Indoor Positioning Network, a SuperTag-compatible technology that functions as a holistic indoor tracking system that works independently of Wi-Fi and IT infrastructure
Link Labs Rechargeable SuperTag is designed to make the most of battery life by employing the most power-efficient technologies to locate and manage assets. The SuperTag “sips” rather than “gulps” power, incorporating multiple strategies to determine whether a particular technology is worth the power consumption. Features such as Wi-Fi sniffing and accelerometer-based bump detection ensure the SuperTag is active only when it needs to be. This means that battery life can be on the order of years rather than weeks.
But while the Rechargeable SuperTag is designed to minimize power management, the device is flexible. Users can configure the device to communicate more often, prioritize certain Wi-Fi networks, and set up geofences and alerts to ensure assets stay in one place.
The Link Labs SuperTag also tracks battery life. Rather than communicating battery life in terms of voltage or percentage remaining, the SuperTag’s “fuel gauge” measures how many “pings” are left in the device, helping the user make better decisions about conserving power through less-frequent device communication.
It is also tough enough to work in indoors and outdoors. With an IP66 rating, the device offers one of the highest levels of ingress protection for dust, airborne particles, water, and liquids.
Between intelligent, low-power tracking technologies and a robust design, the Link Labs Rechargeable SuperTag is suited for any industrial asset tracking application, providing tracking capabilities in warehouses, yards, hospitals, factories, trains, ships, and everywhere in between.
Link Labs, based in Annapolis, is an innovator in technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). The company’s flagship AirFinder products (including the Rechargeable SuperTag) were all developed to fulfill the company’s mission to make locating and monitoring anything anywhere easy, affordable, and impactful through intelligent RFID and low-power IoT network technologies.
For the complete list of finalists in the Best of Sensors 2022 Awards, visit here.