After bringing local operators together with remote experts, the second primary role of mobility in response to COVID-19 is how it can help achieve and maintain social distancing, and document people's movements and interactions for better contact tracing. If more is known about who interacts with who and for how long, it's likely that fewer individuals will have to be quarantined when infections are found, and smaller sections of organizations will have to close.
Not surprisingly, more than a few players are trying to skin the real-time locating system (RTLS) cat, including Apple and others that are adding ultra-wideband (UWB) radio chips to mainstream devices. However, because most of these solutions are so new, it's will be even more important for potential users to evaluate if their methods and capabilities match their needs, and costs fit their budgets.
To keep people safe as they return to work during and after the pandemic, Siemens has combined its Simatic Real-Time Locating System (RTLS) and SieTrace software to let users model how staffers interact with each other, their production lines and plants, and set up new workflows and production environments that address physical distancing requirements. It will also let users create an end-to-end digital twin of their actual work environment using Tecnomatix Process Simulate and Plant Simulation software from Siemens to simulate worker safety, design and optimize workspace layouts, and validate safety and efficiency measures to future-proof production lines.
"Radio frequency identification (RFID) and other locating technologies have already been finding parts, equipment, vehicles and people for awhile, so mobility in this case means gaining the real-time visibility and transparency to know what will happen at all times throughout the supply chain by using RTLS," says Nicole Lauther, business manager for Simatic RTLS at Siemens. "Traditional RTLS tracks assets, works in progress and process optimization, but now its distance measuring and collision avoidance functions can be used for social distancing."
These goals will be achieved by Simatic RTLS, which will continuously measure distances between employees, give them real-time visuals of their spacing from others and create a log of their movements. Users will be equipped with six-month battery-powered transponders that wirelessly communicate with antennas/gateways in the facility; triangulation will calculate the locations of the transponders with UWB-based accuracy down to 1 foot; and time-stamped application data will be stored using SieTrace software on-premise or with a cloud-based service.
"Wearable RTLS tags provided to staff can use the same algorithms to measure if people are 6 feet or more apart, alert them visually on their badges if they're not, and document events for contact tracing later," explains Lauther. "We can also use RTLS data to produce facility heat maps. In the past, these would show bottlenecks of equipment on a floor plan, but now they can be used to show where social distancing violations are occurring most often, and suggest how to rearrange workspaces, aisles or other facilities to prevent them."
Tom Tengan, digtal enterprise director in the software division at Siemens, reports time-stamped RTLS data can be combined with process and plant simulations; displayed as 2-D, 3-D and panoramic renderings by Intosite software from Siemens; and indicate the health of a plant and why certain events are happening.
"Intosite can help track RTLS visibility, such as what's happening between people and what they may need to do. This kind of visibility didn't exist before without reviewing 24 hours or more of surveillance camera video," says Tengan. "There's also a safety aspect because using tags, RTLS data and simulations can show the safest procedure for sending people back into a facility, especially if the full workforce can't be there. Users want to protect their people and prove they can do it, and Simatic RTLS lets them model and validate their safety measures. This means they may not have to shut down their plant because they can show who needs to be redeployed."
