The BLEAT System

As our built environment becomes sensor rich and automated in the pursuit of cost efficiency, it is now critical to have a technology that allows real time tracking of assets and resources to ensure our safety. Existing GPS tracking technology has high power demands and does not work in built up environments, inside buildings or underground. The research team developed a way to leverage BLE advertising packets to achieve room-level accuracy tracking in a low-power way. This algorithm, named BLEAT, enabled them to provide easily deployable, scalable, low cost, low maintenance and low power tracking of people and objects indoors.

The BLEAT system networks: BLEATags - Attached to mobile infrastructure such as factory assets, machinery or construction site materials. BLEAcons - Fixed throughout a management environment such as a factory or construction site. BLECards - Wearable employee tracking, access and alarm cards. BLEATags and BLECards communicate to the BLEAcons via proprietory BLE encoded and encrypted packets. The BLEAcons relay this data to gateways via LoRaWAN (a Long-Range Wireless Area Network standard). Finally, the gateway forwards the packet to the cloud enabling near real-time location and state of the tracked object for analytics, alerting and reporting.

Dramatic opportunities for productivity improvement - Construction Site Example: BLEAT allows a builder and contractors to have unprecedented information on where resources are, their state and their utilisation in real time and over time. BLEAT can offer dramatic productivity and site safety improvement (time lost locating objects and people), advanced health and safety (knowledge of people remaining in evacuations, real time alerting to staff and customers of location specific hazards), manage waste, reduce costs and provide previously unattainable knowledge of infrastructure utilisation through analytics (which can be used for optimising, planning, maintenance, cleaning, building etc).

CSIRO and Data 61 have entered into a partnership with Ynomia to commercialise the technology on building sites in Australia the UK and USA. Ynomia is using BLEAT technology to help manage building productivity and safety workstreams and also being employed to track High Value materials (facade panels) in the supply chain, from manufacture (in China), transport, off-site storage and through to final installation on high-rise buildings. Beyond the construction site the function and features of the BLEAT System allows advanced management for the following application areas: - Site Managers (private and government organisations) - Hospitals - Supermarkets (analytical data, asset tracking) - Wildlife tracking and research - Health and Safety firms - Mining (underground/open-cut) - Army bases ( enhanced safety and logistics management) BLEAT is also under consideration for Health Safety and Environment applications such as hazardous materials, management of vehicles and equipment. Other features for ease of use in deployment on site include: - Self Adhesive Pads, Zip Tie and Screw Hole slots facilitate multiple methods of attachment to materials, machines and personnel. - Product labels include high contrast quick scan access QR patches and universal unique identification codes. - Bright LEDs, Buzzers and hidden mode integration buttons all increase the product ranges built environment management, safety and efficiency.