Q-Track Announces Logistics Patent Win

Following is a press release from my company, Q-Track. More details are in this recent post: NFER® RTLS for Forklift Tracking and Supply Chain Management. Always a pleasure to have good news to share! -Hans

Invention expected to dramatically lower cost of supply chain visibility

Huntsville, AL — June 7, 2011 — Q-Track Corporation today announced the award of U.S. Patent 7,957,833 for an “Asset Localization, Identification, and Movement System and Method.” This pioneer patent covers a method of merging real-time location systems (RTLS) with barcode or radio-frequency identification (RFID) asset tagging to achieve unprecedented real-time supply-chain visibility at a previously unobtainable low price. The technology, originally developed under a grant from the National Science Foundation, was successfully piloted at a logistics facility run by Just-in-Time Services, LLC. A video of the demonstration is available at http://www.q-track.com/index.php/video-demonstrations/warehouse-management. Employing Q-Track’s proprietary Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging or NFER® RTLS products, the company can provide pallet level tracking of forklifts and personnel for a cost of approximately $0.50 – $1.00 per square feet of coverage area in large deployments.

Record Rate of Customer Deployments

Q-Track has been encouraged by growing demand for NFER® products in a wide variety of RTLS applications. The company’s year-to-date deployments are already 50% above the level of 2010. Q-Track’s Dosimulation™ System employs NFER® RTLS to create simulated radiation and dosimetry in support of radiation worker training. Q-Track’s Dosimulation™ System earned a Finalist nod for “Best-In-Show” at RFID-Journal Live 2009, and Q-Track’s pilot customer won the Nuclear Energy Institute’s 2010 “Top Industry Practice” or “TIP” award for training. Dosimulation™ Systems lower nuclear utility costs with improved training that reduces nuclear worker exposure to radiation. With an estimated ROI of about nine months, nuclear customers find Q-Track’s product attractive. “This June alone, we have a total of four systems scheduled for delivery to our nuclear customers,” Q‑Track COO, Stephen Werner, confirmed. “Our low infrastructure cost combined with our high tracking accuracy in difficult environments make us a natural RTLS solution.” The company also offers an NFER® system optimized for non-line-of-sight proximity detection and collision avoidance in industrial settings.

National Recognition for First Responder Prototype

The company received national recognition in 2010 when a Q-Track prototype system delivered the fastest firefighter rescue in testing at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute campus. In the exercise, conducted by the Worcester, MA Fire Department and sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, the Q-Track prototype located a “lost” firefighter in just over seven minutes, compared to a baseline of twenty-four minutes using conventional methods.

About Q-Track: Founded in 2002, the Q-Track Corporation is the leader in high precision RTLS in the most challenging industrial environments. Q-Track is a privately held company located in Huntsville, AL. Q-Track’s development of Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER®) technology was supported by contracts or grants from Homeland Security, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), NIOSH, NIA, and NIEHS. The company holds nine U.S. patents with an additional ten pending. For additional information, please visit the company’s website at www.Q-Track.com.

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Q-Track, NFER, and Dosimulation are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Q-Track Corporation. Our research results are based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation and other agencies. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the endorsement of the U.S. government.

For more information:

Steve Werner, [email protected] (256) 682-5389