Blogging has been taking a back seat to everything else in my life, lately. This week, though, I have a variety of interesting and exciting developments to share. Today’s news is an update on the indoor location company I co-founded, Q-Track. The good news began a few month ago in […]
Near-Field
52 posts
Here’s more good press for NFER® RTLS pioneer, Q-Track. Nuclear Engineering International reports: Workers in six US nuclear power plants are being trained in a virtual radiation environment so that they can develop skills to keep radiation exposures low. The Q-Track radiation worker training system combines a software program that can […]
Employing Q-Track’s patented Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER®) technology, Collision Avoidance Non-Line-of-Sight (CANLOS™) systems allow robots to detect and avoid colliding with their human co-workers even when when direct line-of-sight may be blocked. NFER® signals use low frequencies that penetrate better and diffract around obstructions that may block conventional RF and […]
Q-Track’s A-Team traveled to upstate New York the other day to show off NFER RTLS for tactical training at Tactical Conference 2012. Here’s the press release: May 01, 2012 – Verona, NY – Q-Track Corporation, the pioneer in Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging, will demonstrate NFER Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) products in and […]
Today’s Google Doodle honors Heinrich Hertz (1857-1893), discoverer of radio waves, on the 155th anniversary of his birth. Heinrich Hertz was not the first to experiment with radio waves. Contemporaries such as Charles Hughes and Oliver Lodge performed similar work in parallel. What set Hertz apart, however, was his tenacity […]
I’m passing on another press release from my company, Q-Track. The Q-Track team at I/ITSEC is having a great show and wanted to share this video, filmed yesterday, of their live demonstration. ORLANDO, FL – December 1, 2011. Q-Track’s NFER Real-Time Location System (RTLS) demonstration wowed attendees during the first […]
Today, I’m passing along a press release from my company, Q-Track. Swing by Booth 2737 at I/ITSEC in Orlando this week to see a demonstration of NFER RTLS. ORLANDO, FL – November 28, 2011. Q-Track Corporation, the pioneer in Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging, will be demonstrating NFER Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) […]
I came across the following by Vannevar Bush, and thought I’d pass it along. This is one of the clearer descriptions of how electromagnetic energy works that I’ve run across. In fact, the very definition of the radiation during a transient is a matter of some concern. Radiation in the […]
Last week, Huntsville, AL-based Q-Track Corporation promoted Stephen A. Werner to Chief Executive Officer. Werner previously served as Chief Operating Officer. He brings over twenty-five years of executive experience to Q-Track, including previous service as VP and General Manager for AAR Summa Technology. Werner also held senior positions with Sanmina-SCI […]
This afternoon, I’ll be presenting at the Rocket City Geospatial Conference on the subject, “RTLS Enhancing Nuclear Safety.” Radiation exposure of workers in the nuclear industry poses a significant health hazard to the workers, and imposes substantial costs to the utilities that employ them. Q-Track has developed two Real-Time Location […]
Last month, I spoke at the 2011 International Microwave Symposium in Baltimore in a workshop on innovative and highly accurate local location systems. My slides are now available online. This workshop presentation explains basics of near-field physics and near-field RF links. Then, this presentation explains the implementation and performance of […]
Saturday July 9 marks the centennial of John Archibald Wheeler’s birth. Wheeler pioneered the theory of nuclear fission along with Niels Bohr. He contributed to the Manhattan Project during the Second World War. Afterward, he led a revival of general relativity theory including coining such memorable terms as “wormholes” and […]
Trade shows are always tricky places for live demos, particularly for Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS). With multiple vendors densely packed in adjacent booths, the RF noise levels make demonstrations risky if they are possible at all. That’s why my Q-Track colleagues were particularly pleased with the ability of NFER® RTLS […]
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, […]
Conventional RFID systems can identify assets passing through a portal, but once inside a warehouse locating the assets becomes a substantial challenge. Tagging each of the potentially thousands of assets in a typical logistics scenario is cost-prohibitive. But by identifying an asset, associating it with a forklift, and then tracking […]
Here are some RTLS news items of interest: Chinese plans to track cell phones raise concerns: Beijing to track people’s movements via their mobile phones – Computerworld. Hat Tip: @TheSchnack Skyhook brings location-awareness to the Sony NGP, including WiFi-only models — Engadget. Computer scientists develop smart, less obtrusive tracking system […]
Initiatives Magazine had a nice article about my company, Q-Track, and the many applications of our Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER®) Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS). Coincidentally, an older article from Technology Alabama also recently became available online: In an all-too-familiar story in the Huntsville area, a technology — which was practiced […]
Here are some recent links of interest: Amazing how many people were taken in by what appear to be high-tech dowsing rods: Iraqi Treasury Gets Partial Refund on Magic Wands – Lowering the Bar. Remarkably, the company’s website is still up. Spy Tech Surveillance Gear – Top Surveillance Gadgets – […]
The 2011 IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium kicks off today in Phoenix, Arizona. ÆtherCzar will be live-blogging the proceedings. If you are in attendance, I look forward to seeing you around the conference and particularly at my three formal appearances (all on Wednesday): Paper Presentation: “On the Origins of RF-Based […]
Here are a few RTLS and wireless updates: UWB RTLS vendor Ubisense raised £5M to fund expansion. And 50 Ubisense tags are available on eBay with a starting bid of $9.99. Another UWB RTLS vendor, decaWave, was honored for “best technology development” at a tradeshow. It’s Nearly Time for Near-Field […]
John Brandon, writing at Digital Trends, features my company, The Q-Track Corporation, as one of “Six tech start-ups that could change the way we live.” Q-Track’s Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging technology provides the “indoor GPS” to bring location awareness to the most difficult industrial RF propagation environments. The piece is a […]
It was a busy week to have been out on vacation. Here are some RTLS and Location-Based Services links to help get caught up: My employer, NFER® RTLS vendor Q-Track, unveiled an updated website, took second place in the Global Security Challenge, West Coast Final, and was featured in RFID […]
The Boston Globe has a great article on Q-Track’s successful firefighter rescue demonstration at WPI earlier this month: WORCESTER — The blinded, disoriented firefighters who crawled up the stairs of a century-old brick building here recently had to find a missing colleague, and find him fast. Their only hope was […]
Last month, a Q-Track team traveled to the historic Safety Research Coal Mine in Bruceton, Pennsylvania to conduct RF propagation and performance tests on a Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER®) Real-Time Location System (RTLS). We optimized the system for use in a mine environment in an effort funded by NIOSH. We […]