Towards a Unified Location Tracking System for Heterogeneous Industrial Environments

Current research on localizing objects and humans typically concentrates on a single technical solution in one of the following main categories: radio-based, acoustic, and image processing systems. Together with more mature systems (like GPS) numerous localization techniques coexist in isolation. But having a closer look on deploying localization systems in industrial applications several problems arise as the environmental influences vary too much to use a single technology. Moreover, the localization system needs to be integrated with other enterprise applications to enhance business processes. This work discusses how a localization system can help to improve occupational safety in industrial plants. We identified concepts to overcome the limitations of current stand-alone systems and evaluated the feasibility in a prototypical localization system, which we deployed in an industrial steel plant. This paper discusses how a localization system can help to improve occupational safety in industrial plants and presents concepts and findings gained during the deployment and test phase.