Arizona-based electronics company OnSemi has launched an end-to-end positioning system to enable accurate, more power-efficient asset tracking.

In partnership with Unikie and CoreHW, OnSemi is providing the system to help develop asset tracking products for warehouses, retail stores and other buildings.

The end-to-end positioning system should enable the simpler and faster development of more accurate, cost- and power-efficient asset tracking. The system is based on OnSemi’s RSL15 MCU, a low power Bluetooth 5.2 device, and incorporates software algorithms and components provided by Unikie and CoreHW.

The new Bluetooth LE offering enables tags to be used for tracking objects or persons with sub-metre accuracy in defined closed spaces such as warehouses, stores or other buildings. It is scalable to large volumes of tracked objects in terms of performance and cost while reducing the amount of development effort and time-to-market.

The RSL15 is suitable for various industrial automation applications, including asset tracking, smart retail and IoT edge nodes. It supports longer range, higher data transmissions and localisation through angle of arrival (AoA) and angle of departure (AoD).

A smart sensing feature allows the Arm Cortex-M33 processor to remain in deep sleep while continuing to monitor sensor interfaces. It is designed with Arm TrustZone and CryptoCell-312 technology to establish a device’s root of trust and protect code and data authenticity, integrity and confidentiality.

PSA level-one certified, this design enhances the security measures already offered in the Bluetooth protocol for assurance at both the data and application levels.

Unikie, an engineering company focused on enabling smart spaces, developed the software algorithms and components to calculate the real-time positions of a Bluetooth LE-based tag, using the IQ values for the received signals. Unikie’s localisation software is packaged as the Unikie BLE localisation engine for edge or cloud deployment. In addition, Unikie’s APIs can be integrated into enterprise systems and data analysers.

CoreHW, a fabless semiconductor company developing IC technologies, provides Bluetooth AoA development kits to a range of industries, enabling them to leverage indoor location systems for enhanced location-based applications. It designs and supplies Bluetooth LE enabled antenna array boards in various form factors that offer accurate location capabilities at a 10cm level.