How to choose the right RTLS system for your business?
Criteria to evaluate when selecting a solution:
- Accuracy requirements: centimeter-level (UWB) or meter-level (BLE/Wi-Fi).
- Environments: indoor, outdoor, or both.
- Number of assets to track.
- Existing infrastructure: Wi-Fi, WMS, ERP.
- Scalability and budget.
How does artificial intelligence transform logistics, manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare?
- AI and Machine Learning: analyze RTLS data to optimize mission assignment, vehicle routing, and workforce scheduling. Identify anomalous patterns and suggest process improvements.
- Digital Twin: a virtual replica of the warehouse fed by real-time RTLS data. Enables simulation of layout changes, peak season scenario testing, and operator training in a safe environment.
- Predictive analytics: using historical and real-time data, anticipate equipment failures, operational congestion, and inventory needs before they occur.
Read our blog article "What is the Digital Twin in Logistics and 3PL??"
What is an RTLS and how does it work?
RTLS stands for Real-Time Locating System — a technology infrastructure that determines and reports the precise location of tagged objects, vehicles, and people within a defined space, continuously and in real time. An RTLS consists of three components: tags or transponders attached to the assets being tracked, anchor units installed in the facility that communicate with the tags and measure their positions, and a location engine and software platform that calculates coordinates and presents the data on a live map or feeds it to other business systems. Ubiquicom's RTLS platform supports multiple radio technologies — UWB, BLE, and RFID — and is used across logistics, manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare environments.
What is the difference between RTLS, RFID, and GPS?
RTLS, RFID, and GPS are all location technologies but serve different purposes and offer different accuracy levels. GPS provides outdoor geolocation with 3–5 meter accuracy but does not function reliably indoors. RFID detects the presence of a tagged item as it passes a fixed read point — such as a dock door or aisle entrance — but does not provide continuous position tracking between read points. RTLS delivers continuous, real-time positioning inside buildings without requiring items to pass through specific checkpoints. Ubiquicom's UWB-based RTLS achieves accuracy down to 10–30 centimeters indoors, enabling granular asset and personnel tracking at the level of individual machines, production cells, or storage locations — a precision level GPS and RFID cannot match in indoor industrial environments.
What RTLS applications does Ubiquicom offer for logistics?
Ubiquicom's RTLS solutions for logistics cover a comprehensive set of use cases: indoor and outdoor asset tracking for pallets, containers, and equipment; WMS optimization through real-time asset location data fed directly into warehouse management systems; intelligent yard management for tracking vehicles and goods in loading areas; automated inventory identification and management; cold chain temperature monitoring with real-time IoT sensors; airport logistics tracking for baggage trolleys, wheelchairs, and ground support vehicles; and air cargo handling optimization for dollies and tow tractors. These applications address the full logistics chain from goods receipt through storage, picking, dispatch, and transportation.
What RTLS applications does Ubiquicom offer for manufacturing?
In manufacturing, Ubiquicom's RTLS solutions address three key operational challenges. Production workflow optimization tracks semi-finished products and WIP through every stage of the assembly or production process, enabling cycle time measurement and bottleneck identification. Production cost tracking and reporting allocates actual time-on-machine and time-in-zone data to production orders, enabling accurate industrial cost accounting. Semi-finished product tracking follows individual items or batches through multi-stage production processes, providing traceability for quality control and compliance. These manufacturing RTLS applications have been deployed in automotive production, food processing, metal foundries, and luxury goods manufacturing environments.
How accurate is Ubiquicom's RTLS technology in industrial environments?
Ubiquicom's primary RTLS technology is UWB (Ultra-Wideband), which delivers positioning accuracy of approximately 10 to 30 centimeters in industrial environments — precise enough to distinguish between individual production cells, adjacent storage locations, or specific machines on a factory floor. This sub-meter accuracy is maintained even in environments with metallic structures, machinery, and other sources of RF interference that typically degrade alternative technologies. Where zone-level accuracy is sufficient, BLE beacons provide a more cost-effective option with 1–3 meter precision. Ubiquicom engineers the optimal technology mix based on each facility's layout, accuracy requirements, and infrastructure constraints.
How does Ubiquicom's RTLS platform integrate with WMS, ERP, and MES systems?
Ubiquicom's RTLS platform is designed for enterprise integration from the ground up. Real-time location events and asset status data are exposed through standard REST APIs, enabling continuous, bidirectional data exchange with WMS (Warehouse Management Systems), ERP platforms such as SAP and Oracle, and MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems). Location data enriches WMS inventory records automatically, updates production order status in MES, and provides ERP with accurate asset utilization and cost allocation data. The Locator platform also supports webhook-based event notifications for real-time triggers, such as alerting a WMS when a specific pallet arrives at a dispatch zone. Ubiquicom's integration team manages compatibility assessment and implementation for all major enterprise platforms.
What sectors and verticals does Ubiquicom serve with RTLS solutions?
Ubiquicom's RTLS solutions are deployed across a wide range of industrial and logistics verticals. Core sectors include warehousing and distribution (including 3PLs and e-commerce fulfillment), manufacturing and industrial production, transportation and freight logistics, airport and air cargo operations, cold chain and food logistics, automotive and vehicle manufacturing, healthcare and hospital facilities, and foundry and metalworking environments. Ubiquicom is recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Indoor Location Services, reflecting the breadth and maturity of its RTLS technology across these diverse application environments.
What makes Ubiquicom's RTLS approach different from other providers?
Ubiquicom's key differentiator is that it is the only RTLS provider offering a fully integrated platform that addresses both safety and efficiency in a single connected ecosystem. Most RTLS vendors specialize in either asset tracking for efficiency or safety systems for accident prevention — Ubiquicom delivers both through a common hardware and software infrastructure. This means a single RTLS deployment can simultaneously optimize forklift routing via AI (Synchro), prevent collisions (Proximity), monitor vehicle health (Shindan), and track assets throughout the facility (Locator). Additionally, Ubiquicom's technology stack — built on UWB for precision, BLE for coverage, and RFID for identification — is engineered specifically for harsh industrial environments and has been proven in deployments across more than 20,000 installations.
