SINTRA - our solution for indoor localization

SINTRA – Real-time indoor localization

Search processes eliminated: order for chaotic warehousing

This chaos is wanted. Because: logistics experts know that chaotic warehousing saves space and thus costs. The system that finds the stored products safely must be all the more sophisticated. SINTRA by Sinfosy is a real-time indoor localization for manufacturing and logistics.

Where are my goods? How large is the current inventory? As a real-time location system (RTLS), SINTRA guarantees transparency in materials management. The system eliminates all searches and thus minimizes storage costs. Inventories can be carried out quickly and easily in real time. The outstanding advantage: The introduction of SINTRA does not require a costly and time-consuming IT project. The intuitive app is easy to use via smartphones or tablets. The training effort is low.

SINTRA is based on Apple’s iBeacons (Beacon) technology. But while this technology is usually used to send push messages to the mobile phones of customers or visitors – for example in shopping centres, at trade fairs or museums – the principle is reversed here. In the SINTRA system, production goods or containers are marked with an iBeacon as an active tag before storage, which continuously emits a signal. The identification of each tag is linked in the app to the master data containing information about the goods to be stored or the contents of a storage container or container: e.g. type of contents, quantity, weight.

Mobile phones are permanently installed in the storage rooms as remote stations and use three-point localization to locate the tags’ radio signals. The radio technology is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which is more energy-saving than conventional Bluetooth. The Beacon batteries will last for years.

If the locations of the tags are retrieved via the SINTRA app, the mobile phones transmit this data either via WLAN or via mobile radio to a cloud memory. SINTRA is almost infinitely scalable. In comparison to other solutions, SINTRA also functions in metal processing companies or in metallic environments or where there is usually a lot of interference radiation, for example by welding.

Since the tags transmit continuously, SINTRA can also track the routes taken by individual goods, for example in the warehouse or in production – as well as the time and duration of transport. Shown in a spaghetti chart, these data can be used to optimize the route. At the same time, the data can also be combined and evaluated from different production and storage locations. The SINTRA app was developed together with the customer’s employees and is characterized by an almost training-free implementation.

As with all products, Sinfosy offers SINTRA as System-as-a-Service (SaaS). Sinfosy provides customers with the necessary software and hardware as a service and also takes over the service. The system can be implemented quickly and easily on site; the customer’s IT resources are not used. Customers only pay a monthly fee, which depends on the number of mobile devices and the agreed support time (from eight hours per working day to 24/7 all-round service).

The state of Brandenburg has awarded SINTRA 2016 with the Metal Innovation Prize.