Sigfox Asset Tracking system:Working,Benefits,Limitations,Solution Providers

Introduction : In an era where global supply chains stretch across continents and assets traverse myriad environments, visibility has become a critical competitive advantage. Businesses increasingly need to know not just whether their assets are moving, but where, when and in what condition.

Traditional tracking methods such as manual logging, GPS devices, cellular based systems have been used so far. These traditional methods often carry high costs in terms of hardware, energy consumption, maintenance or network infrastructure.

Sigfox based asset tracking offers low power and wide area coverage compared to traditional methods. These systems enable continuous or event-based monitoring of items like containers, pallets, tools, trailers or non-motorized assets. This article delves into how such Sigfox asset tracking systems work, what benefits and trade offs they bring, and examples of providers & solutions in the market.

Sigfox Asset Tracking System Architecture & Working

The system consists of tracker/sensor device, Sigfox Base station/Gateway, Cloud, Geolocation Services and user/application layer.

Following points describe working of the system.

• Sensors mounted on the assets such as container, pallet, vehicle trailer etc, sends the data periodically or upon events to the sigfox network. WiFi or GPS sensors are used if precise location is needed. Sensors are interfaced with sigfox radio module to establish wireless link with sigfox network.
• Sigfox Base Stations or Gateways form sigfox network. The data received by sigfox network is tranported to the cloud server.
• The data collected at the cloud platform are used by mobile or web applications. The data can be viewed by logistics managers, operators, customers as desired.

Advantages of Sigfox Asset Tracking system

Following are some of the benefits of Sigfox Asset Tracking system.

1. As tracker is asleep most of the time and send small messages occasionally, it offers battery life for several years.
2. Tracker radio does not require high power transmitters and hence it is less expensive.
3. Tracker can cover large areas with fewer base stations. Useful for cross broder tracking if sigfox is available.
4. Due to lower cost and less power demands, many tracker devices can be deployed across many assets easily.
5. Many sigfox trackers include environment sensors which help in monitoring condition in addition to the location.

Disadvantages of Sigfox Asset Tracking system

Following are some of the limitations of Sigfox Asset Tracking system.

1. As sigfox tracker device sends data infrequenctly, real-time tracking isn’t as fast as cellular or GPS. Second-by-Second updates are not possible.
2. It offers coarser location accuracy without GPS which may be enough for some use cases but not for the others.
3. Sigfox limits how many messages per day/message size; this constaint must be considered in the design.

Key Solutions provider

Conclusion: As organizations seek to optimize operations, reduce loss and theft, improve utilization of their assets and ensure better condition monitoring, Sigfox based tracking is emerging as an enabling technology that balances cost, energy efficiency, scale and coverage.