Today, Q-Track demonstrated a Location-Aware Combat Identification (LACID) system for blue force tracking. The demonstration took place at a Military Operations Urban Terrain (MOUT) training range located at Fort McClellan, near Anniston, Alabama. The LACID system employs Q-Track’s Near-Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER®) Real-Time Location System (RTLS). The demonstration used four locator-receivers deployed around the training range and two FCC Part 15 compliant low-power transmit tags. After a short calibration, the LACID system successfully tracked two tagged individuals throughout a 50m x 50m (165ft x 165ft) area. Location error was typically no more than 1m (3ft) around and inside three steel reinforced concrete multi-story buildings.
Q-Track’s NFER® systems benefit from the long wavelengths (typically 300m) of low frequencies (typically around 1MHz). The long wavelengths easily penetrate foliage and buildings, making the Q-Track solution highly robust. Operating in the “near field,” within about one-third of a wavelength, NFER® systems can track tags inside buildings, even with the receivers placed outside the buildings. Thus, NFER® systems can provide a comprehensive situational awareness tool for military operations or training with a low infrastructure cost.
Huntsville, Alabama-based Q-Track Corporation (http://www.q-track.com) pioneered low frequency, near-field indoor wireless location systems to solve challenging problems ranging from worker location and safety to supply chain management. Q-Track’s patented NFER® technology tracks workers in nuclear power facilities, and forklifts in warehouses, among many other applications.
Funding for this project was made possible by Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Contract W15P7T-07-C-M007 awarded by the U.S. Army. The Army makes no representation as to the accuracy of the demonstration in the video. This video should not be perceived as an endorsement by the U.S. Army for the technology demonstrated in the video.
