Smart Asset Monitoring

Asset Monitoring Screen

Asset Tracking and Monitoring

Monitoring inventory through BLE or Sub-1GHz Sensors

Gateworks Corporation is a leading supplier of industrial grade ARM based SBCs that can be used to implement high performance smart asset monitoring solutions. Many asset monitoring applications require rugged, industrial temperature rated hardware which is where Gateworks SBCs excel, especially as a gateway. These SBCs are Made in the USA which result in a high quality and robust product. Asset monitoring plays a large role in the logistics and transportation industries, health and life sciences, manufacturing and retail.

  • Advantages to a Smart Asset Solution include:
    • Location tracking which includes maximizing asset availability and theft monitoring
    • Monitoring for environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity
    • Predictive analysis for maintaining assets and detecting problems early

Smart Asset Architecture

Assets can be a variety of things, such as packages, medical vials, construction equipment, technology devices. Each asset needs to connect to a central platform for scalable management. The asset may connect to the central platform directly itself or through a gateway. A gateway is often advantageous because the communication mediums between an asset and gateway are more power and cost efficient.

Assets & Sensors

Sensors play a crucial role in tracking and monitoring assets. These may include location, temperature, humidity, motion, vibration and infrared. Gateworks SBCs include GPIO, USB, CAN, RS232, RS485, SPI and I2C interfaces for connecting local sensors.

Bluetooth Low Energy has become extremely popular for interfacing to sensors wirelessly. This sensor data can then be stored and analyzed locally on the Gateworks SBC or pushed up to a cloud server for more long term storage and heavier analysis.

RFID can also be utilized for tracking and monitoring assets.A RFID system can typically be integrated with the Gateworks SBC through the Mini-PCIe slot. A common industrial solution can be found through companies such as Impinj.

Asset Gateways

Gateworks SBCs are the perfect gateway for an asset monitoring solution. The Gateworks SBC allows for both sensor and cloud communication via different technologies.

Gateworks SBC’s feature Mini-PCIe expansion slots which allow support of a variety of wireless standards such as Cellular (LTE/CATM1), WiFi, Bluetooth & BLE, SubGHz, Thread, WiSun, Zigbee LoRa, SigFox and Iridium Satellite. The Mini-PCIe slots provide customers with a flexible plug-n-play platform that can be tailored to meet their exact specifications. Different wireless standards support important communication modes, such as mesh and point to point networking.

Single, dual and 5-port Gigabit Ethernet models are available including SFP Fiber support. These high speed wired connections are typically used to send large amounts of data up to the cloud.

The Gateworks Asset Gateway is also capable of computing at the edge, whether that is storage, analysis or alerts.

Asset Learning & Recognition

Gateworks SBCs can act as as platform for certain machine learning applications utilizing things such as a tensor processing unit (TPU) to detect machine abnormalities and patterns. Camera recognition can also be implemented through the TPU. The TPU device would interface through one of the high-speed Mini-PCIe slots. The detected information can then be used to optimize assets or send alerts for assets in danger or requiring attention.

Flexible Software & Clouds

All boards support an Open Source Linux OS (Ubuntu, OpenWrt) which provides the user with complete access and control of the data and allows the use of any of the large number of cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Service (AWS). Asset data can be sent to the preferred cloud of choice over a variety of connections, including cellular or satellite, for storage, analysis and alerts..

Flexible Configurations

Gateworks can also provide customers with a “Special” configuration of our standard products. This “Special” program allows customers to create cost and feature optimized versions of our standard products. The special is assigned a unique, revision locked, part number so customers can be insured they receive the same exact configuration every time they order. Note there is a 100-piece minimum order quantity for special configuration models. Some of the items that can be configured under the “Specials” program are:

  • Changing components such as DRAM size, Flash size, or CPU type/speed
  • Removing components not used to lower the cost of the product
  • Adding optional components designed into the product but not loaded on the standard version (ie. locking headers)
  • Programming the customer firmware

For high volume applications, Gateworks can also design a full custom SBC to meet the customer exact needs. Contact sales@gateworks.com for more information and to discuss your exact needs.

Recommended products for Factory Automation and Communication

Recommended Single Board Computers:

  • Ventana GW5220 – Small 70mm x 100mm, 2x Mini-PCIe sites, 1x GbE, i.MX6 Dual Core CPU
  • Ventana GW5913 – Small 35mm x 100mm, 1x Mini-PCIe sites, 1x GbE, i.MX6 Dual Core CPU
  • Ventana GW5910 – Small 70mm x 100mm, 2x Mini-PCIe sites, 1x GbE, WiFi/BLE, SubGHz Radio Onboard, i.MX6 Dual Core CPU
  • Ventana GW5510 – Small 35mm x 70mm, 1x Mini-PCIe sites, i.MX6 Single Core CPU
  • Newport GW6100 – Small 35mm x 100mm, 1x Mini-PCIe sites, 1x GbE, OcteonTx Dual Core CPU
  • Newport GW6200 – Small 70mm x 100mm, 2x Mini-PCIe sites, 2x GbE, OcteonTx Dual Core CPU
  • Newport GW6400 – 140mm x 100mm, 4x Mini-PCIe sites, 5x GbE, OcteonTx Dual Core CPU
  • Additional Ventana and Newport SBCs available in a variety of form factors and with up to 6x Mini-PCIe sites. See here for more information.

Recommended Mini-PCIe Cards for Wireless Support:

Recommended Enclosures: