Intelligraphics, Inc. Driver Suite for CCX TAG Transmission Based Wi-Fi Localization and Asset Tracking IGX TRAC

Locating and tracking high valued assets is a challenging activity for industrial, automotive, medical and office environments. Existing solutions like RFID tags have had limitations. Installation of costly RFID readers, tagging each device separately, maintenance of infrastructure and creating a database of tag-to-device mapping are not always practical or cost effective. Cisco introduced the CCX Tag feature by which “active” tracking of devices is possible. By deploying intelligent back-end systems, active periodic Wi-Fi transmissions from the devices can be used for tracking/locating assets without major change to existing infrastructure firmware. Those devices can use their existing Wi-Fi for CCX Tag transmission. IGX TRAC was designed and deployed to keep tag transmissions periodic and predictable without disturbing the existing Wi-Fi connectivity of devices. Tracking the movement of a device, the broadcast of crucial device information to other devices, and the localization of a device based on an Access Point receiving the transmitted tag frames can be realized using IGX TRAC. Tag transmissions can continue even if the device is disconnected from its AP or is out of range providing a unique opportunity to track devices across cell boundaries. Individual devices can advertise battery level, connection state and other useful information periodically for centralized monitoring by end user. KEY FEATURES Periodic transmissions, without disturbing existing Wi-Fi connection Support for single transmit attempt per channel or burst attempts per channel available Configurations for time gap between transmission cycles, time gap between burst packets (in a channel) are exposed to the user Transmission starts with a “command” to the Wi-Fi firmware and completes with a “response” containing transmission statistics A single command is sufficient to trigger full transmission cycle, to minimize host-target transactions The end of each transmit cycle provides the total number of transmissions attempted as well as the number transmissions that succeeded Tag transmission is independent of device association with Wi-Fi Access Point Transmitted frame payload can be completely customized by user application Tag specification compliant 802.11 frames with fixed & variable fields can be offloaded to Wi-Fi firmware – transparent to the application Tag frames can be transmitted without encryption even if the device is connected to an encrypted Access Point Tag specifications can be extended to contain any vendor specific information, which is transparent to Wi-Fi driver/firmware modifications Supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, DFS channels are completely avoided during transmission CHIPSETS SUPPORTED QCA6564 – 1×1 802.11 abgn/ac, industrial grade, SDIO host interface QCA6174A – 2×2 802.11abgn/ac, industrial grade, mini-PCIe and M.2 (NGFF) QCA9378 – 2×2 802.11abgn/ac, industrial grade, USB Can be integrated to any other chipset seamlessly Currently implemented for host-target architecture but can be extended for direct attach model drivers