Quuppa RTLS Technology Overview

Quuppa systems can reach an accuracy of around 0.5 m (2 ft) – or “sub-meter” by using unique direction finding methods based on angular measurements & proprietary algorithm that has been honed by the founding team for over 15 years.

As accuracy demands can vary from one area to another, Quuppa allows you to control the level of accuracy simply by altering the number of Locators. 

For example, in inventory management it’s often enough to know that the assets are present or are in an approximate area, which only requires a few Locators. But you may need a more accurate position in the loading dock, and that can be achieved by adding some more Locators to that area.

Real-time is a flexible concept. For a standard Quuppa system, it means a location update rate of up to 50 Hz, and latency down to 100 ms. That, coupled with our superior accuracy, enables many security and safety related applications.  For example, collision avoidance between people and vehicles in industrial environments, or tracking the high-speed movements of players  during a hockey game in real-time.

The transmission rate for Standard Bluetooth® channels is limited to 10 Hz, as per Bluetooth regulations. But the Quuppa system can also be configured to use proprietary channels, on which Quuppa Tags can be set to transmit at up to 50 Hz.

However, sometimes even that’s not enough. For example, when tracking fast paced sports.  Then it’s good to know that the Quuppa system itself doesn’t have any limitations, and the tag can be configured to transmit for example 200 Hz or even higher and the latency can be 20 ms or less.

As the Quuppa system is interoperable with Bluetooth® wireless technology, it can track any Bluetooth® enabled device that is transmitting a Quuppa specified radio packet. For example, smartphones can be made trackable just by adding a few lines of code to the application.

Quuppa Tag IDs can also be read by  Bluetooth devices without the help of Locators. For example, a doctor could read a patient’s ID Tag directly using a smartphone to request critical information from a cloud service.

Quuppa allows total freedom in tag design. You can choose between multiple ready-made tags by Quuppa or our tag partners, integrate our QT1 Tag Module into your device, or design your own tag using our firmware libraries and schematics. Basically, any Bluetooth® enabled device can be made Quuppa-trackable with minor software modifications.

Quuppa’s own QT1-1 Tag is a great solution, fit for most purposes. It’s lightweight, shockproof, waterproof and easy to attach with straps, lanyards or other fastening methods. However, the design or available features are not necessarily optimal for all use-cases.

If you would prefer to design your own custom tag, we’ll happily provide you with the reference design files including schematics, layouts, and bill of materials.

The Quuppa system is easy to integrate into existing systems with pull or push APIs that offer standard JSON/REST or CSV formats. The API is fully open and configurable, and even comes with an editor.

The Quuppa APIs can expose whatever data your sensors are recording: heart-rate, gyro, compass, magnetometer, barometer, temperature, humidity etc.

Thanks to Bluetooth® Low Energy technology, Quuppa Tags consume very little energy.

A Quuppa QT1-1 Tag can transmit one packet per second 24/7 for three years. That makes roughly 94.6 million transmissions in total.

Using the onboard sensors or geofencing areas to only activate the tag when needed, can extend the battery lifetime by several years. Often, the battery manufacturer’s specification for the maximum lifetime becomes the limiting factor. 

Once installed, the Quuppa system normally requires no physical maintenance. The system is constantly monitoring itself and can send an alert if attention is needed.

The Locators have inbuilt accelerometers, so if they are moved the system will know. If a Locator is offline, the system will know. In the case of a power failure, the system will even perform an automated recovery.

The Quuppa system is interoperable  with Bluetooth® wireless technology, so even  standard mobile devices can be made trackable by the system. However, the 2.4 GHz band range is very crowded, so operating on these radio channels is not a trivial task. The advanced proprietary algorithms used by the Quuppa Intelligent Locating System™ are what  make it a very robust and reliable solution, even in the most demanding environments.

The system is continuously in use in challenging environments, such as fully packed trade shows and stadiums and has been confirmed interference-free of other systems.

When tracking high-speed objects, like hockey players and the puck, the Quuppa system can be configured to provide faster update rates, and is also immune to any interference from other Bluetooth devices or any other wireless systems such as WiFi or wireless microphones.

In addition to location tracking, the Quuppa system can be used as a gateway to the Internet of Things (IoT), receiving and exposing data from a wide range of Bluetooth® sensors.

As more and more Bluetooth® radio equipped devices are connected to IoT systems, sending out information about themselves and their surroundings, they can all be made visible to the Quuppa system. If these devices have any sensors on board – which they pretty much always do – the sensor data can also be received by the Quuppa system and exposed through our open and configurable API.