Siemens Buys Agilion to Boost IoT

　　Siemens has acquired German wireless location solutions developer Agilion GmbH to boost its real-time location systems (RTLS) offering in the ultra-wideband (UWB) frequency spectrum for factory automation and automated guided vehicles (AGVs).

　　Targeting applications like smart factories and logistics, RTLS enables precise monitoring of the production process and a transparent material flow. Real-time data made available using RTLS about the location and status of assets forms the basis for networking involved players and logistical processes along the value chain. This allows users to continuously and automatically compare the position of every production asset with the 3D model (or digital twin) of the product or production environment. Evaluation and combination of this digital twin with other information — for instance, using apps in the company’s IoT operating system, MindSphere — permit dynamic optimization of production and logistics processes.

　　"By acquiring Agilion, we’ll be in a position to also offer real-time locating solutions straight away," said Herbert Wegmann, head of Siemens’ industrial communication and identification business segment.

　　Wegmann added: "RTLS is an essential key technology and a new step on the road toward flexible automation in production — for instance, by providing dynamic self-organizing production concepts in the assembly of large-scale products. Real-time locating also enables the safe, efficient use of collaborative mobile robots."

　　Agilion GmbH was established in 2004 and has a workforce of 60 at its location in Chemnitz, Germany. It now becomes a fully owned subsidiary of Siemens and integrated into the Process Industries and Drives Division’s industrial communication and identification business. The parties did not disclose the purchase price.

　　Siemens says that in the smart factory of the future, RTLS will supply the essential foundation for the use of intelligent production units, involving the cooperation of different production facilities such as transport vehicles and mobile robots with machines and plants. At the same time, the actual location of a machine or robot will become a variable factor, meaning that an autonomously controlled, highly efficient work flow can be organized only with knowledge of the current spatial configuration of the factory.

　　UWB-based RTLS solutions permit a complete production floor and thousands of assets to be equipped, taking RTLS technology out of the niche role that it currently occupies and making it available to serve as the infrastructure for multiple applications. In an RTLS implementation, active transponders are attached to toolholders, tools, AGVs, robots, and other products. These transponders can be automatically located within fractions of a second and their position transmitted to the control systems. The use over the UWB spectrum means that the low transmission level prevents them from interfering with other systems but in a comparatively large frequency spectrum (3–7 GHz). This enables high locating precision.

　　The active transponders emit a radio signal at defined intervals, which is received by at least three anchors, each synchronized with the other. The anchors transmit the collected data together with the transponder ID number and the receiving time, measured with ultra-high accuracy, via a gateway to the locating server. This software calculates the position of each transponder using time difference of arrival (TDOA). Accuracy is increased using flanking measures such as automatic correlation of RTLS position data with the 3D model of the product and production environment stored in the digital twin.

　　The use of UWB and TDOA allows the accuracy of RTLS systems to be increased to within just a few centimeters in production environments. Using TDOA also helps significantly extend the life of transponder batteries, providing the assurance of reliable function over several years. Using UWB, transponders can also be equipped with a data interface and combined, for instance, with the robot controller, making the location information available not only over the higher-level system but also directly to the robot itself with only a negligible delay.