Where are you?

Responding to a perceived need for tracking abilities within a ZigBee network, Texas Instruments has launched the CC2431, said to be the first SoC solution to boast a hardware location engine. Targeted at industrial and consumer applications, the part is an upgrade to the existing CC2430, developed by Chipcon before its recent acquisition by TI. Product marketing engineer Eric Markman said the CC2431 calculates its position by determining the strength of signals received from nearby ZigBee nodes. A mobile device can use this feature to determine its location or a static device can be tracked. He added: “Potential applications include asset tracking and location. In a hospital, for example, the approach can be used to control where expensive and important equipment is stored. But it could also be used as for patient tracking, which can’t be done effectively with gps.” Accuracy is said to be better than 5m, depending upon the number of nearby nodes.