Beyond X and Y: turning location events into operational signal →
The five layers between a raw position event and a business decision. Where most RTLS programmes stop — and where the ROI actually lives.
How to read these notes
Field notes beat brochure physics — use them to brief procurement.
Start with the failure mode
Read the explainer that matches your bottleneck (accuracy, multipath, LoRaWAN) before you RFP.
Cross-check vendors
Pair an insight with a comparison or vendor page — independence is the point.
Bring your baseline
Numbers here are methods and ranges. Your site still needs measurement.
Published
Long-form articles, ready to read.
Three deep-dives on the questions clients ask us most.
Passive, semi-passive, or active RFID? A practical decision guide →
Three tag categories, three very different cost profiles. A breakdown of pros, cons, range, and what each one is actually good for in production.
UWB vs BLE for RTLS: when sub-metre accuracy actually matters →
UWB delivers 10–30 cm accuracy at significant infrastructure cost. BLE gets 1–3 m at a fraction of the price. The trade-offs that drive the choice.
Independent comparisons
Vendor head-to-heads, with no vendor in the room.
Short-listing specific products? We take no reseller margin, so we can say plainly where each one wins. See all comparisons →
Sewio vs Ubisense: independent UWB comparison →
Mid-market, developer-friendly UWB versus heavyweight, process-critical UWB built for automotive-scale assembly. Which fits your operation.
Impinj vs Zebra: independent Passive RFID comparison →
A silicon-and-reader platform versus a broad enterprise device company — and why the right answer often uses both.
Quuppa vs Aruba: independent BLE location comparison →
Dedicated BLE Angle-of-Arrival precision versus zone-level location that rides the Wi-Fi network you already own.
Guides & how-tos
Practical guides for buyers and project teams.
Straight-talking answers to the questions we get asked before, during, and after an RTLS or RFID project — vendor-neutral, with no sales agenda.
What an independent RTLS consultant actually does →
Where vendor-neutral advice changes the outcome — from requirements and tech selection to pilot design and rollout governance.
Working with an independent RFID consultant →
How Passive RFID/UHF RFID projects succeed: tag and reader selection, RF site survey, read-rate testing, and the pitfalls that sink rollouts.
UWB vs BLE for RTLS: accuracy, cost & when to use each →
Sub-metre UWB versus low-cost BLE zones. A clear decision framework based on the accuracy your use case truly needs.
Passive RFID vs RTLS: what's the difference? →
Read-points versus continuous location. When item-level RFID is enough, and when you genuinely need real-time tracking.
How much does an RTLS system cost? (2026 guide) →
Tags, anchors, software, install and run costs broken down — plus the hidden line items that wreck budgets.
RTLS vendor selection checklist →
The questions to put to every vendor — on accuracy, scale, integration, support and lock-in — before you sign anything.
RTLS for manufacturing: use cases, ROI & how to choose →
WIP tracking, tool location, line-side replenishment and safety — the use cases that pay back, and how to pick the tech.
RTLS for hospitals: equipment, patient flow & safety →
The four hospital use cases that consistently deliver ROI — and the two that look great in slides but fall apart in operations.
RTLS & RFID for logistics: dock, yard & inventory →
Where location and item-level RFID cut dwell time, shrinkage and manual scanning across the warehouse and yard.
How to recover a failed RTLS pilot →
Pilots run in a controlled corner; rollouts don't. The root causes of stalled programmes and a practical recovery plan.
Working on a specific RTLS or RFID problem? Get in touch.
TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINERS & JTBD
Explainers and decision frameworks.
UWB explained
How Ultra-Wideband RTLS works, and where it fits
RFID explained
Mobile, Fixed and RTLS-grade RFID (ATR7000, RF Controls)
BLE explained
Proximity beacons vs Angle-of-Arrival RTLS
LoRaWAN explained
Long-range LPWAN — when it fits
GPS / GNSS explained
Satellite positioning: GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou
GNSS-RTK explained
Centimetre satellite positioning
Wi-Fi RTLS explained
RSSI, AoA, RTT — where it wins
Visual SLAM explained
Camera-based localisation and mapping
For the CFO
How to evaluate RTLS/RFID/IoT capex
For the COO
Operationalising RTLS for KPI movement
For the IT/OT leader
Enterprise architecture and OT security
For the plant director
Deploying RTLS on a live line
Multipath: why RTLS misbehaves indoors
How reflections distort UWB and BLE — and how to design around them.
RTLS accuracy — what the numbers mean
CEP50 vs CEP95, vendor marketing vs production reality.
Last updated: 13 September 2026