New Asset Management Solution IDs and Tracks Cars for Lot Operators

According to a recent announcement, Silicon Labs and Cognosos, a Geo IoT platform provider, have collaborated on a wireless networking device to improve how the automotive industry manages inventories. Built on the Silicon Labs Flex Gecko system-on-a-chip (SoC), the Cognosos RadioTrax tag is designed to enable employees to perform quick online searches or use their smartphones to pinpoint the location and movement history of cars stored in distributed lots and parking decks, increasing productivity and saving time.

Organizations with large vehicle inventories are frequently required to locate cars at a moment’s notice for maintenance, test drives or auctions. Large automotive operations manage thousands of cars and often have multiple lots and parking decks, creating a location tracking challenge that can drastically slow down business operations.

“Cognosos identified a time-intensive problem within the automotive industry and applied new IoT technology to create a superior experience for business operators,” said Ross Sabolcik, VP and GM, IoT products, Silicon Labs. “The Silicon Labs Flex Gecko wireless SoC helped reduce the size, cost and complexity of the RadioTrax tag, giving Cognosos the freedom to innovate a disruptive product for the automotive industry.”

To track vehicles using the Cognosos Geo IoT platform, the end user uses a smartphone application to scan the RadioTrax tag and associates it by scanning the car’s VIN or stock number. The vehicle quickly shows up on a digital map, along with instructions on how to reach it. The Cognosos RadioTrax tag is secured to the visor or rear-view mirror of every car and transmits a sub-GHz radio message using patented wireless technology. The RF device includes an accelerometer to detect motion whenever the car is moved. Unlike previous RFID alternatives requiring extensive infrastructure and only showing the last known location of a car, the RadioTrax solution displays the car’s real-time location.

“Silicon Labs’ technology was critical in helping us deliver a new level of wireless innovation at a low-price point for our customers,” says Jim Stratigos, Co-Founder and CTO, Cognosos. “The Flex Gecko SoC enabled us to pack more wireless and processing functionality into our device while using less power.”