iDTRONIC Brings Asset Visibility to Industry with Indoor BLE Tracking
Where is the tool? Which equipment is currently in use? iDTRONIC combines BLE asset tags, industrial beacons, PoE gateways and its IoT platform in one indoor tracking architecture that makes mobile equipment visible across warehouses, production areas and industrial sites.
From BLE Signal to Asset Visibility
Tools, transport equipment and mobile assets constantly move between workstations, storage zones and production areas. The challenge is often not whether an asset exists, but where it was last detected and whether it is moving.
iDTRONIC addresses this with an Indoor BLE Tracking architecture built around three components: the Universal Asset BLE Tag, the Industrial BLE Beacon and the BLE PoE Gateway.
The principle is simple. A BLE tag attached to an asset transmits its identifier and status data. Fixed gateways at known locations receive these signals and forward them via Ethernet to the iDTRONIC IoT Platform. Individual BLE detections become information that can be used to monitor assets, visualize movements and improve operational transparency.
Two BLE Devices for Industrial Assets
The Universal Asset BLE Tag is designed for tools, mobile equipment and transport assets. Its IP67 housing measures 75 × 46 × 16 mm. A Nordic Semiconductor nRF52832 provides Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity. The tag supports iBeacon, Eddystone and Quuppa Direction Finding packets and includes a 3-axis accelerometer for detecting movement, shock and free fall.
For more demanding environments, the Industrial BLE Beacon combines an IP67/NEMA6 housing with two replaceable lithium batteries providing a nominal capacity of 5,200 mAh. It uses the same nRF52832 platform and can operate as a mobile asset tag or fixed beacon.
The BLE layer can therefore do more than identify an object. Motion data can indicate whether equipment is stationary, being moved or has experienced an impact.
PoE Gateway Brings BLE Data into the Network
The BLE PoE Gateway forms the bridge between wireless asset signals and the company network. Installed at strategic positions throughout a warehouse or factory, it scans nearby BLE advertising packets and forwards the data via Ethernet.
Power and data share one cable using IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet. The gateway supports Bluetooth Low Energy 4.x and 5.x as well as HTTP, MQTT, UDP and TCP for backend communication.
Because each gateway has a known position, detections can be associated with defined areas. Where was a tool last seen? Has a load carrier moved into production? Which equipment is active in a particular zone?
One Architecture for Warehousing, Production and Intralogistics
Combined with the iDTRONIC IoT Platform, the hardware becomes a connected tracking system. BLE data can be displayed in dashboards, filtered by device or location and used for alerts, battery monitoring and operational analysis.
The benefit is straightforward: less searching, greater visibility and a clearer picture of how mobile assets move through daily operations.
Instead of giving every tool or container its own network connection, BLE tags transmit short, energy-efficient messages while gateways and the IoT platform handle the rest.
Tag. Detect. Connect. Visualize. That is the architecture behind iDTRONIC Indoor BLE Tracking. Ready to make your assets visible? Contact iDTRONIC to find the right Indoor BLE Tracking solution for your operations.