Utah Firm Wants to Go Where GPS Doesn't
December 13th, 2007 By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer
S5 Wireless chief executive David Carter poses inside the company's frequency testing room Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007, in Sandy, Utah. The company is developing a system that tracks small, cheap microchips over long distances either indoors or out. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
(AP) -- In one high-tech thriller after another, the hero attaches a tiny tracking device on the villain and follows him as blinking dot on a computer screen. In real life, this kind of technology would be great for tracking pets or kids, even packages or luggage - anything that tends to wander. But it doesn't really exist.
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The problem isnt the ability to create a small and cheap transponder chip - the challenge is the actual *reader* infrastructure.
Even in this case - the S5 chip still relies on the reader infrastructure being built out.
For ages people have been concerned with RFID / RTLS tracking invading their privacy - but it was a ways out due to the fact that any reliable tracking system needs to have ubiquitous reader coverage.
GPS is the answer to this - but cost is the issue. There is no difference in the problem being addressed here - except they have (possibly) a novel approach through ULF on 900 mhz.