Long-range indoor positioning with Wheere
Most indoor positioning systems need a dense network of anchors in every room and on every floor. That works, but on large sites it means a lot of hardware, cabling and maintenance.
Indoor Tracking is a Wheere partner. We assess whether Wheere is the right fit for your site, we compare it with BLE, UWB and RFID, and we tell you when the answer is no.
Not sure whether you need long-range positioning at all? That is the normal starting point.
Why large sites are hard to cover
Long-range positioning exists because of a specific problem: the cost of covering a big building, or several buildings, with short-range infrastructure. If none of the situations below match yours, a simpler technology will probably serve you better.
Hundreds of anchors to install
A short-range system needs receivers spread across every room and every floor. On a plant or a campus the count grows fast, and each unit needs a position, power and a network connection.
Power and cabling you do not have
Anchors need power outlets and a reliable network. In warehouses with high racking, in older concrete buildings or in areas classified for safety reasons, adding that infrastructure is slow, expensive or simply not permitted.
Concrete and floors in the way
Thick concrete walls, floor slabs, lift shafts and technical rooms attenuate short-range signals. Coverage holes appear exactly where assets get lost.
Several buildings, one map
Sites made of multiple buildings and outdoor yards end up with a different system per area, then someone has to stitch the data together to answer one question: where is this item now.
Maintenance nobody budgeted for
Every installed device is a device that can fail, lose its network or need a battery. On a large deployment, maintenance can cost more over a few years than the original hardware.
Three questions to answer before you choose a long-range system
These are the questions we ask on the first call. If the answers point to a smaller system, we will tell you, because a long-range deployment on a site that does not need one is money spent twice.
How large is the area, really?
Long-range positioning pays off when the area is large enough that installing indoor infrastructure everywhere is the main cost driver. For a single floor, a shop or one office building, the arithmetic usually goes the other way.
Do you need coordinates, or just a zone?
If knowing that an item is in the paint shop, in ward B or past a given gate is enough, zone level tracking with RFID or BLE costs less and is simpler to run. Sub-meter positioning is worth paying for only when someone acts on the exact position.
What happens after you know the position?
A position becomes value only when it feeds a process: a search, an alert, a report, an ERP or CMMS record. If no system is ready to receive the data, start with the integration question, not with the radio technology.
How Wheere works, and when it makes sense
Wheere takes a different approach. According to Wheere, a few gateways placed around the perimeter of a site, using low-frequency radio waves that pass through walls and floors, can cover up to about one square kilometer with sub-meter accuracy.
According to Wheere, the system works in the 148-174 MHz band, about four gateways cover up to roughly one square kilometer, accuracy is stated as sub-meter, the signal penetrates concrete, and the number of tracked devices is unlimited. Wheere is a French company based in Castelnau-le-Lez. These figures come from Wheere: we validate them on your site during the assessment and the pilot, and we report what we measure.
Indoor Tracking is a Wheere partner. We assess whether Wheere is the right fit for your site, compare it with BLE, UWB and RFID, and manage the project from pilot to rollout.
Large multi-building sites
Large industrial plants, logistics hubs, hospitals and campuses with several buildings.
Where indoor infrastructure is hard
Sites where installing indoor infrastructure is difficult, expensive or not allowed.
Thick concrete
Environments with thick concrete where short-range signals struggle.
High accuracy, little hardware
Projects that need high accuracy with as little on-site hardware as possible.
When long-range positioning is probably not the answer
This is the part most vendors leave out. Wheere is a strong fit for a narrow set of situations. Outside them, you will get the same outcome for less money with another technology, and we would rather tell you now than after a purchase order.
Small or single-floor sites
A single floor, a shop or a small office: BLE or RFID will usually cost less.
Zone level is enough
Projects where knowing the room or zone is enough. If the question is which area an item is in, or whether it passed a gate, a simpler system answers it at a lower cost.
Tight budgets
Tight budgets: Wheere is a premium technology. If the budget is the binding constraint, we will propose what fits the budget instead.
Reaction times below one second
Use cases that need control-loop reaction times, such as forklift anticollision, are a safety engineering problem, not a positioning problem. We do not position this, or any of our systems, as a machine safety device.
Data you have nowhere to put
If there is no dashboard, no work order system and no owner for the data, positions will be accurate and unused. Fix the process first.
What a long-range project costs
We work with a minimum commitment of USD 5,000. That figure is a floor, not a quote: what a specific project costs depends on the variables below, and we can only price it after we have seen the site data.
Wheere is a premium technology. If the budget is the constraint, say so on the first call and we will compare cheaper options honestly.
Area and number of buildings
The surface to cover and how it is split across buildings and floors drive the number of gateways and the installation effort.
How many items you track
The count of tagged assets or people, and how often each one has to report its position.
Accuracy you actually need
Sub-meter accuracy costs more than zone level, in hardware, in survey work and in validation time. This is the variable clients most often overestimate.
Installation conditions
Access to power and network, working at height, permits, out of hours work and safety requirements on active sites.
Integration and support
API work, connecting to your ERP, CMMS or dashboards, user training and the level of ongoing support you want.
How we work with Wheere
Four steps, in this order. We do not skip to rollout, and we do not ask you to commit to the technology before the pilot has produced numbers.
1. Free discovery call
Free discovery call to understand what you need to locate and why. Thirty minutes, no preparation needed.
2. Technology comparison
Technology comparison: Wheere vs BLE vs UWB vs RFID for your case. This is where we tell you if you do not need long-range positioning.
3. Site assessment and pilot
Site assessment and pilot. The pilot is where the accuracy claim stops being a datasheet number and becomes a measurement on your site.
4. Rollout and integration
Rollout, integration with your systems via API, ongoing support.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is Wheere?
According to Wheere, accuracy is sub-meter. We treat every vendor figure, including our own, as a claim to be verified: the number that matters is the one measured on your site during the pilot, with your materials, your racking and your machines in place.
How many gateways does a site need?
According to Wheere, about four gateways cover up to roughly one square kilometer. The real number for your site depends on its shape, its structure and where gateways can physically be mounted. We size it during the site assessment.
Does the signal really pass through concrete?
According to Wheere, the technology uses low-frequency radio waves in the 148-174 MHz band that pass through walls and floors, and it penetrates concrete. That is the main reason it is considered for multi-storey buildings where short-range systems lose coverage.
Is there a limit to how many items I can track?
According to Wheere, the number of devices is unlimited. In practice the limits you will meet first are budget, tag logistics and the capacity of the system that consumes the data.
How is this different from BLE or UWB?
Short-range technologies put many small receivers inside the building. Wheere puts a few gateways around the site and relies on low-frequency signals to reach through the structure. BLE is cheaper per square meter in small spaces, UWB is used where very high accuracy is needed in a limited area. We compare all of them for your case before recommending one.
Do I have to choose the technology before talking to you?
No. Most projects arrive as a problem, not as a technology choice. If the comparison shows that RFID gates or BLE beacons solve your problem, that is what we will recommend, even though it is a smaller project for us.
Do we get access to the raw position data?
Yes. Integration via API and access to your own data are part of how we scope every project. Your data should stay usable in your systems, not locked in a dashboard.
Specifications
Frequency band: 148-174 MHz, low frequency (according to Wheere)
Coverage: about 4 gateways for up to about 1 km2 (according to Wheere)
Stated accuracy: sub-meter (according to Wheere), to be validated in the pilot
Building penetration: passes through walls, floors and concrete (according to Wheere)
Tracked devices: unlimited (according to Wheere)
Vendor: Wheere, French company based in Castelnau-le-Lez
Our role: Wheere partner: assessment, comparison, pilot, rollout, integration
Minimum commitment: USD 5,000
Is long-range positioning right for your site?
Thirty minutes on a call is usually enough to tell whether a long-range system is worth evaluating, or whether something simpler will do the job. You will get an answer either way, including the answer that you do not need us.