How does a Troverlo Asset Tag work from a technical perspective?
Overview of Asset Tag operation
Troverlo Tags are “mimicking” an AP (access point), so we do NOT connect with devices, we just need to be “detected.” In our probe response or within the beacon, we provide the SSID (Tag Data) and the BSSID (Tag ID) in a standard fashion.
We only use the 2.4gHz band. This and the fact that we do not connect with a device allows us to have a much further distance to be detected - 300 yards+ w line of sight.
Tags that run on battery go into an “active/deep sleep” cycle to preserve power. In the Active cycle, we send “bursts” of beacons in a very short period of time, we do not respond to Probe Requests. In each Active cycle, each beacon is sent on a random but unique channel. Active times are small and deep sleep times depend on the desired detection rate and duration of the battery life.
Tags that are host powered, are using SoftAP, they use a standard beacon sent out every 100 timeslots (102ms) and we respond to Probe Requests with a Probe Response. We randomly select a channel at bootup to send the beacons on.
Tags that are host-powered with battery backup, when they are using host power, they use SoftAP when running on battery the follow the same “active/deep sleep” process as described above.
Virtual Tags (Autonomo) are using Wi-Fi Direct to advertise our availability to improve detectability. At this time, we do not control the band, channel, mac address, nor frequency of beaconing.