Many consumers rely on asset tracking tags — like the AirTag from Apple or SmartTag from Samsung — to keep track of everything from keys, luggage, bikes, handbags, to even pets. Tracking tags provide consumers peace of mind in their hectic everyday lives.
Fortune Business Insights predicts that the global asset tracking market is projected to grow from $23.42B in 2024 to $59.64B by 2032. Despite their popularity, today’s asset tags have a major drawback: they are only compatible with one network ecosystem, whether it’s Find My with Apple smartphones, Find My Device for Android devices, or SmartThings Find with Samsung products. Atmosic has developed a solution to this problem by bringing multimode support for all these networks to asset tracking applications.
A single software build running on Atmosic’s ATM34/e or ATM33/e SoCs can be configured to work with Apple, Android, or Samsung devices. This allows a single product to be sold instead of three different versions, reducing inventory and product management issues as well as customer network compatibility problems leading to returns. Additionally, if someone changes their smartphone to a different network, they will not have to buy new tags, but can reconfigure the existing tag, offering a seamless user experience.
Here’s how it works. Products with Multimode support ship in a pre-configured state supporting connections to all the major smartphone networks. During the pairing process with the smartphone, the software will automatically select the tracking network based on the smartphone. Alternatively, product developers may use a physical switch, an NFC scan, or a QR code for network selection. With this variety of on-boarding options, support for different asset types becomes much easier for consumers.
This multimode feature becomes especially powerful as tracking capabilities become embedded directly into products like earbud cases, electric bikes, scooters, luggage or handbags.
Beyond making asset trackers more convenient for users, Atmosic’s solutions are also more sustainable and consumer friendly. The ultra-low power consumption of the ATM34/e and ATM33/e SoCs gives tags 2x longer battery life compared to our competitors’ solutions, delivering multiple years of operation from a single coin cell battery.
Looking ahead, Atmosic will be adding support for Bluetooth 6.0, the most recently ratified version of the Bluetooth specification that introduces an important new feature called Channel Sounding. By measuring very small phase differences in the Bluetooth signals between two devices, Channel Sounding can determine the distance between devices within tens of centimeters. This is a vast improvement over today’s Bluetooth tags, which are limited to accuracies of 3-5 meters or more. It will also give consumers the ability to track items accurately in different environments, whether finding where you dropped your keys in the park or searching for that lost earbud case in the living room. Pro tip: always check under the couch cushions! Channel Sounding also enhances security features to detect and mitigate spoofing, relay attacks, and other attempts to reduce the integrity of the tracker.
Supporting Multimode is just one of the benefits that Atmosic brings to asset tracking applications. To learn more, please check out our Multimode asset tracking white paper or reach out to us at [email protected].