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When Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas embarked on its maiden voyage in December 2009, in addition to offering its passengers a more than 40-foot surf pool, zipline and 30-foot rock climbing and other recreational facilities, the 1,200-foot-long ‘s cruise ship – currently the largest in the world – also offers its passengers an RFID service that makes it easy for families and groups to track their members.
The app uses Ekahau’s real-time location system, consisting of Wi-Fi-based RFID tags in the badge or wristband and an Apple iPhone that captures the location of each tag on a cruise ship map displayed on its screen. Location information is sent to the iPhone via the ship’s existing Wi-Fi nodes. At the same time, passengers can also use the iPhone to send alerts to those who wear the wristbands.
The largest cruise ship in the world – Oasis of the Seas
“The goal of this system is to make it easier for onboard passengers to communicate with other people, such as tracking their children,” said Bill Martin, vice president and chief information officer at Royal Caribbean. When choosing to track the passenger tracking system, he said, the cruise ship decided to take advantage of the existing Wi-Fi network on board.
Royal Caribbean’s Wi-Fi network consists of nearly 1,000 access points and is planned for a range of wireless services that enhance passengers’ onboard experience. By calling or texting, passengers can use iPhones to locate not only their team members, but also restaurants and SPAS venues; get daily event announcements; and receive notifications (such as when a hotel reservation table is ready). The software that manages these service data is provided by DeFi Global.
One of the most interesting features for cruise ships is helping passengers track their crew or family members. Before this technology, searching for a lost passenger would have taken a lot of time and effort, especially on a cruise ship the size of the Oasis of the Seas – with up to 6,000 passengers, 2,000 crew members, and 16 Level passenger deck, a central park area with restaurants, bars, spa and fitness center and more.
DeFi hired Ekahau to provide a Wi-Fi tracking solution where tags can send their ID codes to existing Wi-Fi nodes on board. The Ekahau software pinpoints the location of each tag to within 10-15 feet, predicting the individual’s direction of movement based on the strength of the signal and data on the tag’s movement. The tag’s ID code, along with its location, is forwarded to the DeFi Royal Connect software running on the backend server. According to John Shoemaker, Ekahau’s global head of sales, the DeFi software receives the ID code and forwards the tag’s location and its wearer’s identity to the corresponding iPhone.
Since its maiden voyage, Oasis of the Seas has sailed several times in the Caribbean, and some passengers have rented iPhones from the Label during their trips. Passengers have so far welcomed the system.
Because Ekahau tags can communicate using Wi-Fi networks, Shoemake says this is a good option for cruise ships that already have Wi-Fi networks installed, and cruise ships are less likely to be willing to install a second set of infrastructure, such as standalone RFID, system. Originally, passengers pinned their Ekahau badges to their clothes or backpacks, but now Ekahau offers a newly released wristband that not only sends location information, but also receives information from nearby Wi-Fi nodes. For example, if a passenger uses an iPhone to send an alert. The wristband tag vibrates when it receives a signal. The wristband is charged by a rechargeable battery. When the week-long voyage was over, Shoemaker said, the crew collected the wristbands and recharged the batteries.
At present, Royal Caribbean has not decided how to implement the passenger tracking system, Martin said. “We are now collecting suggestions from passengers to decide which features are most popular so we can prioritize new feature development.” According to Martin, the new service includes mapping the child’s wristband to a youth advisor, who has his or her own Ekahau badge, can send messages in both directions, and display text breaks on the screen. That way, he said, either parents or employees can send messages to advisors. There are currently 1000 tags in use, and this number is constantly rising.
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