FloorTrak combines RFID and video technology to track the number of retail customers

Time Domain Corp, an ultra-wideband (UWB) real-time positioning provider, and ShopperTrak RCT Corp, a provider of video surveillance and personnel tracking analysis systems, cooperated to develop a set of retail tracking solutions, FloorTrak, based on their respective technical advantages.

The program uses ultra-wideband technology to monitor the location and movements of employees, and then combines this information with data collected by cameras to obtain more accurate images of shoppers in the store and their communication with employees.

Time Domain’s PLUS platform contains source ultra-wideband RFID tags, readers and ceiling antennas, synchronization distribution boards and software. UWB tags send a series of very short signals (one billion parts or less), and the frequency band of each signal is between 3.1-10.6 GHz. The pulse signal is more like a sonar wave, which enables the system to judge the distance between the two points by measuring the time of the pulse signal from one point (such as a tag) to another point (such as a reader), and uses the time-of-arrival technology to calculate a person’s Location.

ShopperTrak’s Orbit device uses two on-board cameras, and its high-speed processing components can edit and analyze the collected video. Cameras can be installed at chokepoints in store traffic, such as store entrances and fitting areas, to secretly track the actions of customers, and combine this information with the number of customers.

However, the problem is that Orbit cannot distinguish between employees and customers. Therefore, in order to obtain more accurate calculations, the two companies combined their respective technologies so that the system can distinguish between employees and customers. Workers wear Time Domain’s PLUS RTLS label with a short rope or attach the label to the back of their name tag. Each RTLS tag sends its ID code, which corresponds to the name of the employee worn.

FloorTrak includes a PLUS reader and Orbit video sensor, which are connected by a cable. The equipment can be installed at the entrance of the store, the entrance of the fitting room or above the passage. When the labeling employee passes through the reader’s reading area, the PLUS reader obtains the ID code and forwards the data to the Orbit sensor and processing unit.

<1>Orbit video sensor

Orbit video sensor

<2>PLUS tag

PLUS tags

In order for the PLUS system to work with the Orbit system, Time Domain adjusted its readers to make the reading distance or area consistent with the coverage area of ​​the Orbit system. Greg Clawson, the company’s deputy head of sales and marketing, said, “This is very important because you don’t Hope to read the employees around the blocked area.”

In addition, the two companies had to establish an interface for the two systems so that PLUS could send the UWB tag data to Orbit, and Orbit could then process the data and the number of customers. The system reads the tag data in time so that the Orbit system can subtract the number of employees from the total number.

FloorTrak can also help retailers determine if and how their employees communicate with shoppers in the fitting room. “A lot of research in the retail industry proves that employee interactions with customers in fitting rooms can boost sales,” Clawson said.
.

The FloorTrak at the entrance of the fitting room can determine which employee serves which fitting room, and compare the number of employees and the number of customers. By analyzing the data obtained by FloorTrak, retailers can ensure that their best employees appear in the fitting room as much as possible, especially during the day when the number of fittings is the highest.

Currently, ShopperTrak has officially launched FloorTrak.