Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) – An Enabling Technology to Support Engineering Education within Learning Factories

Universities and educators are challenged to provide quality education capable of equipping students for the needs of the 21st century workforce. Learning factories have proven to be a promising environment in the educational ecosystem, not only for training and preparing students for new industry relevant challenges but also as a place to introduce and educate them about new technologies. It is clear that in order for high quality engineers to be educated, they must be exposed to value enhancing technologies that not only serve basic functions but can also be scalable, robust and easily integrated into a manufacturing environment. To facilitate the broader introduction of such technologies in an optimal and goal-oriented manner, a Real Time Locating System (RTLS) has been identified as one such technology capable of providing real-time data, visual dashboards, material/process tracking and personal tracking. In this research, the evaluation of an Ultra-Wide Band (UWB), Bluetooth, Ultrasonic and Optical Real-time Locating Systems (RTLS) has been performed to identify a set of use cases whereby the breadth of benefits and challenges of RTLS can be maximized for educational value. This initial study serves as the basis for continued work evaluating the suitability of various I4.0 technologies according to educational value and aims to identify a positive correlation between future technologies and learning factory education.