RTLS (Real Time Location Systems) is increasingly accepted as the enabler for achieving high data quality through timely recording and reporting of all significant events in the yards. The optimal way to implement RTLS for mobile asset tracking in yards is to take advantage of the outdoor environment of yards and utilize proven technologies such as GPS that can continuously track the current position and speed of the motorized yard trucks. This architecture obviates the need to install costly location detecting infrastructure required by alternative schemes using active (RFID) devices. Furthermore, putting battery-powered devices on trailers necessitates battery maintenance and location signal tuning, resulting in additional system cost factors and design challenges. Since the trailers remain immobile until hooked up to the yard truck that moves them to the next destination, with passive RFID tags applied to identify individual trailers, as the yard trucks traverse the yard to carry out their regular duties, the GPS-enabled RFID readers on the yard trucks recognize the trailers by their PINC Tags, and record and report their current locations in real time. The system leverages existing yard processes, and since only a handful of yard trucks are typically used to handle a large number of trailers, this approach is extremely cost-effective and flexible regardless of any (seasonal) changes in the volume of trailer traffic or inventory. An additional advantage of putting RTLS on the yard truck is that it enables the monitoring of KPIs (key performance indicator) of the yard operations based on quantifiable productivity metrics measured by the actions of the yard trucks. Information such as average time per move, percentage of idle time, etc, cannot be collected reliably and accurately by manual tracking or other means.


Key components of the Yard Hound system are PINC Tags attached to the assets to be tracked, PINC Gates installed at the entry and exit gate(s) of the facility, PINC Trackers and PINC Monitors installed on the yard trucks, and PINC Server with Yard Hound software that processes the data received from the Tracker and provides access to the real-time yard information over a web-based interface to users on site or at remote locations. Communications between the PINC Tracker and the PINC Server is established via an access point or access points connecting a wireless LAN serving the yard (pre-existing corporate Wi-Fi network or PINC WLAN) and the internet.