Valcambi
RTLS solution for safety in a foundry, tracking movements of workers and items in a risky work environment

The localization solution proposed by Ubiquicom and Aton enables an efficient monitoring of the movement of individuals and a greater safety in the workplace.

Valcambi is a world leader in the refining of precious metals. With headquarters in Balerna (Switzerland), the company has been in existence since 1961 and it manages one of the largest and most efficient integrated precious metal plants in the world, with an annual refining capacity of up to 2,000 tonnes. The company refines gold, silver, platinum and palladium and offers a vast range of extremely high quality products and services.
Valcambi is fully owned by Global Gold Refineries Ltd (GGR) Inc., which in turn is owned by Rajesh Export Limited India.

Valcambi processes 1,400 tonnes of raw gold every year and it is exposed to the risk elements typical of a large foundry, as well as the security problems deriving from the value of the materials being processed. For this reason, the company wanted to install a solution for tracking people which could guarantee the safety of employees and visitors and control the accesses and movements inside the various areas of the factory.

It was necessary to be able to accurately identify the area inside of which a person was located (with a maximum error tolerated of just a few metres): the localization environment is very complex as it is almost completely indoors and is very diversified from the point of view of the various buildings and the different levels. There are also large metal masses, machinery which generates electromagnetic interferences, security doors, narrow corridors and large areas with walkways, latticework and metal ladders.

The functions requested, as well as tracking, were management of evacuations, monitoring of use of the device (which must never be abandoned, for obvious security reasons), access control by integration with passive RFID technology of another supplier, possibility di displaying historical routes and consultation in privacy mode. The position updating frequency requested by the customer was 4 times a minute.

Ubiquicom and its partner ATON set up a direct localization system based on a customisation of the uTag2 tags and on the Ubiquicom Safety Locator platform.

The uTag2, which integrates WiFi and BLE technologies, is equipped with movement sensor, accelerometers and rechargeable lithium battery. For the Valcambi project, the 300 tags provided have also been integrated with 2 passive technologies (one UHF and one LF) to manage access control to the various areas and monitoring of the uTags leaving the factory.

The communication period was set at 15 seconds and alarms were configured for any tampering with the tags (tamper sensor), lack of communication with the tag for more than a minute, disconnection of the battery and a prolonged absence of movement (the tag probably being abandoned by the person) with the exclusion of environments in which the possibility of returning the tag is planned.

Approximately 400 BLEbeacons have been installed in the factory powered by the mains supply and protected by a UPS unit. A cabinet has also been fitted at the entrance to the factory with 300 boxes for the recharging, with electrically controlled opening, which are used for storing the tags when not in use and to carry out the charging.

The required localization quality was achieved after a long testing and inspection phase and the solution is currently used for managing access controls, carrying out evacuation and monitoring movements of individuals. The data is automatically deleted and remains stored only for the period of time necessary to manage any violations of the internal safety procedures.
Thanks to the precious collaboration and contribution of Aton and Valcambi, the uTag2 has been customised to satisfy further functional requirements in the safety sector

localization with an average error of approximately 2 metres
+400 beacons installed
300 active uTags enabled for tracking