Redefining Industrial Safety and Efficiency with Ultra Wideband Technology
In massive warehouses and factories around the world, fleets of autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are transforming the way goods move from shelf to shipment. Productivity can soar by 300%, but a single human step into the robot work zone can bring the entire operation to a halt. Every pause for safety costs time, money and momentum.
That’s the challenge Redpoint Positioning set out to solve—and they’re solving it with Qorvo Ultra-Wideband (UWB) technology.
The Challenge: Safety Without Shutdown
“For large-scale automated warehouses, efficiency and safety have always been in tension,” explains John Calcio, Vice President of Partnerships at Redpoint Positioning. “If a technician needs to enter an AGV zone, regulations require shutting down every robot in the area. It’s safe—but it’s also massively inefficient.”
High-volume warehouse environments may deploy thousands of fast-moving robots working side-by-side with human crews. Maintaining over 99% reliability in such a dynamic, high-density space is critical, particularly when functional safety standards like SIL2 (Safety Integrity Level 2) must be met.
“The easiest way to stay compliant is to stop everything,” Calcio says. “But that’s a brute-force solution. We knew we could do better with real-time, centimeter-level awareness.”
The Redpoint Solution: Real-Time Location, Real-Time Safety
Redpoint’s real-time location system (RTLS) integrates directly into AGVs and wearable safety gear. Each robot and worker is equipped with a UWB tag that continuously tracks its position with centimeter-level accuracy and millisecond latency. When a worker enters a restricted zone, nearby robots automatically slow or stop—without requiring a full fleet shutdown.
“Think of it as indoor GPS,” Calcio explains. “Our technology lets machines and people ‘see’ each other in real time, even in environments where Wi-Fi or vision systems struggle. It’s fast enough that a forklift can slow down or reroute before a collision is possible.”
The result is a SIL2-compliant wireless safety system that keeps both people and production moving.
Why Qorvo UWB
At the heart of Redpoint’s RTLS is Qorvo’s UWB technology. With its low power consumption, precision ranging and robust performance in congested RF environments, Qorvo UWB provides the foundation Redpoint needed to meet industrial-scale performance and safety goals.
“Qorvo’s UWB delivers exactly what these environments demand—centimeter-level accuracy, millisecond response and exceptional reliability in complex, high-density deployments,” says Percy Yu, Qorvo Regional Marketing Manager in China. “Redpoint has been a long-term partner of Qorvo—over seven years now—and they’ve built on our UWB platform to create a proven, safety-certified RTLS solution.”
That partnership has already paid dividends: Redpoint’s system now powers tens of thousands of AGVs worldwide, improving operational efficiency by an average of 4–5%, with up to 15% increases in operator productivity and a 95% reduction in workplace accidents.
“These numbers may sound modest,” Calcio notes, “but when you’re talking about multi-million-square-foot facilities, a few percentage points translate to tens of millions of dollars in savings.”
Scaling Up—and Out
One of Redpoint’s key differentiators is scalability. Their RTLS solution is purpose-built for environments where hundreds or thousands of moving assets share the same wireless space.
“When you have that many nodes transmitting position data at once, congestion and interference can become real issues,” says Calcio. “We engineered custom wireless protocols to keep latency and reliability at SIL2 standards, even in massive deployments.”
And that scalability isn’t limited to warehouses. Redpoint’s technology is now being adopted in industries ranging from logistics to mining—and they’re not alone in this UWB-powered expansion.
Tsingoal: Widening the Field
In China, Tsingoal—the country’s largest RTLS solution provider—is leveraging Qorvo UWB across a diverse portfolio that includes robotics control, factory automation, mining, logistics, parking systems and smart city infrastructure. Tsingoal’s UWB-based systems provide real-time tracking of assets, vehicles and personnel, improving safety, workflow efficiency and spatial awareness across industrial and urban environments.
From intelligent manufacturing lines to airport logistics and even humanoid robotics demonstrations, Tsingoal’s implementations showcase the versatility of Qorvo’s UWB technology in complex, multi-layered operations.
Building the Future of Intelligent Automation
Both Redpoint and Tsingoal exemplify how Qorvo’s UWB technology is enabling a new generation of connected, intelligent and safer industrial ecosystems.
“What’s exciting,” says Yu, “is that we’re seeing global adoption. From North America to Asia, companies are realizing that UWB isn’t just about precision—it’s about trust, reliability and safety at scale.”
Calcio agrees. “This is where the market is going. The future of automation depends on real-time awareness—and that starts with UWB.”
Find out more about Qorvo UWB solutions here.
Get in touch for orders or any queries: sales@rfdesign.co.za / +27 21 555 8400
Courtesy of Qorvo
