TagRanger®

Feature Set

Key features of the TagRanger® System

TagRanger® offers the ability to find your Tag with its unique combination of GNSS, UWB Ranging and LoRaWAN technology. Users can remotely wake up a Tag device from a ‘Finder’ device using LoRaWAN to request GNSS location and when close, use the UWB Ranging technology to ‘home in’ on the Tag over a range of up to 150m in ideal conditions. The table below gives a detailed description of the capabilities and configuration of the system.

Technology Feature Specification Finder Tag Functionality
Smartphone App TagRanger® mapping and control interface Android version 8.0 or above (Oreo) ● ●

Runs on a smartphone and is paired with a ‘Finder’ to provide Tag communications, Tag management, mapping (online and offline), Tag notifications, configuration settings, and warnings.

Please note, an internet connection will be required to set up a (free) account for managing your system and backing up settings.  An internet connection is also required for downloading maps for offline use and updating system software. A WiFi connection to your Smartphone is all that is needed to support this.
Power Magnetic switch for power on/off Solid state switch ● ● Contactless power switch and waterproof battery charging using microUSB ensure a reusable, rugged device rated to IPx7 ingress protection.
Battery 600mAh battery ● ● Exceptional power efficiency allows the Tag to operate for up to 4 years before requiring recharging (subject to the configuration profile).
Battery charging Standard MicroUSB charging port ● ●  
Battery estimator Predict battery life based on your Tag configuration ● ● Trial different Tag configurations in the App to optimise battery life
Multifunction RGB LED LED for user feedback Multicolour, refer to LED states table ● ● LED colours and flashing states give extensive feedback on what the Tag or Finder are doing.
Disable LED OFF/30mins/60mins/24hrs/Always ● ● The LED can be disabled completely, or after a specified delay to ensure covert operation on deployed Tags
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio Communication interface with Smartphone 1Mbps ● ● Your smartphone is paired with your Finder over the Bluetooth link for all operations (communication, control and configuration).
  Download GNSS and system logs ● ●  
  Set device configuration parameters ● ● Bluetooth can also be used to directly connect to your Tag at power-on to manage configuration settings.
Bluetooth shutdown After 1 minute/Never   ●  
GNSS Multi-constellation positioning network receiver GPS, Galileo, BeiDou   ● GNSS locations can be logged on a customised schedule to internal storage or transmitted in real time over the LoRaWAN long range radio.
Storage allocation 1MB (8192 location fixes)   ●  
GPS assist modes Unassisted/AssistNowAutonomous/AssistNowOffline   ● The highly configurable GNSS receiver allows you to optimise location speed and accuracy to suit your environment.
  Almanac Upload   ●  
GNSS activation period Set in seconds >1   ● Multiple assisting modes are supported that will help to acquire a Tag location quickly which saves time and minimises battery use.
GNSS timeout period Set in seconds >1   ●  
GNSS Accuracy configuration Horizontal dilution of precision (HDOP)   ● With up to 5 geofence definitions possible and control over what happens when in or out of a geofence, activity can be controlled to conserve battery.
  Horizontal Accuracy (HACC)   ●  
Programmable activity Programmable periods of operation day/week/month   ●  
Geofence Up to 5 geofences may be defined by centre & radius   ●  
  Enable/Disable transmissions when In/Out of geofence   ●  
Long Range Radio Capacity Communication with up to 64 tags through finder "gateway" functionality ●  

The long range radio is the primary mechanism for wake-up, location reporting, remote configuration updates and Tag operating modes. TagRanger® is a cloud-free solution operating without the need for constant internet connectivity or cloud infrastructure.

This ensures reliable tracking and device control even in remote areas free of SIM card, subscriptions or network costs.
Frequency bands EU868/US915 ● ● Please contact Icoteq if you are interested in using TagRanger® in different regions.
Link range 20 km ● ● LoRaWAN range has been tested between a Finder and a Tag over 20km in an ideal line-of-sight setup.
Protocol modes LoRa Device (compatible with LoRaWAN networks) and Finder Device (with proprietary feature extensions)   ●

If you have your own private LoRaWAN network you can seamlessly connect your Tags to it and even switch between the LoRaWAN network and the Finder on demand.

NB When in LoRa Device mode only a restricted set of features is available. In particular, it is not possible to wake up the Tag on demand or perform UWB ranging.
Network join options OTAA or ABP with periodic rejoin and retries ● ●  
Periodic and/or triggered ping Ping on network join   ●  
  Ping on programmable day/week/month   ●  
  Ping on event (activity, dropped tag, GNSS location)   ●  
Wake-up listen Programmable day/week/month with emergency fall back   ● Configuring a wake-up listen RX duty cycle can greatly improve the battery life a tag
Hybrid Ranging  'Fast Ping' behaviour acts like a VHF pinger with customisable ping period and data rate (range) ● ●

When approaching the last known location of a tag but not able to perform UWB ranging, the user may request to receive "fast pings" using a low LoRa data rate and use the measured signal strength to move closer to the Tag.

Range up to 5km LoS using the fastest ping setting.

When the signal strength reaches a preset value the system automaically switches to a UWB ranging procedure for higher accuracy.

This Hybrid Ranging feature increases the likelihood of tracking a tag down in situations where the environment does not, at first, permit UWB ranging or the last known GPS location is imprecise.
Receive and store transmitted pings 1MB (8192 location fixes) ●   This is useful in situations where a Finder is left in a strategic location (and not attached to the mobile application) and stores any received ping messages for later retrieval by the user.
Switch configurations Remote change of device configuration (up to 5 banks) ● ● Optimise you Tag on-the-fly by switching to the most appropriate configuration for the next period of activity
Programmable data rate (DR) Manual selection of DR as per LoRaWAN regional parameters or enable ADR (in LoRa Device mode only) ● ● Both Finder and Tag must be configured to the same DR for communications to work. Note that changing the DR can be used to reduce the air time per message, thus allowing more frequent reporting, but reduces the link range.
Dynamic Network Switching Switch between communicating with a LoRaWAN Gateway (LoRa Device mode) or Finder (Finder Device mode) on-demand ● ● Via "switch configrations" feature or using the timeout feature in the configuration to revert to the default configuration.
Relay range extender Requires additional Relay device ●  

The Relay controller connects with your smartphone app and the Finder can now be placed on a mast/mountain/drone/tethered balloon or other strategic location.

Relay will allow you to send commands remotely to the Finder which in turn will carry out thaose commands on the Tag.

Relay can effectively double your range in a LOS situation, and in a challenging environment it can allow you to gain height to look down through a forest or into valleys.
       
UWB Ranging Distance ranging function Centimetre-scale precision up to a range of 150 m, line of sight ● ● Operating range depends on terrain and atmospheric conditions
Data download within 25m line of sight (configurable) Download of GPS log or System log ● ● The distance threshold at which a data download commences can be changed in the mobile application's configuration settings
Selectable UWB operating channel Channel 3 or Channel 5 ● ● Same channel must be configured on both the Finder and Tag
Accelerometer Mode Off/Activity/Inactivity modes   ● The Inactivity mode may be used to monitor if an animal has become dormant or detect, for example, a collar dropping off.
Activity threshold Supporting ±2g/±4g/±8g/±16g threshold ranges   ● When in Activity mode
Inactivity period Express in units of hours   ● When in Inactivity mode
Sample rate From 1Hz to 1600Hz   ● When in Activity mode
LoRaWAN transmission triggering Integrated with LoRaWAN ping-on-event setting   ● The system may be configured to transmit a ping with cause "accelerometer event" to notify the user of a given activity or inactivity event.
Temperature ● The integrated temperature sensor provides valuable environmental data, enabling researchers to assess wildlife habitat conditions accurately.