Identification of industrial equipment using micro-location services

A method of operating a portable computing system comprising:

• detecting an identification signal continuously transmitted from a wireless transceiver associated with an asset of an industrial automation environment when the portable computing system is in proximity to the asset;
• processing the identification signal to determine an identity of the asset;
• detecting a level of proximity of the portable computing system to the wireless transceiver;
• identifying, based on the level of proximity, a distance threshold from a plurality of distance thresholds of the wireless transceiver that the portable computing system is within;
• retrieving information associated with the asset based on the identity of the asset;
• and
• displaying, based on the distance threshold, at least a portion of the information associated with the asset on a display system of the portable computing system.

An apparatus to facilitate identification of industrial equipment in an industrial automation environment, the apparatus comprising:

• one or more computer-readable storage media;
• and
• program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage media that, when executed by a processing system, direct the processing system to:
• detect an identification signal continuously transmitted from a wireless transceiver associated with an asset of an industrial automation environment when the portable computing system is in proximity to the asset;
• process the identification signal to determine an identity of the asset;
• detect a level of proximity of the portable computing system to the wireless transceiver;
• identify, based on the level of proximity, a command proximity threshold from a plurality of distance thresholds of the wireless transceiver that the portable computing system is within;
• retrieve information associated with the asset based on the identity of the asset;
• and
• based on the level of proximity:
• display at least a portion of the information associated with the asset on a display system of the portable computing system;
• and
• allow control access of the asset if the level of proximity is within the command proximity distance threshold of the plurality of distance thresholds.