Radio frequency (RF) location beacon with tunable antennas and cloud integration

A communication system supporting processing of communications regarding a radio frequency (RF) beacon for tracking location and/or proximity of field assets, comprising:

• a first computer server on a home network, said first computer server having one or more hardware data processor with functionality to receive and process tracking, location and proximity information signal relating to field assets, said first computer server coupled to a first database for storing and maintaining information relating to said field assets and said first computer server being coupled to a home agent and a first gateway server for communication outside the home network;
• one or more radio frequency location and/or proximity beacon associated one or more stationary or moveable field asset, said beacon having:
• one or more radio frequency module that transmits and receives information via radio frequency signals, said radio frequency module having a transmission portion that transmits presence information including data, time and a unique beacon ID, location and/or proximity data, said location data including latitude, longitude and altitude, and said proximity data being detection of other beacons in range, and receive portion that receives programming instructions and/or detection of other devices in proximity to the beacon, wherein programming instructions are received from an integrated device and/or cloud environment, said programming instructions being new programming, updates to existing programming, or initiation of prior programmed tasks;
• a central controller that holds beacon programming, directs beacon transmit/receive operations, integrates beacon component, and sets power level, data rate and transmit/receive duration;
• one or more tunable antennas that can be tuned for efficiency and sensitivity for transmitting and receiving signals, said one or more tunable antennas being two or more separate antennas, with at least one transmit antenna and at least one receive antenna, or a unified transmit/receive antenna;
• one or more matching-tuning network situated between the RF module and each tunable antenna, that tunes power, efficiency and sensitivity of the antenna using controller input;
• and
• tunable power levels, wherein tuning the power level will adjust the beacon transmit or receive range for the beacon;
• one or more sensors, said sensors transmitting and receiving data using radio transmission and
• one or more radio frequency receiving device having application programming to receive radio frequency signals from the radio frequency location and/or proximity beacon, said radio frequency receiving device receives presence, location and proximity signals transmitted from said radio frequency location and/or proximity beacon, and said radio frequency receiving device relays presence, location and proximity data received from the radio frequency location and/or proximity beacon to the first computer server.

A method of transmitting communications regarding a radio frequency beacon for tracking location and/or proximity of field assets, comprising the steps of:

• providing a first computer server on a home network, said first computer server coupled to a first database and a first gateway, said first computer server having one or more hardware data processors;
• supporting communications to and from the home network using said first gateway server;
• providing one or more radio frequency location and/or proximity beacon associated with one or more stationary or moveable field asset,
• one or more radio frequency module that transmits and receives information via radio frequency signals, said radio frequency module having a transmission portion that transmits presence information including date, time and a unique beacon ID, location and/or proximity data, said location data including latitude, longitude and altitude, and said proximity data being detection of other beacons in range, and a receive portion that receives programming instructions and/or detection of other devices in proximity to the beacon, wherein programming instructions are received from an integrated device and/or cloud environment, said programming instructions being new programing, updates to existing programming, or initiation of prior programmed tasks;
• a central controller that holds beacon programming, directs beacon transmit/receive operations, integrates beacon components, and sets power level, data rate and transmit/receive duration;
• one or more tunable antennas that can be tuned for efficiency and sensitivity for transmitting and receiving signals, said one or more tunable antennas being two or more separate antennas, with at least one transmit antenna and at least one receive antenna, or a unified transmit/receive antenna;
• one or more matching-tuning network situated between the RF module and each tunable antenna, that tunes power, efficiently and sensitivity of the antenna using controller input;
• tunable power levels, wherein tuning the power level will adjust the beacon transmit or receive range for the beacon;
• and
• one or more sensors, said sensors transmitting and receiving data using radio transmission;
• providing a radio frequency receiver device that has application programming to receive transmissions from the beacon, said radio frequency receiving device is a computer, tablet computer, pad computer, laptop computer, mobile phone, handheld mobile device, or a dedicated radio frequency receiving device;
• receiving, by said radio frequency receiver device, radio frequency transmitted signals from the beacon,
• relaying beacon transmission received by the radio frequency receiver device to the first computer server, and
• storing received transmissions in said database.