Location determination method and system for asset tracking devices

A system, comprising:

• at least one asset tracking device, the asset tracking device including a communications module, a processing and storage module coupled to the communications module, and a location module coupled to the processing and storage module;
• a network access point, wirelessly coupled to the at least one asset tracking device;
• and
• a local positioning system comprising a plurality of reference tags, each of the reference tags having its known position coordinates stored therein, the reference tags wirelessly coupled to receive signals transmitted from the at least one asset tracking device, and to transmit signals to the at least one asset tracking device;
• wherein the at least one asset tracking device is operable to determine that its location module is unable to determine position coordinates from GPS signals, is further operable to search for one or more reference tags of the local positioning system, to communicate with the local positioning system so as to gather the information necessary to compute its position coordinates;
• and
• wherein the at least one asset tracking device is an RFID tag attached to an item to be tracked.

An asset tracking device comprising:

• a communications module to receive position signals from transmitters associated with a plurality of available location determination schemes;
• a processor coupled to the communications module to select one of the available location determination schemes;
• and
• a location module coupled to the processor module to determine coordinates of the position of the asset tracking device using the selected location determination scheme by listening for beacon packets transmitted by one or more reference tags to determine which reference tags are within range, each beacon packet including the coordinates of the position of the transmitting reference tag,
• wherein the communications module is further to transmit a location message based on the selected location determination scheme.