Several companies are piloting the Spot'It system by tagging and tracking goods through the Sigfox network. The solution is geared toward items that previously were not considered of high enough value to be tracked, or that move through the custody of too many companies, to make the building an RFID infrastructure feasible. Instead, Spot'It is designed to only require a tag that can be tracked while moving through complex supply chains at multiple locations, or while being stored in large facilities, yards or warehouses.

For those within the Sigfox network, Spot'It only requires that they buy a Sigfox communication module that acts as a tag for approximately $2.50 each (in high volume), and that they pay a monthly service fee. They can then simply let the cloud-based system track their goods via each tag's unique ID number.

"IoT is exciting, but from a use-case standpoint, companies are trying to solve a very specific [and basic] problem" says Allen Proithis, the president of Sigfox North America. They need to find their things, he adds, and do it at a low cost.

"The premise is connecting the masses of little things in life," Proithis says, adding that the Internet of Thing Spot'It tags whisper rather than shout their presence. In other words, they transmit an ID number at preset intervals or when awoken. The location data is typically much less precise than with an active or passive RFID system. Because the Spot'It tags can remain dormant until woken up, he says, they have a battery life that can span several decades.

The shortcoming of RFID, according to Proithis, is that lower-cost passive tags can only be tracked when interrogated by a reader, requiring either a fixed reader infrastructure or an individual to carry a mobile reader past the tags.

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