Date: Apr 16, 2009 Author: Efrain Viscarolasaga Source: bizjournals (
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Queralt LLC, a Connecticut-based maker of radio frequency identification products for commercial applications, has landed its first Small Business Innovation Research grant through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The award builds on the three year-old Wallingford company's radio frequency identification technology, as well as an integrated element of behavioral learning that allows the system to "learn" a person's or asset's habits over time.
According to Queralt co-founder and managing director Michael Queralt, the system bridges the gap between physical and electronic security. While broadly termed an RFID product, the system also incorporates a variety of protocols in addition to RF, including the global positioning system (GPS).
Unlike many high-profile systems, which have the end goal of tracking products in the supply chain, Queralt is focused on a closed loop system, which creates a sensor network in a given area — such as a campus or building — and tracks specific assets, or even people, within that area. The company has commercially deployed a handful of systems, including a system to track laptops and other equipment for the New Haven Public Schools. "The technology is complicated, but at the end, we basically track stuff," said Queralt.
But the behavioral learning element is where most of the firm's value proposition lies. By being able to learn how a particular piece of equipment, or even person, behaves in the network, the system can generate data that can be applied to efficiency and other business procedures. It's the element of knowing if something is changing with an asset that makes the data valuable, said Queralt.
While many RFID companies, such as Cambridge-based RFID reader maker ThingMagic Inc., look at the retail supply chain as the eventual mass market for RFID technology, Queralt is firmly focused on the closed-loop systems.
As the six-person Queralt continues to develop its product, officials will also look at expanding the wireless standards with which it works, including ZigBee, a low-power wireless protocol used in home automation and smart grid applications.
