Inventory Management System Offers Real-Time Monitoring Of Bin Levels

April 13, 2011

BinMaster Level Controls introduces the BinView inventory management system. BinView offers real-time bin level monitoring for solid materials over the Internet or via a company LAN or VPN. The components of the BinView solution are BinMaster's SmartBob2 or SmartBob-TS1 sensors mounted on the bins, a wireless or wired data communications network, a gateway to provide connectivity to a personal computer or IP network, and data collection software that can be viewed securely by any authorized individual via an Internet connection or over the company's LAN or VPN. BinView was designed to eliminate the need to manually check bin levels. BinView can be configured for local access only, multisite access or corporate visibility of data. SmartBob sensors are programmed to take measurements at predetermined intervals and send bin level data to a gateway with connectivity to an IP network. Alternatively, the measurement data can be stored and accessed exclusively on a company LAN or VPN. When using the BinView program, alerts can be sent to a cell phone, a PC or a PDA via email when bin levels meet critical levels. BinView offers various configurations, including the use of a 900 MHz radio to create a simple wireless network. The SmartBob2 or SmartBob-TS1 sensors can also be daisy-chained via RS-485 multi-drop communications and then communicate via RS-485 or 900 MHz wireless to transmit data to the gateway. An optional ZigBee configuration allows ZigBee modules embedded into SmartBob-TS1 sensors to communicate data via a Zigbee wireless mesh network, allowing the gateway running the SmartBob application to send data to the Internet.

Related To: BinMaster

BinView was designed to eliminate the need to manually check bin levels. BinView can be configured for local access only, multisite access or corporate visibility of data. SmartBob sensors are programmed to take measurements at predetermined intervals and send bin level data to a gateway with connectivity to an IP network.

Alternatively, the measurement data can be stored and accessed exclusively on a company LAN or VPN. When using the BinView program, alerts can be sent to a cell phone, a PC or a PDA via email when bin levels meet critical levels.

BinView offers various configurations, including the use of a 900 MHz radio to create a simple wireless network. The SmartBob2 or SmartBob-TS1 sensors can also be daisy-chained via RS-485 multi-drop communications and then communicate via RS-485 or 900 MHz wireless to transmit data to the gateway. An optional ZigBee configuration allows ZigBee modules embedded into SmartBob-TS1 sensors to communicate data via a Zigbee wireless mesh network, allowing the gateway running the SmartBob application to send data to the Internet.