Unveiling Deeyook’s Groundbreaking Wi-Fi Solution: An Interview with Wi-Fi Now Global
In a recent interview on Wi-Fi Now, Claus Hetting, CEO & Chairman, sat down with Dirk Franklin, Deeyook’s North American General Manager of VP of Business Development, to discuss the company’s innovative approach to precise location tracking. Deeyook leverages existing Wi-Fi infrastructure with a unique combination of interferometry and an AI-based physical model to track assets.
Dirk explained that Deeyook considers itself a “LaaS company” which stands for “location-as-a-service.” He goes on to say: “Our secret sauce is that we do something very, very different. Our approach is patented interferometry and an AI-based physical model. We have nine granted patents and ten more pending.” By passively using the existing 8.5 billion Wi-Fi access points worldwide, Deeyook is able to create a global tracking system for customers that include Fortune 500 companies in manufacturing, supply chain logistics, and back-end retail.
“The most common question we hear is ‘Where is my stuff?’” explains Franklin. Inefficient asset tracking leads to lost inventory, production delays, and missed deliveries, with some large companies paying up to $20 million per year in fines due to inaccurate deliveries. Deeyook tackles this problem head-on by providing real-time, highly accurate location data, saving businesses time and money.
How Deeyook’s Technology Works with Existing Wi-Fi
Deeyook’s unique location technology uses the principles of interferometry to track assets. Interferometry, a scientific process that uses overlapping light rays, is applied to Wi-Fi signals to see how they interact. Based on these interactions, Deeyook is able to determine the precise location. The AI-based physical model of the space acts as a virtual map of the environment. This model predicts the signal interference patterns at any location within the mapped space, eliminating the need for time-consuming preliminary signal readings.
In practice, an asset that needs to be tracked is tagged with a Deeyook-enabled mobile device which communicates with the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. The interferometry measure (or the phase differential from the tag) is streamed to the cloud, determining the angle. This is repeated three or four times to pinpoint the object’s location in angular space. That information then goes to the AI-based physical model which is continually updated as the tags discover more access points, translating the location to a known spot on a physical map.
Dirk explains further, “When you start from Ground Zero, you anchor the location to a known physical spot. That information can come from an HD map or simply knowing the facility. It could involve using GPS, but as the model grows and more locations become known, it will rely on existing database locations.” The solution is simple for customers to deploy as Deeyook communicates via API to the workstream of choice. Meaning, whether customers are running SAP, Oracle, Manhattan, etc., Deeyook communicates directly, adding the location as they need it into their work stream.
The groundbreaking nature of this technology lies in its passive physics rather than being standards-based. This means that it addresses many challenges inherent in traditional location-tracking solutions that rely on GPS, BLE, or RSSI.
Search and Find Precision with Deeyook Wi-Fi Solutions
Dirk explains how Deeyook aims to solve the problems of ubiquity, scalability and precision: “there’s a lot of activity happening in real-time location services. GPS and cellular work well outdoors, but they are not ubiquitous indoors. For indoor tracking, we have BLE which has a limited range and can be expensive to deploy at scale. And then there are the legacy Wi-Fi solution technologies which require associating the network RSSI with time of flight.”
The problem with RSSI power or time of flight measurements is that they are based on the speed of light, which is a very large number. Small changes in the RSSI value can lead to significant inaccuracies. RSSI signals can travel through walls, for example, so if the power drops it’s difficult to determine the item’s precise location. Interferometry, on the other hand, focuses solely on angles, enabling precise location calculation with 10 cm accuracy.
To illustrate this point, Deeyook is conducting a pilot with a company that operates large manufacturing sites. They have a team of 50 people whose titles are “search and find.” They need 50 people filling this role of just locating assets in order to run their factory optimally. With Deeyook, one person would be able to walk directly to the item. This is a huge cost and time savings.
Solving Pain Points for Indoor Location Tracking
When asked about the market’s reaction to Deeyook, Dirk proudly shared: “They’re a little bit blown away. A major pain point is indoor location-tracking. One customer said - ‘well, we know if items are inside or outside the building.’ But their warehouse spans a million square feet! The high search and find time is a major pain point and people are excited about solving it with Deeyook.”
Watch the full interview here.
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