Startup uses cell triangulation for RF tracking

RF tagging using cell sites

First year Bath students Baran Ceylan and Matt Manders founded their company ‘BC&M Technologies’ originally to enter the PricewaterhouseCoopers & Bright Futures National Business Champion competition. Their challenge to come up with a workable money making idea, and make it a reality.

As well as offering the opportunity to complete the PwC’s six-week summer insight internship programme and a £250 start up fund, their success has opened up a number of doors including the opportunity to develop a follow-up product, the i-tag.

This small SMS-enabled, geo-tracking device uses cell triangulation to allow users to keep tabs on the location of the tag and in turn a pet, or anything else it is attached, to by using the text message function on their phone.

The latest idea looks set to take off with the pair having already been approached by a venture capitalist wishing to invest further in their expanding company.

“Currently if you purchase a Personal GPS tracking device it can cost £150 – £350 upfront and there can also be costly subscription fees,” Baran. “Our system uses cell triangulation, a mobile phone technology. All you have to do is attach the device to whatever it is you want to track be it a pet, a car or a handbag and by sending a text to the device you get a reply straight to your phone with all the details you want.

“Our initial idea, the REcollar was to test the water and see if there was a market out there. By launching it we identified one with real potential for expansion. In the future we see BC&M technologies as a mother company a brand which can house many smaller separate companies for all our ideas. What we’re hoping to do is use it to take new ideas and make them breathe.”

“What we’re marketing is essentially a more cost effective version of GPS,” said Matt. “You can still fit the device to your handbag or your car and track it to within a five metre radius. It’s only activated when you need it so uses less battery and doesn’t need a constant connection to a satellite, reducing the need for a subscription fee, which in the future we hope to totally wipe.”

SW Microelectronics iNet