The Invisibility Problem in Heavy Industry

Shipyards are complex ecosystems where thousands of personnel, subcontractors, and valuable assets move among massive metal structures. The End-to-End BLE-based IoT Ecosystem developed by SADELABS transforms the shipyard site into a smart and traceable digital map.

Through the Personnel and Asset Tracking System implemented in three different leading shipyards in Turkey, we have overcome the obstacles of “metal density” and “traceability constraints” that hinder digitalization in heavy industrial conditions. Real-time tracking of thousands of personnel and critical assets has been successfully deployed via BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) infrastructure.

Challenges in Shipyard Operations

• OHS and Emergency Risks: Lack of real-time data regarding the location of personnel inside ship blocks; delayed detection of accidents such as falls or fainting.
• Audit and Authorization: Inability to instantly prevent unauthorized entries into high-risk and restricted zones.
• Progress Billing Complexity: Inability to verify the working hours and field activities of subcontractor firms.
• Operational Losses: Time losses experienced due to the inability to locate valuable assets (welding machines, testing devices, etc.) across the massive site.

What Have We Achieved?

1. Active Safety and Instant Intervention

The system monitors not just where the personnel are, but also how they are doing. Accelerometers within the tags report sudden acceleration events (falls, impacts) to the center immediately. Furthermore, SOS buttons on the personnel tags reduced emergency call times to seconds.

Digital Fencing and Authorization

High-risk areas in shipyard sites were defined using “Digital Fencing” (Geofencing). By implementing tag-based authorization, the system generates an instant alarm the moment a staff member enters an unauthorized zone.

Data-Driven Billing and Cost Management

100% digital data replaced manual reporting. The exact hours subcontractor teams worked on specific projects and zones were precisely measured. Project-based personnel costs were derived from real data, and financial processes were automated via data flow to existing ERP systems.

Asset and Efficiency Analysis

High-value assets prone to getting lost were also tagged. Using historical data and heatmaps, we analyzed whether personnel were in the correct locations during duty hours and assessed the usage intensity of equipment.

Implemented Solution

A seamless data network covering every point of the physical site was created using smart tags provided to personnel, combined with strategically positioned location sensors and gateways.

The smart personnel tags at the heart of the system periodically perform environmental scans to collect Signal Strength (RSSI) data from strategically placed location sensors. This signal data and sensor IDs are broadcast by the tags as a transmission packet. Our Gateway devices in the field collect these broadcasts at high speed and transfer them to the central system via Wi-Fi and/or 4G infrastructure.

This raw data is processed at the software layer by algorithms calibrated for the complex structure of the shipyard, filtering out signal fluctuations to produce the most accurate location information. In the final stage, this precise data is transformed into live tracking screens, heatmaps, and reporting tools via a web-based management panel for use by shipyard management.