Intelligent tracking system and methods and systems therefor

1. An aggregator device of an intelligent tracking system comprising:

one or more storage devices;

one or more long distance communication units that communicate with external devices using one or more long distance communication protocols;

at least one short distance communication unit that communicates with proximate devices using one or more short range communication protocols;

a GPS device; and

one or more processors that execute executable instructions that cause the one or more processors to:

broadcast, via the at least one short distance communication unit, energizing signals to tracking devices in a read range of the aggregator device, wherein the energizing signals energize the tracking devices and, in response to the energizing, trigger the tracking devices to broadcast tracking messages;

receive one or more response signals from one or more respective responding tracking devices via the at least one short distance communication unit, wherein each response signal includes a tracking message of the tracking messages from a respective responding tracking device that includes tracking information, wherein the one or more processors is configured to:

receive a response signal from a responding tracking device, the response signal including a first response signal and a second response signal, and

determine a range and bearing of the responding tracking device based on a first signal strength of the first response signal and a second signal strength of the second response signal;

generate a tracking record based on the response signal;

report the tracking record to a backend server system;

receive a camera signal;

classify a trackable item in one or more frames in the camera signal using an image classifier trained to identify trackable items; and

determine that a tracking device of the tracking devices is missing, damaged, or otherwise unreadable in response to classifying the trackable item and not receiving a tracking message corresponding to the trackable item.

2. The aggregator device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one short distance communication unit includes a multiple-output-multiple-input (MOMI) communication device that is configured to receive the response signal and to determine the range and bearing of the responding tracking device with respect to aggregator device based on the response signal.

3. The aggregator device of claim 2 , wherein the MOMI communication device includes at least one MOMI transceiver that comprises:

a first radio frequency (RF) antenna; and

a second RF antenna that is in close proximity to the first RF antenna and is set at an angle that is greater than zero degrees and less than 180 degrees from the first RF antenna.

4. The aggregator device of claim 3 , wherein the MOMI device is configured to:

receive an energizing command from the one or more processors;

modulate an energizing signal between the first RF antenna and the second RF antenna to the tracking devices in the read range of the aggregator device;

receive the first response signal at the first RF antenna and the second response signal at the second RF antenna from the responding tracking device; and

outputting the range and bearing, determined based on the first response signal and the second response signal, to the one or more processors.

5. The aggregator device of claim 1 , wherein the aggregator device further includes a set of one or more environmental sensors that respectively output sensor data.

6. The aggregator device of claim 5 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive the sensor data;

classify an existence of an environmental incident based on the sensor data and a machine learned model; and

in response to classifying the environmental incident:

generate an environmental incident record; and

report the environmental incident to the backend server system.

7. The aggregator device of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to classify a visual indicia affixed to the trackable item in one or more frames in the camera signal using an image classifier trained to identify trackable items and visual indicia.

8. The aggregator device of claim 7 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

scan the visual indicia; and

decode the visual indicia to obtain a value, the value being indicative of tracking information of the trackable item to which the visual indicia are affixed.

9. The aggregator device of claim 8 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to determine that the tracking device is missing, damaged, or otherwise unreadable in response to not receiving a tracking message that corresponds to the value decoded from the visual indicia.

10. The aggregator device of claim 1 , wherein the aggregator device further includes a camera that outputs the camera signal.

11. The aggregator device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors receive the camera signal from a remote video camera via the one or more long distance communication units or the at least one short distance communication unit or via a connector cable.

12. The aggregator device of claim 1 , wherein the camera signal is a 3D video signal that includes high resolution color video and depth video.

13. The aggregator device of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive first range and bearing data derived from a first response signal from a first tracking device;

determine first tracking data corresponding to the first tracking device based on the first response signal;

receive second range and bearing data derived from a second response signal from a second tracking device;

determine second tracking data corresponding to the second tracking device based on the second response signal;

classify a first trackable item and a second trackable item in one or more frames in the camera signal using the image classifier; and

disambiguate the first trackable item and the second trackable item based on the first range and bearing data and the second range and bearing data, such that the first tracking data is associated with the first trackable item and the second tracking data is associated with the second trackable item based on the disambiguation.

14. The aggregator device of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more responding tracking devices includes a passive tracking device.

15. The aggregator device of claim 14 , wherein the passive tracking devices include multi-medium tracking devices that are configured with an RFID tag and a BLE transmitter, such that the multi-medium tracking devices are read via RFID interrogators or BLE scanners.

16. The aggregator device of claim 15 , wherein the RFID tag and the BLE transmitter are integrated into a single ASIC.

17. The aggregator device of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the tracking devices includes a bulk acoustic wave oscillator.

18. An aggregator device of an intelligent tracking system comprising:

one or more storage devices;

one or more long distance communication units that communicate with external devices using one or more long distance communication protocols;

at least one short distance communication unit that communicates with proximate devices using one or more short range communication protocols; and

one or more processors that execute executable instructions that cause the one or more processors to:

broadcast, via the at least one short distance communication unit, energizing signals to tracking devices in a read range of the aggregator device, wherein the energizing signals energize the tracking devices and, in response to the energizing, trigger the tracking devices to broadcast tracking messages;

receive one or more response signals from one or more respective responding tracking devices via the at least one short distance communication unit, wherein each response signal includes a tracking message of the tracking messages from a respective responding tracking device that includes tracking information, wherein the one or more processors is configured to:

receive a response signal from a responding tracking device, the response signal including a first response signal and a second response signal, and

determine a range and bearing of the responding tracking device based on a first signal strength of the first response signal and a second signal strength of the second response signal;

generate a tracking record based on the response signal;

report the tracking record to a backend server system;

receive a camera signal;

classify a trackable item in one or more frames in the camera signal using an image classifier trained to identify trackable items; and

determine that a tracking device of the tracking devices is missing, damaged, or otherwise unreadable in response to classifying the trackable item and not receiving a tracking message corresponding to the trackable item.