Samsonite has come up with a smart solution, which means a traveler will never lose his suitcase again.
Losing your suitcase when traveling can be a nightmarish experience, and Samsonite has come up with a rather simple yet smart solution. The company will be installing a Bluetooth-based tracking beacon into its suitcases, which can be tracked using a smartphone app. Called Track&Go, this beacon is based on Google’s Eddystone Ephemeral Identifiers (EIDs), an open source, cross-platform Bluetooth LE beacon format.
The concept is quite simple, and a traveler can track one’s suitcase using Samsonite’s Travlr app. The location of the suitcase can be tracked at a distance of up to 75 meters, and it also notifies if the suitcase were to move away from the traveler.
If the suitcase were to go missing though, the traveler can immediately flag it lost. The app can also communicate with other Travlr apps, and if another Samsonite user were to pass within 70 meters of the lost suitcase, and EID signal is picked up and the owner will immediately get a notification on his phone. Samsonite says this feature will work better when there is a large number of travelers using this app, and it also expects airports and baggage handling companies to adopt the technology.
Samsonite’s Track&Go beacons work on Google’s Eddystone, which rivals Apple’s iBeacon, but works on Android as well as iOS. One of the frameworks under Eddystone is the Ephemeral Identifiers (EIDs) mode. An EID is essentially a secure platform that can transact with the owner of the tracker, but it transmits data privately to the owner without leaving any identifiable trace. EIDs will also only work with a tracker after permissions are set.
Samsonite’s Track&Go beacons will first be rolled out on select suitcases in the European markets later this year, followed by other markets next year. Samsonite’s tracking beacons will be a boon for travelers. A recent report stated that in 2014 more than 24 million pieces of baggage were mishandled, and 85 percent were returned to their owners within 48 hours. But 5.5 percent pieces of baggage were never reunited with their owners.
Source: bgr.in
Top Brands
