What The Alliance Does
Knowledge Hub
Access expert-driven articles, webinars, and toolkits across industries. Stay ahead of trends and real-world best practices through our curated RTLS content library.
Directory
Discover RTLS practitioners, consultants, academics, and vendor experts shaping real-time location intelligence globally. Build partnerships and join cross-sector collaboration.
$24B
Global RTLS Market by 2029
24%
Industry CAGR
$4.3B
Invested in RTLS startups since 2020
137%
Increase in RTLS jobs since 2021
Our Members
Stay Updated on RTLS Innovations
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest industry insights, case studies, and technology updates.
Frequently Asked Questions
About RTLS Alliance
The RTLS Alliance is a global community of professionals, organizations, and academic institutions dedicated to advancing real-time location systems technology. We serve as a vendor-neutral hub for best practices, implementation guidance, and technology standards. Our mission is to accelerate RTLS adoption by providing educational resources, fostering collaboration, and promoting innovation across industries including healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, and retail.
RTLS Alliance membership provides exclusive access to our comprehensive resource library containing implementation guides, case studies, and technology comparisons. Members can participate in our forums to network with RTLS professionals worldwide, receive priority access to webinars and workshops, and utilize our vendor-neutral evaluation tools and ROI calculators. Higher membership tiers include personalized consulting sessions and opportunities to contribute to industry standards development.
The RTLS Alliance welcomes members from all backgrounds and experience levels, including technology professionals, vendors, corporate organizations, academic researchers, students, and consultants. Our tiered membership structure accommodates individuals, academic institutions, small businesses, and large enterprises. Whether you're just beginning to explore RTLS or you're a seasoned expert, the Alliance offers resources tailored to your needs.
The RTLS Alliance operates as a non-profit industry association. Our funding comes primarily from membership fees, which are reinvested into developing educational resources, research initiatives, and community programs. This non-profit structure ensures our guidance remains vendor-neutral and focused on advancing the industry as a whole rather than promoting specific commercial interests.
About RTLS Technology
A Real-Time Location System (RTLS) is a technology solution that automatically identifies and tracks the location of objects or people in real time, usually within a building or defined area. RTLS typically uses wireless tags attached to objects or carried by people, fixed receivers throughout the facility, and software that processes location data to provide actionable insights for operations, safety, and efficiency improvements.
The main technologies used in RTLS include Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Wi-Fi, RFID, GPS/GNSS, infrared, ultrasound, and computer vision. Each technology offers different advantages in terms of accuracy, range, power consumption, and cost. Many modern RTLS solutions use a combination of these technologies through sensor fusion to optimize performance for specific use cases.
RTLS accuracy varies by technology: Ultra-Wideband provides 10-30cm accuracy, Bluetooth Low Energy offers 1-3m, Wi-Fi delivers 3-5m, and GPS/GNSS provides 3-10m outdoors. Accuracy is affected by environmental factors, infrastructure density, and signal interference. The required accuracy depends on the application—asset zone tracking may need only room-level accuracy, while precision manufacturing might require centimeter-level positioning.
Industries benefiting most from RTLS include healthcare (asset tracking, patient flow, staff safety), manufacturing (tool tracking, workflow optimization, safety compliance), logistics (inventory management, yard management), retail (customer analytics, inventory tracking), and construction (equipment tracking, safety monitoring). Any industry with valuable mobile assets, complex workflows, or safety requirements can achieve significant ROI from properly implemented RTLS solutions.