What if Wi-Fi Could Track Your Assets—Without Even Connecting?
Picture a pallet of goods is loaded onto a truck, on a journey that will take it across a continent or maybe across oceans. It’s equipped with GPS and cellular tracking during transit, but the moment it enters a warehouse, that visibility vanishes. GPS can’t penetrate walls, and cellular triangulation loses accuracy indoors, especially in dense or signal-shielded environments like warehouses or hospitals. Our pallet is still there, but digitally, it’s gone dark.
This is where Wi-Fi steps in, but not in the way we’re used to. This isn’t about joining networks or streaming data. Instead, we're talking about sensing presence, passively observing signals in the environment, and turning that information into location intelligence.
No handshakes. No connections. Just smart scanning. At Silicon Labs, we’ve built hardware that makes this model not only possible but also practical.
What is Wi-Fi Asset Tracking and How Does It Work?
Instead of depending on heavy infrastructure or GPS alone, positioning with Wi-Fi works by scanning for surrounding SSIDs and determining signal strength to estimate location. This means your devices don't have to associate with a network, they just need to recognize that they’re near one.
Our SiWx917 Wi-Fi 6 ultra-low-power wireless MCU can cold boot and SSID scan all channels in about 5 seconds while consuming less than 50mA. The result is fast updates on location without draining the battery. Consider long-life sensors that only wake up when needed. But sensing alone isn’t enough.
The Cloud Knows the Way with our Wi-Fi Asset Tracking Solution
This is where the backend takes over. Once the SiWx917 identifies nearby SSIDs, that data gets pushed to the cloud via MQTT or another protocol. From there, cloud-based mapping, databases, etc. kick in. They match known SSIDs to real-world coordinates, giving you near real-time asset visibility, even indoors.
This backend magic means facilities don’t need to install anything new. Your warehouse, hospital, or factory already has Wi-Fi. That existing infrastructure becomes your positioning system. No proprietary readers. Just the networks already deployed.
We handle the radio; you handle the maps.
That’s the beauty of this solution: it’s collaborative. We provide the silicon and the low-power intelligence. You bring your choice of the cloud, the dashboards, the data insights. Together, it becomes something greater, a full-coverage, multi-technology, fully visible platform that truly optimizes your return on investment of wireless tracker solutions.
You can track a container from factory to forklift. You can follow a medical cart from ICU to storage. You can monitor inventory on the move, through buildings, and blind spots. All using a chip that sips power and slips easily into your existing design.
And if you're already using GPS and cellular? Great. Wi-Fi doesn’t replace them, it complements them. You can turn off the heavy radios when you don’t need them, hand off to Wi-Fi sniffing when you do. That flexibility is key to optimizing for both coverage and longevity.
Designing a Wi-Fi Asset Tracker: From Possibility to Deployment
We’ve taken this all the way to reference designs. The SiWx917 acts as a controller, working with GNSS, IMU sensors, and MQTT to push data to the cloud. In one of our hybrid builds, smart pallets were equipped with our Wi-Fi SoC to track transit through ships, trucks, and warehouses without ever joining a network. Just sensing. Just sending. Just working.
The logistics company that implemented this deployment was able to add both Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi with a single chip, extend battery life, and finally get eyes inside their own facilities.
Why Choose SiWx917 to Build a Wi-Fi Asset Tracker?
Easy. In addition to the features and benefits mentioned above, the SiWx917 Wi-Fi 6 ultra-low-power MCU is a fully integrated wireless solution giving you the functionalities and interfaces you need in Wi-Fi trackers. A few examples include:
- Integrated networking stack with TCP/IP, TLS, MQTT, and more simplifies integration with the cloud and location database.
- Includes a rich set of peripherals and GPIO to tie together all the required components such as the GNSS/GPS, LTE/GSM, gyroscope/accelerometer, and an ambient sensor.
- Large SRAM, PSRAM, and flash memory capacity accommodate all necessary firmware, application software, and location data while also leaving room for OTA updates.
- Dedicated application MCU with up to 180MHz and an AI/ML accelerator remove the need for an additional standalone MCU, reducing your BoM, power consumption, and board footprint.
- Wireless and networking stacks are run on a separate processor, increasing MCU sleep time and reducing power consumption.
- Finally, our SiWx917 modules come with an antenna and regulatory certifications, simplifying your RF design and certification work and reducing the development costs and time.
Let’s Build your Wi-Fi Asset Tracking Device Together
If you’re working on asset visibility, indoor positioning, or real-time logistics, this changes the game. You already have Wi-Fi. Let’s use it better. This is where smart hardware meets smarter networks. Let’s build it together.
To learn more, download our whitepaper, “Wi-Fi Power Optimization Examples for Six IoT Devices” where wireless experts from Silicon Labs and Sigma Connectivity share their best-practice Wi-Fi power optimization guidelines for six IoT devices, including a connectionless Wi-Fi tracker.
