Patent ID: 8633853

Claim:
A method, comprising: determining, with a global positioning system (GPS) receiver in a location detecting device (LDD), whether location sensing via GPS is possible, the LDD attached to an asset in a processing facility, the asset configured to move between an outdoor location and an indoor location; if location sensing via GPS is possible, sensing a geographical location of the asset using the GPS receiver by (i) receiving location data from a plurality of GPS satellites, the location data based on the geographical location of the asset, and (ii) sending the location data to a remote location detector via a WiFi or WiMax transceiver, the remote location detector configured to calculate the geographical location of the asset based on content of the location data using at least one triangulation method and at least one angle of arrival among the content of the location data, the remote location detector further configured to transmit the geographical location to a location monitoring application remote from the asset; if location sensing via GPS is not possible, determining, with the WiFi or WiMax transceiver in the LDD, whether location sensing via the transceiver is possible; if location sensing via GPS is not possible and if location sensing via the transceiver is possible, sensing the geographical location of the asset using the transceiver by receiving beacon signals from a plurality of broadcast-only WiFi or WiMax beacon nodes and calculating the geographical location of the asset based on the received beacon signals; sending a signal to the location monitoring application via the transceiver and a receiving WiFi or WiMax node, the signal identifying one of the geographical location of the asset and an indication that location sensing of the asset is not possible; and activating an alarm in response to one of: (i) the signal indicating that the LDD is entering a specified area and (ii) the indication that location sensing of the LDD is not possible.