Patent ID: 7868760

Claim:
A method of accounting for individuals in an emergency at an industrial facility, the method comprising the steps of: a) associating an active area-wide UWB transmitter and a passive proximity-based RFID tag with an individual; b) co-locating the active UWB transmitter, the passive RFID tag and the individual; c) transmitting from the UWB transmitter, a short UWB pulse as a signal; d) receiving the UWB signal by at least two UWB monitoring stations; e) communicating from the at least two UWB monitoring stations to a computer, at least information identifying the UWB transmitter and time-of-arrival information; f) emitting from an RF proximity transceiver, an RF signal capable of eliciting from the passive RFID tag a responding signal including information identifying the passive RFID tag; g) communicating to said computer information from the RF proximity transceiver identifying the passive RFID tag; and h) computing, using the computer and information communicated from the at least two UWB monitoring stations and from the RF proximity transceiver, the UWB transmitter's location and the identity of the associated individual; i) applying steps a)-h) for a plurality of individuals; wherein the computer is in communication with an output device and is capable of generating a list comprising identity information and location information of individuals at the industrial facility.