A system for monitoring and controlling shopping cart usage comprises a wheel assembly that attaches to a shopping cart. The wheel assembly includes a wheel, a brake that can be activated to inhibit rotation of the wheel, a controller that controls the brake, a VLF receiver, and an RF transceiver. The RF transceiver may, for example, operate in a 2.4 GHz frequency band. In some implementations, the RF transceiver may be used to detect entry of the shopping cart into a checkout area of the store, and the VLF receiver may be used to detect that the shopping cart is exiting the store. The controller may activate the brake if the shopping cart attempts to exit the store without first passing through a checkout area.

A dual hard tag assembly comprises radio frequency identification and electronic article surveillance. The dual hard tag is provides a single component able to both track retail merchandise generally and prevent theft by triggering an alarm. The RFID and EAS systems are not coplanar. The dual hard tag system is small and light weight, and may be reprogrammed and reused for the tracking and anti-theft of multiple items.

A motorized cart retriever, which may be a cart pusher or a cart puller, can apply a force to a nest of human-propelled, wheeled carts to facilitate retrieval of the carts. The cart retriever can include a transceiver configured to wirelessly receive cart status information from cart transmitters of the wheeled carts and wirelessly report event data to a control unit. The cart status information may include an identification of the cart transmitter, a location of the cart, a lock or unlock status of a cart wheel, a misuse condition, etc. The event data can include the cart status information, a number of wheeled carts being retrieved, etc. The cart wheel may include a brake. The transceiver may communicate a message to the cart wheel to keep the brake unactuated during retrieval. The control unit may analyze the event data to detect traffic patterns of the carts.

Deploying at each transition between separate areas of a facility a plurality of RFID reader antennas. Each antenna is deployed at a given transition covering a span of the given transition from a different perspective such that each point in the span is covered by at least two antennas. The antennas of a first transition between a first area and a second area of the separate areas detect, and in combination with an RFID system in communication with the antennas of the first transition, a tag known to have been in the first area. The RFID system identifies an item associated with the detected tag as moving to the second area. The antennas of a particular transition of the second area subsequently detect, in combination with the RFID system in communication therewith, the tag, and identifying the detected item as leaving the second area for an area across the particular transition.

Systems and methods for operating a pedestal of an Electronic Article Surveillance (“EAS”) system. The methods comprise: capturing at least one first image or video by a camera coupled to the pedestal; analyzing the at least one first image or video to detect a person's presence and determine the person's location relative to the camera; determining a first beam pointing direction for the pedestal based on results of the analysis of the at least one first image or video; and steering a read beam of the pedestal in accordance with the first beam pointing direction so that a main lobe of the pedestal's antenna field pattern covers a first area of an interrogation zone.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for autonomous sensor placement discovery for RFID systems are disclosed. Sensors are deployed in a brick and mortar store that can scan for and receive signals from a plurality of locating tags as well as RFID tags. The locating tags may transmit ultra-wideband signals in response to a scan to provide precise determination of the location of each locating tag relative to a detecting sensor. Each sensor may also include a locating tag to enable determining the location of each sensor. The location information from the locating tags is provided to a gateway, which can provide a display of the locations of sensors and locating tags in the brick and mortar store and areas of no coverage, as well as autonomously control various parameters of the sensors to minimize or eliminate some or all areas of no coverage.

A navigation system uses a dead reckoning method to estimate an object's present position relative to one or more prior positions. In some embodiments, the dead reckoning method determines a change in position from the object's heading and speed during an elapsed time interval. In embodiments suitable for use with wheeled objects, the dead reckoning method determines the change in position by measuring the heading and the amount of wheel rotation. Some or all of the components of the navigation system may be disposed within a wheel, such as a wheel of a shopping cart.

A pedestal for an Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) system, comprising: a frame; at least one antenna disposed in or coupled to the frame; and a mechanism directly coupled to the frame so as to mechanically support the pedestal in a vertical position when in use. The mechanism configured to allow the frame to transition from the vertical positon to an angled position when a force is applied to the frame by an external object, and automatically return to the vertical position when the force is no longer being applied to the frame by the external object.

A motorized cart retriever, which may be a cart pusher or a cart puller, can apply a force to a nest of human-propelled, wheeled carts to facilitate retrieval of the carts. The cart retriever can include a transceiver configured to wirelessly receive cart status information from cart transmitters of the wheeled carts and wirelessly report event data to a control unit. The cart status information may include an identification of the cart transmitter, a location of the cart, a lock or unlock status of a cart wheel, a misuse condition, etc. The event data can include the cart status information, a number of wheeled carts being retrieved, etc. The cart wheel may include a brake. The transceiver may communicate a message to the cart wheel to keep the brake unactuated during retrieval. The control unit may analyze the event data to detect traffic patterns of the carts.

A navigation system uses a dead reckoning method to estimate an object's present position relative to one or more prior positions. In some embodiments, the dead reckoning method determines a change in position from the object's heading and speed during an elapsed time interval. In embodiments suitable for use with wheeled objects, the dead reckoning method determines the change in position by measuring the heading and the amount of wheel rotation. Some or all of the components of the navigation system may be disposed within a wheel, such as a wheel of a shopping cart.