Regardless of whether companies use autonomous mobile robots, digital twins, warehouse management systems, or AI-powered optimization software—every application relies on reliable, standardized spatial information. Location data is thus rapidly evolving from an operational tool into critical infrastructure for industrial AI.
“Industrial processes are becoming increasingly dynamic, mobile, and autonomous. For people, machines, robots, and AI systems to collaborate safely and efficiently, they must share a common understanding of space and movement. Open and interoperable location data form the spatial foundation for physical AI,” explains Dr. Matthias Jöst, Head of the Committee omlox at PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International). In the future, industrial AI systems will continuously capture and analyze movements, contexts, and interactions across factories, warehouses, and logistics networks. To do this, machines, robots, and mobile systems must learn to “understand” space. However, Physical AI - that is, AI that actively perceives physical space and acts contextually - requires a common spatial language of positions, movements, and identities in space that is independent of individual technology providers.
Without open interfaces, companies run the risk of creating isolated technology silos that are costly to expand and difficult to integrate. And this is precisely where the vendor-neutral omlox standard comes in. It provides a technology-agnostic layer to harmonize location data across Ultra-Wideband (UWB), BLE, Wi-Fi, GNSS, image-based localization, RFID, and future location technologies.
Instead of locking customers into proprietary ecosystems, the omlox approach enables companies to evolve their technology landscape over time while preserving existing investments. This gives companies the freedom to select the best-of-breed solutions and devices, protects their investments, and preserves their sovereignty over their spatial data.
The fact that this interoperability works in practice is demonstrated every year at plugfests, most recently in June 2026. There, independently developed hardware and software are connected in a shared industrial environment and tested to ensure they work together under real-world operating conditions. This time, 21 experts from 9 companies tested 12 different omlox components, including UWB infrastructure, location tags, complementary positioning technologies, omlox hubs, and industrial software applications. The focus was on interoperability tests - for example, between UWB tags and omlox Core Zones, or between Complementary Zones and omlox hubs - which were completed with great success.
This year, the omlox Plugfest was also accompanied by a conference hosted by Fraunhofer IOSB-INA at SmartFactoryOWL in Lemgo and organized jointly by PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International) and Fraunhofer IOSB-INA. The event featured live demonstrations of how standardized location data accelerates warehouse automation, autonomous robotics, safety applications, material flow optimization, and AI-driven operational intelligence.
About omlox
omlox is the world’s first open location standard for industrial manufacturing and logistics. The standard, overseen by PI (PROFIBUS & PROFINET International), defines interoperable interfaces between location technologies, infrastructure, software platforms, and enterprise applications. omlox enables vendor-neutral real-time location solutions. It thus forms the spatial foundation for digital factories, smart warehouses, connected supply chains, and the next generation of Physical AI applications.