Intangible Assets - Fair Value of Acquired Identifiable Intangible Assets and Related Estimated Useful Lives (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Apr. 28, 2018	Jan. 31, 2018
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	$ 37,387	$ 36,987
Accumulated Amortization	(4,821)	(3,797)
Currency Translation Adjustment	361	443
Net Carrying Amount	32,927	33,633
Customer Contract Relationships [Member] \| Honeywell Asset Purchase and License Agreement [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	27,243	26,843
Accumulated Amortization	(1,678)	(958)
Net Carrying Amount	25,565	25,885
Customer Contract Relationships [Member] \| Miltope [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	3,100	3,100
Accumulated Amortization	(1,516)	(1,438)
Net Carrying Amount	1,584	1,662
Customer Contract Relationships [Member] \| RITEC [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	2,830	2,830
Accumulated Amortization	(519)	(461)
Net Carrying Amount	2,311	2,369
Non-Competition Agreement [Member] \| RITEC [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	950	950
Accumulated Amortization	(538)	(491)
Net Carrying Amount	412	459
Existing Technology [Member] \| TrojanLabel ApS [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	2,327	2,327
Accumulated Amortization	(445)	(350)
Currency Translation Adjustment	256	313
Net Carrying Amount	2,138	2,290
Distributor Relations [Member] \| TrojanLabel ApS [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Gross Carrying Amount	937	937
Accumulated Amortization	(125)	(99)
Currency Translation Adjustment	105	130
Net Carrying Amount	$ 917	$ 968

Finite-lived intangible assets, accumulated translation adjustments.

No definition available.

Name:	alot_FinitelivedIntangibleAssetsAccumulatedTranslationAdjustments
Namespace Prefix:	alot_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Accumulated amount of amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsAccumulatedAmortization
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount before amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount after amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsNet
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_CustomerContractsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_TypeOfArrangementAxis=alot_HoneywellAssetPurchaseAndLicenseAgreementMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=alot_MiltopeCorporationMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=alot_RuggedInformationTechnologyEquipmentCorporationMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_NoncompeteAgreementsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=alot_ExistingTechnologyMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=alot_TrojanlabelApSMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=alot_DistributorRelationsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: