In response

Readers include custom-engineered antennas and software.

By using multiple antennas on an ideal wavelength for hospital facilities, the RadarFind system can communicate even when obstructed by a person or equipment for enhanced location reliability. The medical device ID tags are actually autonomous microprocessor-controlled radio transceivers, communicating bidirectionally with sensor readers (interrogators) incorporating synchronous MIMO (multiple input/multiple output) technology.

These readers conveniently plug into standard AC outlets in the hospital while uniquely preserving the hospital-grade outlet for use by other equipment. This allows for an installation that can be completed without closing off patient rooms or other clinical areas. Dynamic system adjustment and multiple smart antennas coupled with intelligent software produce room-level location accuracy.

Data collectors (one or two per hospital floor) wirelessly receive information from RadarFind readers. Collectors gather data before transmitting to a hospital's onsite server via Ethernet for storage, display and analysis.

Dedicated servers calculate the tag location, provide a robust database of stored information, and are the web server for the various user interfaces and underlying applications. The software user interface can be accessed and displayed in a MapView or ListView format on any browser-enabled computer or PDA over a hospital's intranet.

The system's four-tiered (tag to reader to collector to server) wireless architecture enables the system to be quickly scaled by adding more tags and readers and the technology platform can extend to tracking people within a facility (patients, staff, vendors, etc.). RadarFind status tags feature an intrinsically-safe color-coded switch, for example, showing if equipment is available, in-use, or needs cleaning. The tags have an average battery life span of six years. Data gathered from the status indicator measures equipment use and is important when leveraged as part of a hospital's infection control protocol.

New system features include temperature-sensing tags as well as tags that are small enough to accommodate pocket-sized equipment. A recent RadarFind tag was developed for tracking the location of cardiac telemetry devices.

Remote support is provided on a continuous basis. Problems can be addressed or software enhancements can be easily downloaded from the company's support center by securely logging into the hospital's RadarFind server. Moreover, the system operates exclusively on the 900 MHz ISM band, thereby causing no interference with or burdening of WiFi (802.11) networks.

Frost & Sullivan research analysts today project a 50% compounded annual growth rate over the next few years for RTLS adoption in hospitals. As more hospitals invest their time and resources in automated tracking systems, hospital decision-makers need to consider how RTLS technologies can best address their unique requirements.

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