VeriChip Corporation has announced that it has obtained the patent for
a portable RFID asset location system. The product combines RFID tagging technology
along with a portable receiver that can enable the tracking of assets
in a fixed setting like a warehouse or building.
The system will utilize portable receivers to collect RFID
messages and identify the unique ID of […]
ABI Research released a study last fall called “Active RFID and Wi-Fi in the RTLS Market“. From the blurb:
Wi-Fi and active radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies are
locked in a long battle to capture the burgeoning market in health care
asset tracking, according to a new study from ABI Research. With less
than 5% of North American health […]
Active RFID provider WhereNet has been acquired by Zebra Technologies
in a $126 million cash deal. Privately-held WhereNet provides real-time locating system (RTLS)
technology for industrial asset management, to Zebra's, portfolio of bar code, passive RFID smart label, and other specialty
printing solutions. From the story in RFID Update:
[Zebra chairman and CEO Edward] Kaplan said WhereNet will continue […]
Health Data Management has an article on the use of bar codes and RFID for patient identification, meds admin, blood transfusions, collecting lab specimens, etc. Passive RFID performs better than bar codes - easier to read - but the significant price differential between even 2D bar codes and passive RFID tags will stymie RFID adoption […]
Fellow connectologist, Dave Hoglund, has written an interesting white paper on the physics behind indoor positioning systems (IPS). Before your eyes roll up into your head, you shouldn't miss this opportunity to really understand the reasons behind why different real time location systems (RTLS) work better for some applications than others. As I've said before, […]
Yours truly is quoted extensively in this story about RFID applications and adoption in hospitals. Freelancer Elizabeth Roop puts me in good company, along with John Pantano of Radianse and Gregg Malkary of Spyglass Consulting.
“Given the inherently mobile nature of healthcare,
RFID offers potential benefits that […]
New product categories cross some boundary when they are OEM'd by one of the big medical conglomerates. Such a transition was made today when Philips Medical Systems announced they were selling an asset tracking RFID solution from AeroScout (press release).
The Philips asset tracking solution utilizes technology that
includes wireless tags, a location engine, and the […]
Chris Click and Tom Eagle from InnerWireless were kind enough to set up a conference call to update me on their new Spot indoor positioning system.
As they approach GA (that's “general availability” in vendor-speak),
InnerWireless has a total of 3 beta sites. Here's a quick run down:
St Lukes Hospital in Kansas City - this is […]
The Chicago Fire Department is testing a system developed at the University of California, Berkeley. Given the cute acronym F.I.R.E. for Fire Information and Rescue Equipment, the system tracks fire fighters throughout a burning building. The FIRE project has a web site here.
The FIRE system, which the Chicago Fire Department began testing in the
spring, consists […]
In the world of logistics, the promised pay-off for passive RFID adoption has always been item level tagging. Conveniently, the ability to do item level tagging (which is mostly driven by cost) has always been just a few years out. Well, the technology is maturing, prices are falling, and the barriers to item level tagging […]
