6th December 2007

A real-time location system (RTLS) that can read thousands of small, active RFID tags per second through multiple walls with a precision of 12-36 inches, was launched at The Active RFID & RTLS Summit by Time Domain Corporation of Huntsville, Alabama. Time Domain's new Precision Location Ultra Wideband System (PLUS) product line employs the company's patented ultra wideband technology that will enable RTLS solutions to move from an "approximate presence" technology to a solution that precisely locates and monitors the interaction of people and assets for a host of new healthcare, retail, logistics and security applications.

The key to PLUS' precision and high-tag throughput is the company's 6.4 GHz ultra wideband pulse-based technology. Unlike other RFID RTLS technologies such as UHF, Zigbee Wi-Fi , ultra wideband active tags emit a burst of extremely short pulses once a second which, when read and processed by a time difference of arrival (TDOA) algorithm, provides inches of accuracy in 2-D and multi-floor environments. This short pulse approach also provides precise location accuracy in "noisy" indoor environments where wiring and metal fixtures are often problematic for other RTLS systems.

The new PLUS products are currently being trialed in several healthcare applications, which is the company's initial target market. "Until now, RTLS systems have been limited to, at best, room-only, "last read" monitoring which locates people and equipment when they leave or enter a room. With typical accuracy in the 10-30 foot range, it's nearly impossible to ascertain interactions using these systems" said Greg Clawson, vice president of sales and marketing at Time Domain. "PLUS solves the problem of locating and accurately linking healthcare staff, patients and equipment in a single room. This capability opens new opportunities for our partners to create location- based services that provide real-time, integrated patient safety, billing and equipment monitoring solutions. The goal is to increase bed turnover and reduce the amount of time a patient spends in the healthcare facility, while ensuring high quality, safe care."

Meanwhile The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center recently announced it has selected San Diego-based Awarepoint's Real-time Awareness Solution as their asset tracking partner. After a rigorous evaluation process, Awarepoint's RFID real-time location system (RTLS) was chosen to efficiently track the location, status and movement of the hospital's mobile medical equipment.

With the installation of Awarepoint, the UCSF operating rooms' equipment will be reliably retrievable within minutes including weekend and after hours shifts UCSF Medical Center's project team reviewed active RFID options from six in-depth proposals presented by vendors representing numerous RFID technologies. The selection process then required an on-site proof of concept where Awarepoint successfully demonstrated real-world use cases of nine different scenarios, including:

non-disruptive installation during normal daily activities
tracking equipment at multiple locations across 1.5 miles
locating assets placed deep in metal storage carts within surrounding electronics
proving the accuracy of the location engine (location precision)
proving the self-healing nature of the sensor network when a sensor is disabled or removed

For the on-site proof of concept, each candidate was given a total of six hours to install their system in multiple buildings, demonstrate the various scenarios requested by UCSF Medical Center and finally remove the system. Unlike other RFID asset management technologies, Awarepoint's ZigBee sensor network needs no hardwiring or fixed infrastructure: wireless sensors simply plug into electrical outlets to form the self-healing Awarenet™ mesh network, then small, battery-powered tags are securely attached to assets, which are tracked using the web-based Searchpoint search engine.

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