theRTLSBlog.com: Airetrak, the leading UK provider of Wi-Fi based Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) to the Healthcare and Education sectors, has further enhanced its ResourceView application with the introduction of three, new key innovations. They include more comprehensive zoning system to allow hierarchical zones, improved management of status changes on tagged equipment and an enhanced proximity function to allow searching for resources in close proximity. ResourceView is a comprehensive tracking solution which utilises an organisation’s Wireless LAN to track vital assets within a building. The system uses small Wi-Fi based RFID tags, attached to portable equipment, to send signals to the organisation’s wireless network. Through a process of triangulation, the wireless network determines the position of the tags and therefore the location of the portable devices, which are viewed on a web-browser. This form of asset tracking has become a cost effective solution to organisations, like hospitals, that have installed Wireless LAN technology and utilise it together with Wi-Fi based RFID tags, which have become smaller, cheaper and now have batteries that can last up to five years. The enhancements to ResourceView include a hierarchical zoning system that allows exact locations to be defined. On a hospital, for example, this could be to building, floor, ward, room, bay, and even down to a store cupboard. The status changes allow the display of resources to be altered based on changes to the status of the resource, such as a bed becoming available or a patient contracting a particular infection. The proximity function enhancement allows users to search for available resources, such as the whereabouts of the nearest wheelchair. The ResourceView RTLS solution integrates with the Cisco’s 3350 Mobility Service Engine (MSE) to provide location across Cisco’s Wireless LAN platform. As a Cisco Development Partner, Airetrak is utilising Cisco’s platform to provide simplified delivery, scalability and management of mobile services. Airetrak’s ResourceView technology uses RFID location technology to improve staff efficiency, reduce theft and loss of equipment as well as provide a secure system for controlling temperature sensitive environments. Less time is spent searching for equipment thereby enabling greater utilisation of staff and equipment. It can improve visibility of when assets arriving at or leave key facilities and their location within a facility. The Airetrak location solution can be used across a range of industries from Healthcare to Manufacturing and provides the flexibility to integrate with existing systems to deliver location information and value throughout an organisation.

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PCMag.com: by Mark Hachman

Google hosted an event in Mountain View on Monday, demonstrating the future of its search algorithm, which now encompasses real-time and visually-assisted capabilities.

Demonstrations included a new voice search in Japanese, and a real-time, cloud-based translation beta service. But the highlight of the event was the addition of real-time search, which will pull results from Twitter, and from Facebook and MySpace in the next few weeks.

According to Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, Google predicated its search improvements on what she called four modalities: modes, media, language and personalization. Google confined the company's demonstrations to just language and media, with the goal of matching the richness of the Web.

"When you merge location-based search, community search with real-time search you will end up with a product that you will want, and that will be coming from a Google near you," quipped Amit Singhal, a Google fellow who introduced the real-time search results.

Google made a number of search-related announcements on Monday, the majority of them mobile related. Google Voice Search for Android and iPhone now supports Japanese, in addition to English and Mandarin. Users can also download Google Maps for Android version 3.3, which will identify and rank places of significance near a user's physical location. Google also launched the "Google Goggles" application for mobile devices, which can supposedly identify objects by taking a picture of them.

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Medic Exchange: Visonic Technologies (VT), a global leader in unified RFID / RTLS safety and security solutions for the global healthcare industry, announces the immediate availability of its enhanced Elpas Active RFID/RTLS Reusable Tag. The tag’s unique form factor and comfort, now makes it more suitable for providing abduction deterrence for newborns and infants in maternity units and neonatal care departments or for the monitoring and tracking of high-risk patients who show signs of elopement and or wandering.

The tag’s dual technology transmitter emits low power, beacon type UHF radio frequency (RF) messages as well as supplemental infra-red (IR) messages that can be used to determine the location of the infant/patient to room level and sub-room level precision in open and enclosed indoor spaces without EMF interference to hospital equipment.

The Reusable Tag incorporates a magnetic low frequency (LF) receiver that adds chokepoint area detection so whenever a patient/infant physically comes in close proximity to a prohibited exit/entrance a security intervention alarm can be configured to automatically trigger. The tag also transmits supervision messages for keeping security personnel informed of device tampering or the unsupervised removal of the patient/infant from the protected area.

The Elpas Reusable Tag has been reengineered in direct response to the growing need for more effective user-friendly, risk management tools in acute care hospitals, psychiatric units, geriatric care clinics; long-term nursing care facilities or pediatric units. “The use of the Elpas Reusable Tag for infant/patient identification, baby/mother matching, wandering patient monitoring, emergency calls and exit/entrance alerting provides healthcare professionals with an innovative solution to these worrisome concerns," said Michael Wasserstein, CEO of Visonic Technologies. “Additionally, the tag’s field-proven hospital-grade IP-67 water-rating outer casing, together with its new low power design ensures more then three years of maintenance-free patient deployments.”

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Pixavi: Pixavi today announced its new intrinsically safe, wireless, real time location system (RTLS), enabling organizations to precisely track location of both equipment and personnel. The RFID tag is certified for both Mining, Chemical plants and Oil&Gas according to IECex and ATEX and covering Zone 0, Zone 1 and Zone 2.

Intrinsically Safe Real Time Location Tracking Tag"We are very excited to introduce this technology to hazardous area applications. WLAN location tracking technology provides close to instant return on investment both from a safety and from an efficiency perspective," stated Pixavi Sales Director, Thomas Zaubi.

Using the award winning RTLS technology from Ekahau, Inc. the Xtag can operate on any existing standard Wi-Fi network, which eliminates the need to install dedicated infrastructure that otherwise would increase the equipment and installation cost considerably.

"By introducing this innovative client application to our diverse explosion proof wireless network product range, we are able to offer our customers a full range of Wi-Fi products, including access points, antennas, VoiP, wireless video communication, wireless surveillance cameras and location tracking devices," Zaubi continues.

Pixavi CEO, Christian Rokseth, added, "Wireless networks are already widely available in hazardous areas, which mean an instant access to this technology for many organizations. Today's worldwide financial situation puts a high demand on efficient and automated operation. Combining the Xtag location system with our Xpoint explosion proof and intrinsically safe access points, with the Xbeam EX explosion proof antennas, enables us to provide customer a full turn-key system. With this complete offering, our customers can now deploy a cost efficient, secure and solid RFID RTLS system for hazardous area Zone 0, zone 1 and zone 2."

Mr. Rokseth continues, "This new RTLS solution perfectly complements our state of the art wireless suite for hazardous area, like Pixavi's own intrinsically safe 802.11n wireless video communication technology, explosion proof wireless network producs, Wireless CCTV products and also third party wireless VoIP, PDAs, Rugged laptops and wireless Sensor Technology in order to increase efficiency and safety on these installations."

Pricing & Availability:

The Xtag is already available for ordering, with a pricing starting from 153 USD per tag. The Xtag is compatible with Ekahau RTLS software which is sold separately.

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Earth Times: Andover, MA (PRWEB) December 2, 2009 -- Radianse, the pioneer and a leading provider of healthcare real-time location systems (RTLS), today announced new multi-use tracking tags. Small, sealed and featuring a one-year-battery, the Radianse tags are expected to cost between 10 and 40 cents per use for patient tracking.

"We consistently hear from hospitals that they need a low-cost, long-life and hassle-free tag," said Paul Tessier, a Radianse founder and the company's chief technology officer. "So we committed to a realistic cost model and performance criteria to meet multiple tracking needs. This tag is easy for clinicians to use on patients and equipment, with no battery management issues or need to deal with shells and other annoyance factors."

For patient tracking, there is the reality of the intense wear and tear, particularly in emergency and perioperative care, that can lead to tag inventory shrinkage. When paying just cents per use, hospitals say they are more likely to move forward with patient tracking initiatives, according to Radianse. Patient compliance, which requires comfort and convenience, are also factors. The Radianse tag slips onto a patient-ID band and is smooth, lightweight and water-resistant.

With a rugged design and at half the size and a fraction of the cost of any other tag on the market, the Radianse active-RFID tags are also appropriate for many asset tracking applications. For example, the tag is optimal for tracking rental devices and very small but critical equipment, including sensors, thermometers and telemetry transmitters. Since rental equipment is sometimes returned before tags are removed, a low list price was a must to justify using real-time tracking to manage rental equipment utilization.

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Your Industry News: aSpanish Construction Companies FCC and ACCIONA Implement Employee Tracking Solution for Tunnel Workers' Safety, With Ekahau's T301BD Wireless LAN Staff Badge and Pager

Ekahau Inc., the worldwide leader in High Performance Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), today announced that together with its Spanish integration partner, BAUTEL Comunicaciones S.L., it has successfully implemented a solution to track workers in underground tunnel projects as a joint venture with the construction companies FCC (Fomento de Construcciones Y Contratas, S.A.) and ACCIONA S.A.. The implementation is based on the Ekahau Wi-Fi RTLS solution that provides real-time location information on the whereabouts of people and assets anywhere within a sites Wi-Fi network coverage area, using the existing enterprise Wi-Fi network as the infrastructure platform.

"This was the first deployment we have done using Ekahau's new T301BD badge," comments Mr Fernando Carnicero, Manager at Bautel Comunicaciones S.L.. "Ekahau is an ideal solution for this purpose, as it provides both the real-time location of the worker in case of an emergency, but also two-way communication with the workers in the tunnel, through the badge's text messaging capability. This has a very clear value to the construction company to increase the safety of its employees, as the construction site is operational 24/7 in 3 work shifts."

The current implementation is operational in the Vigo, Galicia, construction project, where FCC - ACCIONA is excavating 2 tunnels both 8 kilometers (5 miles) in length. The Wi-Fi network is installed in the tunnels using fiber optic cabling for data, voice and tracking purposes. As the workers enter the tunnel in the beginning of their shift, they check in their ID cards for an Ekahau wireless T301BD safety badge. In case of an emergency, management is immediately alerted with the last known location of each worker in the tunnel. The solution also enables workers to call for help by pulling the emergency switch on the badge itself. Once the switch is pulled, safety personnel and management receive the help request with the location information of the incident.

"We have seen an increasing demand for personnel safety applications in several industries." comments Mr Arttu Huhtiniemi, Ekahau VP Product Management. "This Spanish tunnel work site is an excellent example of the value Ekahau's technology can provide in safeguarding the day to day well being of individual workers in these types of environments. Unlike other similar active RFID solutions, Ekahau uses the existing Wi-Fi network as the infrastructure, so the customer only needs to deploy Ekahau software and tags, which makes the deployment very fast and cost effective. In addition, the system provides a full 2-way communication capability for workers through text messaging over Wi-Fi, which is not available from any other RTLS vendor."

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PRWEB: Newtown, PA (PRWEB) November 18, 2009 -- CenTrak, a leading provider of Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) for tracking equipment, patients and staff indoors, today announced the release of its new AlerTrak active RFID alarm for hospitals and healthcare facilities. The device notifies hospital personnel via an audible alert if specified people or assets leave or enter a restricted area, providing a valuable new tool for reducing infection spread, patient wandering, and inventory loss.

"A challenge for many hospitals is retention - keeping people and assets where they are supposed to be at all times," said Ari Naim, Ph.D., president and CEO of CenTrak. "AlerTrak actively helps healthcare organizations achieve this goal. For example, the device can be used to create local audible alerts if a quarantined patient leaves a designated area and hospital personnel can be notified immediately to correct the situation. This is especially important right now as the world faces a growing flu pandemic."

Originally developed for patient tag loss prevention, the IT-150 AlerTrak device triggers alerts when hospital-designated tags come within a pre-defined zone. It can be placed at egress and ingress points, or other critical locations. The device can be configured to generate quick audible alerts that can be leveraged by CenTrak solution provider partners.

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RFID Journal: Nov. 23, 2009—RFID Journal has announced that it is now accepting submissions for the 2010 RFID Journal Awards, which recognize companies that have distinguished themselves by their successful use of RFID technology. The winners will be announced at RFID Journal LIVE! 2010, the company's eighth annual conference and exhibition, which will be held on Apr. 14-16, at the Orange County Convention Center, in Orlando, Fla.

The deadline for all submissions is Jan. 29, 2010. The awards will be given in five categories:

Best RFID Implementation: This award will be given to an end-user company utilizing RFID to improve its manufacturing, supply chain or retail operations. The winner will be the company that best demonstrates how radio frequency identification delivers real value to shareholders.

Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service: This award will be given to an end-user company that has employed RFID technology to enhance an existing product or service. The winner will be the firm that best demonstrates how it uses RFID to provide additional value to its customers.

Most Innovative Use of RFID: This award will be given to the end-user company with the most novel use of RFID technology to solve a business problem, deliver a return on investment to shareholders or improve customer service.

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PRWEB: Bothell, WA (PRWEB) November 18, 2009 -- One of the many advantages of Sonitor's recently released High Definition Receiver technology is its capability of creating several unique location zones within the same room. It also offers a very simple and non-intrusive five minute per location installation, which includes any required location accuracy fine-tuning for multiple unique locations, such as patient-bed(s), hand sanitation station(s), computers etc., inside the same room.

Sonitor's unique and proven location accuracy performance enables many sub-room location specific RTLS applications beyond asset, patient and workflow visualization that are out of reach by other RTLS or RFID technologies. These applications drive additional ROI through the enabling of automatic alerts or reports related to events such as:
* Caregiver hand-washing compliance. Caregivers will be motivated to sanitize their hands before and after seeing a patient at the bed-side when they know that non-compliance with this rule always will be detected.
* Patient room or bed-side nurse call request cancellation.
* Patient fall-detection. If a patient falls e.g. near their bed or in the bathroom, nearby caregivers can automatically be alerted.
* Contagious disease contact tracking. Outbreak containment is made possible by identifying who or what have been in contact with a contaminated object and at what time.
* Caregiver computer log-on and log-off. The computer log-on process can be accelerated as it will automatically start by the presence an authorized caregiver. Automatic HIPPA compliance is ensured by automatically logging the caregiver off from the computer when he/she steps back from the computer (screen).
* Time-stamped and location specific recording of interaction events in the patient care process, such as patient/caregiver or patient/equipment.

"Location accuracy performance is the hallmark of Sonitor's RTLS technology leadership", said Terje "Terry" Aasen, Sonitor Technologies, Inc's CEO. "Combining the High Definition Receiver technology with plug & play installation simplicity, no risk of electromagnetic interference with other electronic equipment, and no LAN bandwidth burden, the Sonitor RTLS technology enables a truly exceptional and very cost-efficient RTLS experience ", Mr. Aasen continued.

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Marketwire: SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire - November 16, 2009) - Awarepoint (www.awarepoint.com) today announced its Real-time Awareness Solution (RTAS) (www.awarepoint.com/solutions.html) at the University of Toledo Medical Center (UTMC).

Awarepoint provides a ZigBee-based (www.zigbee.org) real-time awareness and condition sensing network, including real-time location (RTLS) applications and all hardware, software, installation and maintenance. When initially deployed, 1,000 medical equipment items were tagged, including IV pumps, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps, telemetry transmitters, continuous positive air pressure machines (CPAPs), and more. In October 2009, UTMC extended its relationship with Awarepoint to a new three year contract adding 1,500 additional asset tags (www.awarepoint.com/tags.html), including approximately 50 temperature monitoring tags.

Not long ago, a misplaced piece of medical equipment could be the catalyst for a major search. "In a hospital setting, sometimes it's a challenge to find certain mobile pieces of equipment," said Steve Hanenkrath, manager of technology support on Health Science Campus. "There were times my IT staff and staff from central services would lose a few hours of the workday just looking for IV pumps."

The Awarepoint Real-time Awareness Solution applies wireless technology to locate tagged hospital equipment enterprise-wide. Sensors that have been plugged into wall outlets throughout UTMC form a wireless network that pinpoints tagged equipment and transmits its location to an internet site. "The equipment tags talk to the wall sensors," Hanenkrath explained. "The sensors then talk to a router that transmits a message to an asset tracking management Web site."

The result is a system that can track a single piece of equipment to a room and to within three feet of its real-time location anywhere in the enterprise. Pat Nopper, UTMC manager of distribution services, uses the enterprise tracking system every day. "This allows me to make sure patients get the equipment they need as soon as possible," she said. "I can find things immediately from my desk. For instance, we have one piece of equipment we use for bariatric patients. Right away, we know what floor it's on and what room it's in from my desk, instead of searching on foot."

Moving beyond the initial "search and locate" phase of the system, UTMC has worked with Awarepoint's Client Services Team to apply business intelligence rules that provide proactive management of resources. Equipment, Nopper noted, no longer comes back to her department. Instead, it is re-distributed from its last location for more efficiency. The system also has the capability to alert hospital staff when a tagged item moves to a certain point beyond UTMC's perimeter.

Awarepoint's Real-time Awareness Solution aims to streamline clinical processes by having the right resources at staff's fingertips when needed, reduce patients' wait times, more efficiently manage preventive maintenance and recall notices on medical equipment and help UTMC save money.

"Each client is uniquely different but our management strategies are scalable to meet those differences," said Tammy Moore, Vice President of Client Services. Awarepoint account managers continually drive best practices to maximize the value of each client's enterprise awareness infrastructure. "Success is measured by ROI outcomes and through deployment strategies, usage goals, growth and overall client satisfaction."

"The real test of any company's value and customer service comes in having satisfied customers extend and broaden their relationship," said Awarepoint's CEO, Jason Howe. "We look forward to continuing this mutually beneficial relationship for many years."

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