Understanding Wireless Communications and Inventory Tracking Systems
By Staff Reporters
According to inventory tracking system expert David J. Piasecki, the two wireless technologies currently competing to provide hospitals with better systems for managing equipment inventories are: wireless-fidelity (WiFi) and active RFID. WiFi is the name of the popular wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet connections. The WiFi Alliance is the non-profit organization that owns WiFi (registered trademark) and the term specifically defines WiFi as any “wireless local area network products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’s 802.11 standards.” Yet, less than 5 percent of North American healthcare facilities are equipped with these real-time locating systems, so the market is currently up for grabs.
Wi-Fi Advantages/ Disadvantages
The advantage of WiFi-based real time locating systems (RTLSs) is that most hospitals already have WiFi networks in place, and many medical devices are equipped with WiFi functionality. Moreover, WiFi vendors such as Aeroscout, Ekahau, and PanGo market their products based on a standards-based non-proprietary functionality. And, development of the so-called “super Wi-Fi” is now on the horizon. The downside of WiFi systems is that hospitals will need to install additional access points to bring the needed functionality to existing networks.
RFID Advantages/ Disadvantages
On the other hand, RFID vendors such as RF Code and Radianse point to the wide application of RFID for asset tracking, and to the technology’s longevity in the industry. Still, RFID tags remain suspect because their ability to efficiently track DME may not be private or secure. Increasingly, WiFi seems more ubiquitous than RFID.
Assessment
Finally, of the three WiFi major vendors, only Ekahau makes a point of stressing that its inventory system is based only on WiFi and not RFID, so the issue isn’t clear cut. Perhaps it will take both technologies to deploy for hospitals.
Conclusion
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