Sep 10, 2015The following are news announcements made during the past week by the following organizations:
Teslonix;
Precision Dynamic Corp.;
Harland Simon;
Haldor Advanced Technologies; and
DFI Technologies.
Teslonix Launches SmartRFpower Evaluation Kit for Developing Advanced IoT, RFID Systems
Teslonix has launched its SmartRFpower development platform, an evaluation kit that developers can use to test and develop Teslonix's radio frequency (RF) technology in their Internet of Things (IoT) and RFID systems and applications. SmartRFpower capabilities include locating and tracking devices in real time, wirelessly energizing and recharging batteries, and establishing communication channels to move data in and out of electronic devices. SmartRFpower technology can be integrated into new or existing products to create a value-added solution that can locate, track and manage large deployments of wireless sensors, RFID tags and low-power electronic devices. The technology scales to cover varying venue sizes, according to the company, and is well suited to applications in retail, health care, manufacturing and warehousing.
The SmartRFPower platform is designed to advance and enhance RFID readers, according to John Lebeau, Teslonix's director of business development. "Adding long-range wireless power transfer, 3-D localization, real-time tracking and communication links to existing reader technologies allows system designers to do more in commercial or industrial spaces without having to integrate multiple systems. Also, the range of the coverage area can be increased by adding more access points," Lebeau says. "With our patented 'Energy Enhancement,' we can deliver more power over longer distances compared to other RF energy solutions. This allows us to provide more power to a tag so it can deliver data further. We have done testing on some RFID tags and extended the range by a factor of three."
The evaluation kit includes three IoT access points with power supplies and two wireless power receivers. The access points operate at 915 MHz, offer a read range of up to 50 meters (164 feet), are capable of reading 250 tags per second and have a tracking speed up to 10 meters (33 feet) per second, with predictive motion and up to 2 meters (6.6 feet) per second with random motion. The access points communicate via Wi-Fi 802.1 B/G/N technology and also have two Bluetooth channels.
"We have packed all the possible functions into the kit for potential developers to test out and determine which features they would like to integrate into their own solution," Lebeau states.
Teslonix is offering the evaluation kit to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), as well as system designers and integrators, and is also seeking potential business partners to discuss and develop the possibilities. According to Lebeau, a product developed with SmartRFpower could be ready for delivery to end users in six to 12 months with the right development partner.
Kalahari Resort in the Poconos Implements PDC's RFID SmartBand System
Precision Dynamics Corp. (PDC) has announced that Kalahari Resorts & Conventions, in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, has implemented the PDC SmartBand RFID Wristband System to provide its guests with electronic access control, keyless hotel room entry and cashless purchasing. Each SmartBand has an embedded 13.56 MHz passive RFID tag. The unique ID encoded to each guest's wristband tag is matched to that visitor's folio and works with RFID readers incorporated in hotel door locks, turnstiles and point-of-sale stations.
When a hotel guest checks in, he or she is provided with a SmartBand wristband. Day guests are also able to purchase water park admission online, print out their receipt or display it on their smartphone at the ticketing booth, and receive a SmartBand to gain park access. The SmartBand is waterproof and, unlike magnetic strip key cards, is not subject to de-magnetization, PDC reports.
"Unlike other RFID wristband providers, PDC provides a consultative approach and managed our entire integration process from discovery to execution," said Daylene Stroebe, Kalahari Resorts & Conventions' project manager, in a prepared statement. "Now that our guests are able to enter our park and complete purchases with a simple wave of the wrist, transactions are quicker and time spent waiting in line is reduced."
Other waterparks are also using the PDC solution. Camelback Resort's lodge and Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark, in the Pocono Mountains, are using the SmartBand RFID Wristband System for access control, cashless purchasing and locker rentals (see RFID News Roundup: Camelback Resort's Lodge and Aquatopia Waterpark Adopt PDC's RFID Wristband System). SmartBand wristbands can be customized and feature full-color printing capabilities to support company branding guidelines, graphics and text. The wristbands are available in a variety of materials, including plastic, silicone and woven fabric, and are offered with one-time closures for single-day use applications or re-wearable styles for use as season passes.
East Kent Hospitals Tracks 3,000 Medical Devices Via Harland Simon's RTLS
Harland Simon has announced that the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, one of England's largest hospital trusts, is using its RFID Discovery real-time location system (RTLS) to automatically monitor the locations of 3,000 mobile medical devices across three sites.
The NHS trust chose the Harland Simon RTLS after several months of investigation and following detailed discussions with other medical centers that have introduced RFID solutions. At the three hospitals, the medical devices were fitted with active 2.4 GHz RFID tags, which use a proprietary air-interface protocol to send regular messages to a network of fixed readers placed at various locations throughout the facilities. In addition, mobile readers are also being used by the clinical engineering team to audit wards in a fraction of the time this task previously took to complete. The RFID Discovery solution consists of the proprietary readers, as well as Discovery software. RFID Discovery has been fully integrated with East Kent's F2 Asset Management System from Infohealth, according to Harland Simon. This means location data for medical devices is accessible directly via the F2 asset database.
According to Andy Barrow, electronics and biomedical engineering (EBME) manager at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, tracking the locations of mobile medical devices with RFID technology enables the staff to maximize utilization levels and, therefore, reduce the number of new devices required, as well as the amount of time technicians and nurses spend searching for equipment. Barrow is responsible for managing medical devices at the three sites: William Harvey, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and Kent and Canterbury hospitals.
Harland Simon's RFID system is also being deployed at The Heart of England NHS Trust's three hospitals to locate and manage standard and specialized beds, as well as hoists used to lift patients onto and off of those beds (see U.K. Hospital Pilots RFID for Bed and Hoist Tracking).
Haldor Announces Standalone RFID-enabled Sponge-Management System for Hospitals
Haldor Advanced Technologies, a provider of RFID-enabled surgical instrument tracking solutions, has announced a standalone RFID system for monitoring surgical sponges fitted with RFID tags used in operating rooms. Like Haldor's ORLocate solution, the sponge-management system employs Haldor's passive RFID tags and readers that operate in the high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz band and comply with the ISO 15693 RFID standard.
Until now, Haldor offered a bundled solution for tracking sponges and surgical instruments. The new sponge-management system is standalone and modular in design, so customers can choose the components that work for them. For example, to detect sponges that may be left behind inside a patient's cavity, a customer would need only use Haldor's tablet, Reader-box and Locator handheld device. To conduct counting, the customer can implement the tablet, Reader-box and HoveRead handheld reader.
The new Locator features an integrated antenna that is half the size of and 80 percent lighter than what is offered in the bundled solution, yet provides the same detection capabilities, according to Ram Alt, Haldor's VP of products. The recently announced HoveRead handheld RFID reader features an intuitive LED, Haldor reports, and allows a scrub or circulating nurse to count instruments and sponges multiple times during intraoperative procedures. The HoveRead can be used to register RFID-tagged sponges within the sterile zone, the company explains, and to count used sponges placed into nylon bags or dedicated plastic bins. A nurse can then count every soiled sponge, as well as all unused ones, in mere seconds in order to provide 100 percent assurance that no sponges are left behind. It also can be used to register the arrival of sets and instruments.
The hospital's OR staff can position the tablet anywhere within the operating room, as it communicates with the Reader-box and Haldor's readers via an autonomous dedicated wireless network provided by the system. The company also offers an optional patent-pending expansion product that provides centralized situation-awareness monitoring and management of sponges, so hospitals can more easily oversee and handle all sponges across a single hospital's entire suite of operating rooms in real time.
The new ORLocate sponge system can be easily and quickly installed onsite, according to Haldor. It can be mounted on a desk or a wall, and is offered with a variety of accessories, such as a dedicated roll stand. The solution can also be integrated with the ORLocate View server to provide additional reporting and analytic capabilities.
DFI Technologies Intros New NFC-enabled Rugged Tablet for Industrial Automation
DFI Technologies, a provider of embedded products for industrial applications, has unveiled its new ART101 rugged tablet, an industrial Android-powered 10.1-inch tablet that comes equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC) and bar-code reader options. The tablet offers a full touch-centric experience like any personal tablet, according to the company, and features a rugged design and components that protect the device from harsh environments in manufacturing and warehousing.
ART101's wireless communication, including 3G, 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0, ensures real-time data transmission in the field or within four walls, according to DFI Technologies. It runs on the Android 4.2 operating system, features a multi-touch display, has an IP 65 rating and is resistant to 1-meter (3.3-foot) drops onto concrete, the company adds.
