N.C. Hospital Looks to RFID Technology to Improve Asset Visibility
Southeastern Regional Medical Center (SRMC) in Lumberton, N.C., has contracted RadarFind to install an asset-tracking system that uses active RFID tags and interrogators operating in the 902 to 928 MHz range. The tags communicate with readers that plug into standard AC outlets and have a design that keeps both outlet sockets
available for use by other devices. The hospital
hopes the system can help it reduce its spending.
David Sumner, SRMC's VP of strategic management
and support services, says the hospital currently
relies on employees taking periodic manual
inventory of important devices such as wheelchairs
and infusion pumps. But that system takes too much
time and produces erroneous data, he says, since
many assets can not be easily located and, thus,
might not be counted. As a result, superfluous
replacement equipment might be ordered.
RadarFind's RFID readers have a pass-through
design that keeps an outlet's sockets available
for use by other devices.
In 2006, Wayne Memorial Hospital, a 316-bed
facility in Goldsboro, N.C., deployed RadarFind's
system and was able to save more than $300,000 in
equipment expenses within a year of installation
RadarFind's active ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID
transponders use multiple-input, multiple-output
(MIMO) communication. MIMO is a wireless communication technique utilizing multiple analog
signal paths among multiple antennas to transmit
and receive data. The interrogators' range can be
set from 3 to 150 feet. Once they receive tag
data, the readers pass that information up to
devices that RadarFind calls collectors. Typically, one collector is installed on each
floor of a facility.
www.rfidjournal.com
631-249-4960
Wireless Design & Development
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