Issue #193 | May 28, 2009 | by Andy Kowl

What we see time and time again is that the label "RFID" is a rallying cry for the type of IT and operations executive who is smart and ahead of the curve.

Here on RFID Street we cover all sorts of auto-ID and sensor technologies: GPS, Wi-Fi, mesh networks, low power, ZigBee and others. More and more implementations combine many of these elements, especially sensors mixed with RFID – "RFID cocktails."

The rest of "the RFID media" likewise cover related technologies. But maybe the fact there is an RFID media at all is why it has become a gathering point. Other emerging technologies, such as those I just mentioned, really have no equivalent.

There are barely one or two commercial (electronic) publications among that group mentioned. Throw in nano, MEMS, biometrics, energy harvesting and some others, and mostly you will find scholarly journals. RFID, as a topic, with a surfeit of commercial e-media, has a natural gravitational pull on these overlapping niches.

[Lest I mention our new site which covers the selling of all these emerging technologies: IT Sales Network.]

The RFID community has declared itself no longer "flavor of the week." There is general agreement that "the story is not about RFID."

Mixing new technologies
Not far from us here in Maryland, we have gotten to know a company called AiRISTA. They are RFID solution providers who pride themselves on fusing whichever information technologies are required for success through a Business Rules Engine (BRE) with an extensive list of parameters to enable automation of processes.

Their technology-agnostic approach seamlessly integrates different technologies while offering the scalability needed to keep evolving. I have become enamored with one of their solutions, both because it makes great use of a rainbow of emerging technologies and because it gives a glimpse of the best this mix can offer.

Frank Shirmo, AiRISTA COO, keeps reminding me most of what they do is more related to manufacturing, industrial and institutional environments. But their First Responder Technology Solution is special and it is something more people should know about.

Instant asset and personnel mapping when it counts most
Imagine a firetruck pulls up at a fire or other devastating emergency. As the first responder team arrives on the scene, they can set up an instant track and trace solution, in an ad-hoc manner, right at the site of the incident. Using geo-location and sensory devices in the equipment and apparel of the emergency personnel, efficiencies and safety only dreamed of before can be realized.

The opening scene in the movie Backdraft has a fireman, played by Kurt Russell, lying injured in the recesses of a large, burning building about to crumble down on him; but nobody knows where he is. With a set up like this system, that would not happen. It combines GPS, a specialized Inertial Measurement Unit, long range RTLS, and an altimeter enabling indoor use and enhanced location accuracy to report back to the BRE.

Sensors provide critical, real-time data including body temperature, ambient temperature, and man down status. All information is communicated via a self organizing wireless mesh network with data concurrently relayed to a command post.

The result is a schematic of this chaotic scene. Streaming video, movement history, and sonar sounding are used to gather real time data to generate a “map” of the First Responder’s environment without the need for existing building floor plans.

Mixed signals in hospital Real time Location Systems
You probably know about the improved efficiencies and money- and life-saving successes hospitals around the world have seen by tracking assets and people. Not only can RFID take only part of the credit, the same is true for Wi-Fi – which of course at its core is RFID, too – with unique ID's carried over RF.

In addition to Wi-Fi, ultrasound, infrared and every flavor of RFID from UHF to HF, active, passive and UWB, ZigBee systems are showing huge success, exemplified by San Diego, California-based Awarepoint. Applications such as par level management, exit alerts, tray tracking and patient flow, which demand a whole hospital system with both room and designated area accuracy, is what Awarepoint's ZigBee solution provides clients like those below.

Thornton Hospital reduced their monthly infusion pump rental fees by 75% after just three months, ultimately saving $90,000 annually from reduced pump rentals alone. In a single stroke, UCSF Medical Center cancelled a planned purchase of transport monitors and intubation tools, saving $248,000. The amount of time their medical center staff spent searching for equipment dropped by 73%, maximizing staff time for patient care.

“We implemented exit alerts three weeks ago," said a manager of Tri-City Medical Center, in the San Diego area. "Already we saved two of our wound vacs from accidentally going with patients to extended care facilitates. This saved us nearly $50,000—we would have never gotten those back, not ever!”

So next time you hear "RFID," consider that a starting point.