There are alot of RFID skeptics around these days. A technology that once held so much promise, radio frequency identification really hasn’t lived up to the initial hype. But there is still a place for it, especially in enterprise use cases.
Hence, the announcement of Centrak’s new IT-740 Staff Badge. The RFID badge, geared toward hospital use is the “world’s thinnest hybrid active RFID tag” at only 3 millimeters thin. Built so that employees can have a typical identification badge overlaid on top, the IT-740 includes three programmable buttons, system controlled LED, hole mounts for portrait or landscape orientation, water resistance, and a long battery life.
CenTrak’s InTouchCare RTLS differs from legacy technologies in its combined use of a patented new generation of Infrared (Gen2IR) and RFID. A monitor transmits the unique room number using Gen2IR which is received by any tag in that room. The tag communicates the room number and its own unique ID via RF to the InTouchCare Location Server through an antenna using a hospital’s existing wired or Wi-Fi network, where it can be accessed in real-time by hospital personnel. Like light, Gen2IR will not pass through walls and it does not suffer from traditional IR line-of-sight limitations. Therefore, when a tag reads a room number, there are no errors. This is certainty-based RTLS. Monitors are positioned where location data is needed including, rooms, hallways, even bays, and are battery powered (over five years battery life) so installation is quick and easy. Estimated location based on RF triangulation can be used as a secondary means of RTLS in areas where there is no need for room or sub-room level location data. The Location Server can be integrated with Asset Management, Work Flow, Bed Management, and many other asset and people applications.
