- Broadband Supports Healthcare IoT Remote Connectivity, Volume
“The line of UWB antennas are designed to help our customers capitalize on this need for real-time precision localization, with the quality, reliability and flexibility,” he continued.
UWB is a low-power digital wireless technology that increases location precision and range. It can transmit large workloads over short distances and reduces costs because it has longer battery life for sensors and tags.
Inefficient antennas waste energy – and as a result money – because the device has to work harder to establish and maintain connectivity, burning more power.
The range of antennas feature flexible and rigid printed circuit board (PCB) embedded UWB antennas along with UWB embedded chip antennas. The antennas can be securely attached to non-metal surfaces and are designed to be mounted directly into a PCB.
The antennas use the DecaWave DW1000 chip and are also compatible with other available UWB sensor modules.
“Antennas play a key role in our customers’ applications,” DecaWave CEO and Co-Founder Ciaran Connell said in a statement. “Performance is a given for customers, but the capability to adapt to the constraints of the applications—size, shape, electronics environment—is equally important as end products get smaller and smaller.”
Antennas are a crucial part of health IT infrastructure as they allow medical devices to connect to cellular networks, which gives organizations much more bandwidth to work with.
Cellular is a more robust environment, Taoglas Co-Founder and Co-CEO Dermot O’Shea told HITInfrastructure.com in a previous interview.
“It’s never a problem if too many people are using cellular to log onto the network like it is with WiFi. That’s often the problem in a hospital, there’s too many people using the network at the same time and it slows down the network, “said O’Shea.
“Most organizations use cellular because it’s the only reliable way to really communicate with the devices,” he continued. “If you’re only using WiFi then you’re relying on the user, patient or caregiver to do all the WiFi connectivity in terms of selecting the WiFi network and putting in the password.”
Antennas are the link to network connectivity because they convert electrical signals into radio waves, which is why it’s critical for connected medical devices to have efficient antennas. A good antenna makes all the difference, especially when it comes to fringe areas or areas with bad signals. This is vital to mHealth and telehealth programs that provide remote care in rural areas.
Antennas that can be easily attached and moved also benefit healthcare organizations. Medical devices should have the antenna included in the design process, but with legacy devices it’s not possible. A device that needs an upgraded antenna can benefit from one that is easy to attach, and easy to move if it’s required.
Medical devices, such as defibrillators have many high-powered components to them, which makes retroactive antenna placement difficult. These mechanisms create a lot of radio frequency noise that cannot be modified because they are essential to the device. As a result, the antenna needs to work around all the other elements of the device.
Healthcare organizations need to consider their devices and how antennas fit into those devices. Low-powered antennas can save organizations money and cellular connectivity provides a more reliable connection.Cellular Antennas Assist Asset Tracking, Healthcare Monitoring
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