Networking News

Low-Power Healthcare IoT Devices Support Asset Tracking

Healthcare IoT device adoption is growing and organizations need tools to ensure they're getting the most out of their mobile tools.

healthcare IoT devices

Source: Thinkstock

By Elizabeth O'Dowd

- Healthcare IoT devices are becoming more common as organizations seek to collect more information from tools and patients. However, entities can be challenged when it comes to making sure IoT devices are connecting correctly and that device battery life is extended to its fullest capacity.

Vendors are currently developing tools to increase connection reliability for IoT devices and low-power devices. In healthcare, these devices are used for patient monitoring and asset tracking.

Sierra Wireless released its Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) cellular modules. These are small, low-power, multi-mode modules that will help organizations with asset tracking and connected devices.

The LPWA modules - AirPrime HL78 - feature Altair Semiconductor’s integrated chipset and extend battery life for the devices by improving wake and sleep mode responsiveness. The modules also include ultra-low sleep mode.

The chip set also includes GNSS tracking capabilities and security features. Sierra also integrated the SIM and the cloud.

The solution allows devices to switch between commercially deployed LTE-M or NB-IoT frequency band. This flexibility gives organizations the choice of where to deploy their low-bandwidth applications.

“More than 690 million LTE-M and NB-IoT connected devices are expected by 2022, and the market needs a low-power, compact embedded module to connect their industrial, smart city, smart home and simpler static sensor applications,” ABI Research Managing Director and Vice President Dan Shey said in a statement.

Low-power and low-frequency IoT devices are becoming more popular as healthcare organizations leverage them to automate tasks and processes.

Late last year, Bluetooth announced its support of Bluetooth mesh networking. The tool supports large-scale IoT deployments and building automation.

Bluetooth mesh networking uses the low-power radio technology to connect enabled devices to the network. It creates large-scale device networks using a managed flood approach for transmitting messages that is simple, reliable, and suited for low-power wireless mesh networks handling large amounts of diverse traffic.

These low-power IoT devices are especially useful for asset tracking. Asset tracking can potentially save money and help clinicians locate the items they need quickly, which can also save a patient’s life in an emergency situation.

A Mobil Experts report released last year stated that advancement in low-power, long-range communication technology has also caused an uptick in the market. The report stated that improvements to Bluetooth and UWB have increased the effectiveness and range of location services.

"Basic tracking technologies, like bar codes and RFID, are used heavily in retail and logistics areas today,” Mobile Experts Principal Analyst Joe Madden said in a statement. “Around 9.6 billion RFID tags were used in 2016 despite the limitations in range and lack of real-time tracking capability. This marks an important baseline in Asset Tracking because low-cost RFID or bar-code tracking represent indirect competition for investment in enterprise market.”

Organizations can lose millions of dollars every year on high value assets that are misplaced or stolen. In healthcare, things like IV pumps and defibrillators can be misplaced. This can waste a lot of staff time because they are looking for these items instead of attending patients.

The importance of device monitoring has increased significantly as the healthcare industry continues to experience a critical digital evolution impacting patients and care. As these devices are introduced to health IT infrastructure, organizations are charged with tracking them and ensuring that patient data is not at risk if a device becomes compromised.

Implementing tools that will help device batteries last longer and smartly use network connections are critical as organizations integrate more IoT devices into their network. These tools allow organizations to organize their networks better and get the most out of their connected devices.