How are the capabilities developing

The newer technologies associated with RTLS are starting to have an effect on mainstream RTLS solutions within healthcare. Over the next 1 to 2 years they are likely to become a consideration for trusts looking for comprehensive or point solutions within their organisations.

New RTLS technologies are beginning to have use cases identified in healthcare, particularly those from the manufacturing sector where RTLS is used to control and locate autonomous devices. These technologies are generally to be used in conjunction with existing Wi-Fi or BLE solutions and the major Wi-Fi vendors maintain partnerships with other RTLS vendors, such as those mentioned in this section. 

These are in two main areas. Technologies within mobile devices that can be applied to wayfinding applications and new detection technologies for asset tags which use new radio spectrum or new methodologies. In both cases, though these technologies can stand on their own, for healthcare applications they have the capability to be integrated with Wi-Fi or BLE solutions to improve location accuracy. Technologies already explored such as RFID can also be used as a hybrid technology.

These technologies are:

• Ultra-Wide Band
• geomagnetic or barometric
• computer vision
• ultrasound

This is a short-range wireless technology that utilises a frequency band of 3.1 – 10.6 GHz using a wide spectrum in very short pulses of data. The power used is very low but is interference resistant due to using such a wide spectrum. This means it can co-exist with Wi-Fi and BLE solutions without causing interference.

The technology currently has wide use in manufacturing for managing spaces where large machinery and moving parts are present. An RTLS solution can then support UWB as one of the positioning metrics for assets or for wayfinding. UWB radios have started to appear in mobile phones and the technology is expected to be used for a wide range of applications in the future. It is likely that RTLS will increasingly use UWB as a supplementary radio technology.

These technologies, detecting air pressure and the Earth’s magnetic field are present in modern mobile devices and can aid wayfinding app devices to position themselves and detect the motion of the device on the map due to measured changes. This information alone would not support an RTLS solution but does help to enhance an applications measurement using BLE, Wi-Fi or GPS so, their positioning calculations can be made more accurate by using the extra positioning data. For example barometric information can be used to detect a change in floor levels inside a building.

This technology covers the use of images and cameras to do two things.

1. For asset tracking, barcodes on tags can be scanned from afar. This will provide an alternative to passive RFID as no power is needed and mobile device cameras or CCTV installations can act as distance readers.

2. A device’s camera can be used to deliver an augmented reality experience on a wayfinding app by using the back camera of a phone showing the image on the screen with points of interest and/or path directions superimposed by the app. This can vastly improve the user experience of a wayfinding app.   

Ultrasound pulses emitted by exciter units can be sent out to 'excite' an ultrasound tag to respond in a similar way to RFID. Again, this can be a complementary technology in the future alongside Wi-Fi and BLE to locate assets. In practice, ultrasound exciters can transmit sound to a room to then prompt any tag there to report its position through its Wi-Fi connection. This is very useful as a fixed asset or inventory check application. Also, exciters could be installed at geofencing limits to report suspicious movement of assets.

Within asset tracking solutions are essential 'big data' solutions giving location information for assets. The use of AI reasoning is starting to be applied to sourcing asset information and even spotting issues with assets. For example, complex questions can be asked of AI to list all the assets that are in a particular location, that are of 3 certain types, and which is the nearest. 

Also, suspicious movements or loss of tracking can lead AI to trigger an alert based on a complex combinations of factors. This will be particularly useful in workflow management as well.