Evaluation of RFID and Wi-Fi technologies for RTLS applications in healthcare centers

Author

Bing Wang ; Toobaei, Mehdi ; Danskin, Rodney ; Ngarmnil, Thanaporn ; Pham, Larry ; Pham, Hieu

Author_Institution

Dept. of Eng. & Technol. Manage., Portland State Univ., Portland, OR, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

July 28 2013-Aug. 1 2013

Firstpage

2690

Lastpage

2703

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis about Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) technologies for the Real-time Location System (RTLS) applications in healthcare centers/hospitals. Focus is on the 5 criteria and 9 sub criteria for choosing a RTLS and the research about the features of RFID and Wi-Fi technologies is done. Firstly, these criteria are used for the evaluation purpose based on literature review; secondly, the RFID and Wi-Fi technologies are compared by listing out the facts, pros and cons, according to the problems found out during the investigation about the technologies and the result of interviews with the IT experts in healthcare centers/hospitals, nurses, vendors and engineers of RTLS. Finally, an information retrieval guideline for the RTLS solution selection is given out and demonstrated with RFID and Wi-Fi technologies.

Keywords

health care; hospitals; information retrieval; radiofrequency identification; real-time systems; wireless LAN; IT experts; RFID technology; RTLS applications; RTLS solution selection; Wi-Fi technology; comparative analysis; engineers; evaluation purpose; healthcare centers; hospitals; information retrieval guideline; literature review; nurses; radio frequency identification; real-time location system application; vendors; wireless fidelity technology; Accuracy; Active RFID tags; Hospitals; IEEE 802.11 Standards; Real-time systems;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Technology Management in the IT-Driven Services (PICMET), 2013 Proceedings of PICMET '13:

Conference_Location

San Jose, CA

Type

conf

Filename

6641708