The Healthcare and Enterprise Wireless Experience

ImmunoProfile Testimonial

I have been following this company for several years. Immunoprofile www.immunoprofile.com takes a complex subject of testing, distills it down into a simple and cost effective approach. Valid in all 50 States and Washington D.C.for ages 4+ While I have blogged about this before, here is a first hand testimonial.

InnerSpace Enhanced Indoor Localization

In 2025 I will be celebrating twenty five years in the Wi-Fi space. In this time, I have seen a lot happen, including many attempts to use Wi-Fi for location tracking. I have also seen how companies have used UWB, Zigbee and other technologies to attempt to improve the location tracking capability of their Wi-Fi infrastructure. A lot of folks are simply burned out because all these efforts failed, the cost of the deployment was too high, and no business logic was applied.

I was approached by InnerSpace about a month ago about what they are doing. They claimed to achieve high accuracy (<6’) location tracking using existing
Wi-Fi infrastructure, with no requirement for added density or additional sensors. Let me just say, I was highly skeptical! However, I have always approached technology with the idea that your mind should be like a parachute, it works best when open!

They have developed and recently patented a Wi-Fi-based locationing approach they call Predictive Hyperbolic Location Fingerprinting. (see the attached brief) Traditional triangulation methods using Wi-Fi struggle to locate people accurately due to multi-path interference caused by signal reflections on surfaces, non-line-of-sight conditions like walls and furniture that block signals and environmental variability caused by such things as changes to the layout or the movement of people affecting signal strength. Simply adding more access points is expensive and self-defeating as it just increases the noise floor. Adding sensors is another additive cost and not something the IT department wants to deal with.

However, if you are able to use the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure and existing Wi-Fi clients as your technical model, it can be a very cost effective and non-disruptive approach. It seems that InnerSpace is able to use the RSSI to dynamically update location fingerprints in a way that accounts for those changes in the environment. This is reflected in improved accuracy, stability in dynamic environments, and scalability. The team at InnerSpace proved this out this with a major enterprise Wi-Fi partner and have also replicated it in the field with their enterprise clients, achieving a 1.3m (~6’) level of accuracy 90% of the time.

I would also say the most important aspect is supplying business intelligence. A lot of RTLS systems have been deployed with no way to provide measured data that impacts business. The versatility of PHLF enables important business intelligence not achievable before without heavy investment in sensor infrastructures. Examples of this would be occupancy insights, utilization data, and how different group cohorts use space. This is important data that post COVID, can determine real estate costs, versus the mixed remote worker.

As I dig deeper into InnerSpace, I will create additional blogs, but for now the company's technology looks like there is finally a novel way of approaching location tracking that lowers cost, actually works, and provides measurable data to improve the business experience.

Stay tuned.

Download InnerSpace - Enhancing Indoor Localization with Predictive Hyperbolic Location Fingerprinting - Whitepaper v0324

The TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of an Enterprise Mobility Solution

I have always looked at the use of a consumer grade solution versus an enterprise grade solution to solve the business requirements over my decades experience in the wirelesss and mobility space. As stated initially in part of my last blog there has an attempt to force attractive consumer solutions into the enterprise place over the years. This has not gone well.

The enterprise mobility market has moved forward. From a TCO standpoint what should we look? Understand; the initial price does not include the TCO.

These are some areas to consider.

OS support: Will the mobile device be supported through Android 18? This is important as it ensures all the proper OS and security updates will be there years ahead. It shows a commitment by the company.

Hardware: Can the company support the mobile devices from normal wear and tear to include accidental damage?

Mobility Support: Is there an enterprise application suite available that will allow the remote configuration, development, and optimization of applications?

Device Flexibility: Does the mobile enterprise device allow the use as low power work desktop workstation enabling one device to do it all with full connectivity to all peripherals?
This drives down the cost of power at 50% of a standard desktop computer. It also drives down the cost of need to purchase and manage desktop computers.

Software and Hardware Licenses: How often do I have to renew these and at what cost?

These are just of the few business value propositions, versus the technical that I have learned while evaluating the Memor 30-35 from DataLogic.

Evaluation of the Datalogic Memor 30-35 Mobile Computing Family

I have been around mobile computing for twenty-five years starting with my days at Symbol Technologies. At that time we were providing applications and wireless connectivity on Windows CE and PalmOS devices. The platforms were pretty revolutionary for the time as they included a bar code scanner in the nose and 802.11b enabled and the first ruggged devices for the enterprise.

Fast forward to 2024 and the overall industry has dramatically changed. The advent of the smart phone changed everything. However, the tenets of how a device needs to work in the enterprise have not changed. The devices need really good radios to work on an enterprise network with for effective roaming, proper security, be rugged and reliable, while now providing effective scanning, and finally a low TCO. In the past fifteen years companies have tried push the use of “personal” devices on the enterprise in a grand experiment that has failed miserably.
A large part of the failure lay into the use of sub-par radios that could not work on a enterprise environment, but the bigger issue is that they were not designed with features needed in the enterprise.

Who is DataLogic? What is their history and heritage? Until most recently I never heard of this company ? This public Italian company made history over fifty years ago by producing the first commercial bar code scan, and the infamous good-reed “beep” They are approximately 2,900 employees with world-wide manufacturing and distribution.

What is needed for now mobile computing design criteria for the years ahead? This boils down into several major areas, wireless communications, electrical, environmental, physical characteristics, reading performance, sensors, interfaces, audio, safety and regulatory, the software, the system, and finally the warranty . After reading the technical specification data sheet of the Memor 35, I am blown away.! Currently, I have one of these devices in my office and I am putting it through the paces of testing. The datasheet is attached for review and well as the flyer for this product

The radio technologies and why this is important?
The Memor 30-35 family incorporates every available radio technology and certifications that you can imagine and then some. It even has GPS. One nice feature is the application Wi-Fi Guard. I have never seen this on a mobile device. This application allows for ping testing to show packet round trip time as well as the RSSI to the connected SSID. Very helpful to help trouble shoot connectivity on the WLAN.

My initial summation and value proposition.
The Memor 30-35 family by DataLogic meets and exceeds all the enterprise requirements for mobile computing today. I see nothing in the mobile computing space that even comes close. It has a total cost of ownership that cannot be beat. As I get in the detail of my evaluation, further blogs will go into the nitty gritty of each feature set and why this is important. Overall job well done by engineering and knowing the marketing requirements.

Download Flyer-Memor30-35-EN

Download Memor 30-35 Family ~ English

Why is the AI Boom sending HDD stocks through the roof?

Several years ago I was in the midst of looking at developing a smart card for the storage of vital medical information. I ran across on the internet a gentlemen named Finis Conner who had started a company call Blustor. Little did I know about his background, but did find out while meeting in Chicago. An eye opener! I provided some consulting work and we have remained friends over the years.

www.finisconner.com

Fast forward.

This is a most excellent article authored by Finis that details how the next revolution of AI will perhaps follow Moore's law and will define the need for increased storage requirements.

A comparative model is provided against the EV space.

In the meantime, we will have to look at the capacity of the storage space to handle the predictive algorithms of which AI for all vertical business models will drive this increased storage requirement in my view.

Great job Finis on a good market analysis of your life experience in the HD space and how this compares to the next evolution of AI.

Download Why Is the AI Boom Sending HDD Stocks Through the Roof?

Testing Services for 802.1x Authentication for Major Medical Device Company

Over the past several months Integra Systgems, Inc., has worked with GlobalLogic to set up a test environment and lab for 802.1x authentication. We have worked with several cross functional team members spanning several states and countries.
Who is GlobalLogic?

◦ Founded in 2000
◦ Acquired by Hitachi Ltd. in 2021
◦ 29,600+ employees in 18 countries
◦ 500+ active clients
◦ 70+ private label customer labs
◦ 47 engineering centers
◦ 8 design studios
◦ 12 sales offices
350+ UX/UI designers & developers through Method, our experience design arm

SmartCardia Receives FDA Approval Receives FDA Clearance

Over the past several years Integra Systems, Inc. has provided consulting expertise to SmartCardia.

www.smartcardia.com
https://www.smartcardia.com/knowledge/news/smartcardia-receives-fda-clearance-for-its-14-day-7-lead-ecg-real-time-patch-and-cloud-platform/

We also have assembled a team of sub-contractors and manufactures to provide all testing and the documentation required for a FDA submittal. This unique team has provided the expertise that has allowed SmartCardia to obtain FDA clearance this year.

A Healthcare Private Wireless Network - CBRS Frequency

For over thirty plus years I have been involved in the wireless space from the embedded, design, and deployment side. In 1999 802.11b got approved and the Wi-Fi Alliance was then formed in 2000. With interoperability assured among vendors the Wi-Fi revolution was off to the races. One vertical market that really benefited was healthcare. Early on around 2001, computers on wheels started to emerge as well the BCMA application driving wireless enabled infusion pumps. Fast forward to 2023. You now have the healthcare wireless ecosystem under a wide variety of usage models and devices not like any other vertical market that uses Wi-Fi. This wireless ecosystem often encompasses many of computers on wheels, hundreds of wireless enabled infusion pumps, now instead of WMTS, Wi-Fi based telemetry and patient monitoring, wireless enabled voice over IP, wireless automation delivery robots, wireless medication delivery units, wireless EEG, and more. In discussions most recently we have learned that Wi-Fi as we know in now in some large healthcare systems is failing. While the RF and initial network design may have been correct there is a wide numbers of reasons while it may not holding up. It simply may be a capacity issue and the variety of applications added on year after year with different usage requirements. In other words, things are at a tipping point. Adding more access points will not solve the situation; as this will only compound it. It is my opinion that Wi-Fi as we know it in the healthcare enterprise has reached potentially it’s capacity in large systems. Some CIO(s) as now are considering to de-couple voice and data away from the Wi-Fi enabled medical network and implement their own private network. This is not the same as a DAS but a private independent network that they can manage. They are now considering to build a second network adjacent to WiFi technically called a Private Wireless Network based on the CBRS frequency spectrum. Essentially this new design is moving as much clinical and operational voice and data away from the Wi-Fi enabled medical network to their own private cellular network. This is different from a DAS in that the hospital completely operates the private cellular network without any traffic leaving their network. The use cases for this in a hospital are endless and only just now being explored. The benefits include but are not limited to: 1. Real mobility inside and between buildings 2. Secure Network Access 3. High fidelity voice 4. Easy implementation of IoT 5. Public Cellular Network capability 6. Scalability to 5G. It seems to be right time for healthcare to consider their own private network that they own and can manage. The market is evolving in 2023

Immunoprofile - A Novel and New Way of "At Home Testing"

Most recently I have used the at home test model from www.immunoprofile.com. It provided me a unique and complete personal profile of my overall status of Diphtheria, H. Influenza B, Hepatitus A&B, Measles, Mumps, Pertussi, Poli, Tetanus, Chicken Pox, and Rubella. It is easy to use, saves costs versus single lab tests, and now presents to me a complete model to control my own overall health. It is HAS and FSA eligible and tests are valid in all fifty states.

Nordic Semi Wireless Quarter Issue 4 2022

As always, a jam packed article of the advances in the wireless domain.

Download WQ_Issue_4_2022