UWB Excels where other RTLSs fail - True real-time tracking

Time Domain Launches PLUS™ Ultra Wideband Real-Time Location System

New Product Line Brings 12”-36” Location Accuracy to Healthcare and other Verticals

Dallas, Texas – December 5, 2007 – A real-time location system (RTLS) that can read thousands of small, active RFID tags per second through multiple walls with a precision of 12-36 inches, was launched here today at The Active RFID & RTLS Summit by Time Domain Corporation of Huntsville, Alabama. Time Domain’s new Precision Location Ultra Wideband System (PLUS)™ product line employs the company’s patented ultra wideband technology that will enable RTLS solutions to move from an “approximate presence” technology to a solution that precisely locates and monitors the interaction of people and assets for a host of new healthcare, retail, logistics and security applications.

The key to PLUS’ precision and high-tag throughput is the company’s 6.4 GHz ultra wideband pulse-based technology. Unlike other RFID RTLS technologies such as UHF, Zigbee Wi-Fi , ultra wideband active tags emit a burst of extremely short pulses once a second which, when read and processed by a time difference of arrival (TDOA) algorithm, provides inches of accuracy in 2-D and multi-floor environments. This short pulse approach also provides precise location accuracy in “noisy” indoor environments where wiring and metal fixtures are often problematic for other RTLS systems.

The new PLUS products are currently being trialed in several healthcare applications, which is the company’s initial target market. “Until now, RTLS systems have been limited to, at best, room-only, “last read” monitoring which locates people and equipment when they leave or enter a room. With typical accuracy in the 10-30 foot range, it’s nearly impossible to ascertain interactions using these systems” said Greg Clawson, vice president of sales and marketing at Time Domain. “PLUS solves the problem of locating and accurately linking healthcare staff, patients and equipment in a single room. This capability opens new opportunities for our partners to create location-based services that provide real-time, integrated patient safety, billing and equipment monitoring solutions. The goal is to increase bed turnover and reduce the amount of time a patient spends in the healthcare facility, while ensuring high quality, safe care.” The PLUS™ Platform

Time Domain is launching its PLUS line with a full complement of ready-to-deploy hardware and software products including:

  • Small tags with a four-year battery life for people and hardware assets;
  • Easy-to-install 2’ x 2’ ceiling tile antenna/reader assemblies;
  • A synchronization distribution panel (SDP) that provides timing synchronization and power to the readers, and
  • PLUS Location Software that computes tag location using TDOA and easily interfaces with higher-level application software.

One of the first commercial deployments of Time Domain’s PLUS technology is at Washington Hospital Center, a not-for-profit 926-bed acute care teaching and research hospital based in Washington, D.C. The PLUS system, sold and integrated by Parco Wireless, will provide a comprehensive asset location and monitoring system in a new section of the hospital’s emergency department, which opens next month. Hospitals are using PLUS to keep precise track of critical assets such as IV pumps, cardiac monitors and other devices. “Knowing where these assets are and their status will help us improve productivity, utilization and prevent loss,” said Dr. Mark Smith, chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Washington Hospital Center.

The PLUS product line is being sold through industry-leading VARs. A webinar on the company’s VAR program can be downloaded at: https://timedomainec.webex.com/timedomainec/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=EC&rID=858752&rKey=9E 227B242EE6540A.

For more information on Time Domain and its PLUS offering, visit www.timedomain.com or call 256-922-9229.