Vendor to launch wristband format Wi-Fi tag

Ekahau is expanding its hardware line with what company officials are calling an industry first--a wristband format Wi-Fi tag. The Wi-Fi-based RTLS vendor just unveiled the T301W, a wristband tag that is designed for use in applications that determine the precise location of people in hospitals and other settings. Combined with the recently launched Ekahau room and bed beacons, the wristband tags guarantee precise location capabilities down to less than a few feet.

The T301W tag works like Ekahau's other tags to provide location accuracy, movement tracking and workflow visibility. It houses a programable push-button which, when pressed, sends a pre-determined message to the RTLS system. The system then processes the button press based on a sophisticated set of business rules. These messages could be an alert that assistance is needed, or they may signal an event, such as when an individual has completed a task, or is required to check-in on a periodic basis.

But because the new tag uses the hospital's Wi-Fi network for locating, it's also able to take advantage of the two-way communications capabilities inherent to Wi-Fi. That means the system can alert the person wearing the tag about an event or action, such as issuing a request for a patient to return to his or her room, or maybe a prompt to proceed to the check-in desk.

The T301W is equipped with a vibration alarm, which can be triggered remotely though a set of system rules, or manually, allowing the user to receive alerts. Priced at $60, the tags are expected to become generally available in the fourth quarter 2009. With patient tracking efforts on the rise at hospitals across the country, I'm curious to see how the market responds to a wristband format Wi-Fi tag.