Intelligent Agents Framework for RFID Hospitals

When dealing with human lives, the need to utilize and apply the latest technology to help in saving and maintaining patients’ lives is quite important and requires accurate, near-real-time data acquisition and evaluation. At the same time, the delivery of a patient’s medical data needs to be as fast and as secure as possible. One possible way to achieve this is to use a wireless framework based on radio-frequency identification (RFID). This framework can integrate wireless networks for fast data acquisition and transmission while maintaining the privacy issue. This chapter discusses the development of an agent framework in which RFID can be used for patient data collection. The chapter presents a framework for the knowledge acquisition of patient and doctor profiling in a hospital. The acquisition of profile data is assisted by a profiling agent that is responsible for processing the raw data obtained through RFID and a database of doctors and patients.

Semantic-Based Bluetooth-RFID Interaction for Advanced Resource Discovery in Pervasive Contexts

We propose a novel object discovery framework integrating the application layer of Bluetooth and RFID standards. The approach is motivated and illustrated in an innovative u-commerce setting. Given a request, it allows an advanced discovery process, exploiting semantically annotated descriptions of goods available in the u-marketplace. The RFID data exchange protocol and the Bluetooth service discovery protocol have been modified and enhanced to enable support for such semantic annotation of products. Modifications to the standards have been conceived to be backward compatible, thus allowing the smooth coexistence of the legacy discovery and/or identification features. Also noteworthy is the introduction of a dedicated compression tool to reduce storage/transmission problems due to the verbosity of XML-based semantic languages.

A Mobile Computing Framework for Passive RFID Detection System in Healthcare

The cost of health care continues to be a world wide issue. Research continues into ways and how the utilization of evolving technologies can be applied to reduce costs and improve patient care, while maintaining patient’s lives. To achieve these needs requires accurate, near real time data acquisition and analysis. At the same time there exists a need to acquire a profile on a patient and update that profile as fast and as possible. All types of confidentiality need to be addressed no matter which technology and application is used. One possible way to achieve this is to use a passive detection system that employs wireless radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. This detection system can integrate wireless networks for fast data acquisition and transmission, while maintaining the privacy issue. Once this data is obtained, then up to date profiling can be integrated into the patient care system. This article discussed the use and need for a passive RFID system for patient data acquisition in healthcare facilities such as a hospital. The development of profile data is assisted by a profiling intelligent software agent that is responsible for processing the raw data obtained through RFID and database and invoking the creation and update of the patient profile.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology

We are in the midst of what may become one of the true technological transformations of our time. RFID (radio frequency identification) is by no means a new technology. RFID is fundamentally based on the study of electromagnetic waves and radio, pioneered in the 19th century work of Faraday, Maxwell, and Marconi. The idea of using radio frequencies to reflect waves from objects dates back as far as 1886 to experiments conducted by Hertz. Radar was invented in 1922, and its practical applications date back to World War II, when the British used the IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) system to identify enemy aircraft (Landt, 2001). Stockman (1948) laid out the basic concepts for RFID. However, it would take decades of development before RFID technology would become a reality. Since 2000, significant improvements in functionality, decreases in both size and costs, and agreements on communication standards have combined to make RFID technology viable for commercial and governmental purposes. Today, RFID is positioned as an alternative way to identify objects with the ubiquitous bar code.

An Agent-Based Library Management System Using RFID Technology

The objective of this research is to describe a mechanism to provide an improved library management system using RFID and agent technologies. One of the major issues in large libraries is to track misplaced items. By moving from conventional technologies such as barcode-based systems to RFID-based systems and using software agents that continuously monitor and track the items in the library, we believe an effective library system can be designed. Due to constant monitoring, the up-to-date location information of the library items can be easily obtained.

Handling RFID Data Using a Data-on-Tag Approach

RFID tags can store more data and can update this data through local processing. This is in contrast to the EPC global standard of data-on-network. In order to illustrate this concept of data-on-tag a single case study of a smart laundry bin is undertaken. The laundry bin is able to process the count of soiled linen tagged with RFID at the time of Pickup. Thus the processing is taking place at the time of data capture and does not depend on the central database with expensive middleware. Further, data modelling for data stored at different objects like linen, laundry bin and pickup PDA is undertaken. Issues and solutions for this are discussed at the end.

From Fixed to Mobile Convergence

The aim of Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) is to provide both fixed-line and mobile telephony services to users through the same handset which could switch between networks and support both wide-area mobile network access and local-area connection to fixed-line technology, typically through a local wireless connection. An important feature of FMC is to allow users to access a consistent set of services from any fixed or mobile terminal via any compatible access point, independent of access network it is attached to. The chapter discusses the benefits and challenges of the FMC. It also analyse the efforts that have been put into realising the potentials that FMC promised in the nearest future.

RFID and Assisted Living for the Elderly

Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) offers a potentially flexible and low cost method of locating objects and tracking people within buildings. RFID systems generally require less infrastructure to be installed than other solutions but have their own limitations. As part of an assisted living system, RFID tools may be useful to locate lost objects, support blind and partially sighted people with daily living activities, and assist in the rehabilitation of adults with acquired brain injury. This chapter outlines the requirements and the role of RFID in assisting people in these three areas. The development of a prototype RFID home support tool is described and some of the issues and challenges raised are discussed. The system is designed to support assisted living for elderly and infirm people in a simple, usable and extensible way in particular for supporting the finding and identification of commonly used and lost objects such as spectacles. This approach can also be used to extend the tagged domain to commonly visited areas, and provide support for the analysis of common activities, and rehabilitation.

RFID in Hospitals and Factors Restricting Adoption

Hospitals are traditionally slow to adopt new information systems (IS). However, health care funders and regulators are demanding greater use of IS as part of the solution to chronic problems with patient safety and access to medical records. One technology offering benefits in these areas is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Pilot systems have demonstrated the feasibility of a wide range of hospital applications, but few have been fully implemented. This chapter investigates the factors that have restricted the adoption of RFID technology in hospitals. It draws on related work on the adoption of IS generally, published case studies of RFID pilots, and interviews with clinicians, IS staff and RFID vendors operating in New Zealand (NZ) hospitals. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the key differences between RFID and other IS, and which RFID applications have the greatest chance of successful implementation in hospitals.

RFID in Emergency Management

This chapter introduces an activity-based framework for the adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) in emergency management. The framework is based on a rather loose interpretation of the tasktechnology fit (TTF) theory. The chapter provides an overview of emergency management, a description of RFID characteristics and a scheme for classifying emergency management activities. It also reports literature survey on emergency management models, the use of RFID and RFID adoption models. Last but not least, it outlines the perceived benefits associated with the use of RFID in emergency management. It is hoped that the proposed framework can serve as a useful guidance for RFID adoption in emergency management.