- Sonicu and TrueSpot have teamed up to offer their solutions together, for hospitals to capture temperature and environmental conditions and asset locations on a single LoRa based network.
- The companies each offer an end-to-end solution with API so that the two offerings could be integrated, while all data transmits to the same LoRaWAN gateways.
Two technology companies—TrueSpot and Sonicu— are offering LoRaWAN-based IoT solutions are joining forces with temperature and environmental monitoring and asset management through a single network.
Each company sell wireless solutions to healthcare companies. TrueSpot makes RTLS solutions that track assets throughout a hospital via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons that locate an asset within a room or area and transmit to a gateway and on to a server via LoRaWan.
Sonicu provides temperature and environmental monitoring to track temperatures, humidity and other sensor readings from hospital coolers or freezers, using the same wireless protocol.
A hospital deploying their combined technology could capture condition monitoring such as freezer temperatures with Sonicu’s solution and TrueSpot’s RTLS location tracking, on a single, low-power and low-cost, LoRaWAN network.
Proven Track Records
Their collaboration enables hospitals to streamline their infrastructure, improve interoperability and reduce costs, officials from both companies said.
Sonicu’s monitoring functionality has been in use for about a decade, in hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, said Bryan Mitchell, Sonicu’s head of marketing.
The company has specialized in temperature tracking from ultra cold storage to high heat, as well as tracking air pressure differentials to help pharma, healthcare and life sciences companies ensure the drugs storage operations are taking place in a sterile environment and under the proper conditions.
In healthcare facilities, Sonicu’s wireless sensors are used in everything from expansive walk-in freezers or coolers to a mini fridge in a medical office. They take readings on a regular basis, send that data over LoRa to a gateway, and the gateway then forwards that data to the server where Sonicu’s software manages the results, and responds in the event of a temperature excursion.
Therefore companies using the technology know, for instance, if a cooling units fails, or if someone inadvertently unplugs the cooler, or the door is left open. Such incidents, when undetected, can lead to wide-scale loss of high value products inside, from drugs, to tissues or blood.
Tracing Temperatures During Outage
One scenario of concern for hospitals might be a power outage at 2:00 a.m. Although the power went back on at 6:00 a.m., it could be hard to track information about what happened to temperatures during the four hours off-line, with a high degree of fidelity.
“With Sonicu, the data can demonstrate that during a power outage the freezer never went above 28° ,” Mitchell said. “In the past there was just no way to know that.”
While some companies have offered wireless solutions that use cellular or Wi-Fi connectivity, both approaches have limitations, Mitchell pointed out. Hospitals often resist sharing their Wi-Fi network due to security risks as well as the need to prevent congestion on the network backbone. Cellular connectivity, on the other hand, can be high cost and prone to outages.
With Sonicu’s LoRaWAN solution, a single gateway could be installed to capture transmissions from as many as 500 sensors. The gateways often have a range of up to a mile.
TrueSpot Brings Bluetooth Background to RTLS
TrueSpot, founded in 2016, offers RTLS solutions via BLE as well as LoRaWAN technology. Its team members have backgrounds working for companies like Nokia and Ericsson, aiding with early BLE development. TrueSpot developed its network initially for use in the automotive industry, tracking cars, keys and dealer plates as sites such as auto dealerships.
When the company saw a gap in affordable, effective RTLS technology for healthcare, the company’s engineers began working on solutions for this sector. The result is a system known as MedSpot 360, helping hospitals manage their high value assets at about one-third the cost of standard RTLS.
“We are a private network operator that builds manages and operates networks for RTLS functionality,” said Bryan Bock, TrueSpot’s marketing director,. “The LoRa connectivity allows us to plug and play gateways for both indoor and outdoor [asset management.”
RTSL with BLE and LoRa Connectivity
The TrueSpot solution consists of coin-cell battery-powered sensor tags attached to assets, such as an infusion pump. The tags periodically transmit their unique ID via BLE to identify location of the assets.
The company’s indoor gateways consists of a device the size of a half-deck of cards, that can plug into an outlet or USB port for power. The gateways receive transmissions from the sensor tags, and use receive signal strength to identify the location of the sensor. They then forward that data via the LoRaWAN network.
With the Sonicu collaboration, hospitals can use the same LoRaWAN gateway that Sonicu temperature sensors use. TrueSpot’s software on its cloud-based server uses algorithms to refine location data to room level or even area level within a room.
In that way the system may know, for instance, if the infusion pump is in use by a patient, or is in the sterilization room, or in another unit in the hospital and needs to be fetched or serviced. Additionally, the software provides analytics based on historical data as well as reporting capabilities based on a specific event.
The TrueSpot MedSpot 360 solution is live at Halifax Health in Daytona Beach FL, and Baptist St. Anthony’s in Amarillo, TX.
Finding Assets with an App and Smartphone
Because the solution leverages BLE, the system can interact with users’ iOS and Android smartphones, Bock said. In the feature they call Modar Mode, TrueSpot enables individuals to download an app that enables them to use mobile device to locate sensor tags.
When the device comes within proximity of the sensor, the app displays a visual indication of the item, and it can guide the users toward that sensor.
When Modar Mode is engaged, the tag’s transmit frequency automatically increases to one-time per second to ensure that the user can easily see if they are getting closer or farther from the tag’s physical location (hotter or colder). The tag could then go dormant to save battery consumption.
When the user exits out of Modar Mode, the tag returns to its previous longer transmit frequency to decrease battery consumption.
Sharing a Love of LoRa
TrueSpot began working with Sonicu after the companies shared their mutual appreciation about LoRa technology.
Whether tracking assets or conditions, Mitchell pointed out, the hospital can have the convenience of LoRa that allows more affordable, complete indoor as well as outdoor coverage, due to the long-range transmissions.
In the future, the companies could integrate their management software. Both solutions come today with an API and capabilities to export their data, so that users could build integration between them.
The two companies are now talking to hospitals as a partnership to offer their solutions.
Speaking for the partnership, Joe Mundell, Sonicu’s sales leader commented, “I think it’s a game changer…we think it not only creates better feature capability from an RTLS perspective, but we can do it at a cost basis that’s one-third that of anybody else in the market. The cost basis makes sense and the benefits are high.”