“Location-based services enable hospitals to save lives and make the facilities safer for both staff and patients.” 
Fabio Belloni, Quuppa

A global provider of real-time locating systems (RTLS), Quuppa delivers location-based services and applications for customers across a multitude of industries. The Quuppa Intelligent Locating System™ was created as a one-size-fits-all technology platform that leverages Bluetooth® Direction Finding technology (angle of arrival and angle of departure) to track, for example, 30,000 devices within a single factory. Currently, Quuppa’s RTLS platform has more than 2,000 deployments across 50+ counties.

In speaking with Quuppa Co-Founder and CCO Fabio Belloni, I learned more about how medical facilities around the globe are using RTLS solutions to support enhanced patient care, optimize daily operations, and reduce the spread of infection.

Q&A with Fabio Belloni

Why have you chosen to use Bluetooth technology?

Bluetooth® technology is very versatile and is already pervasive across many devices and across all vertical markets. The Quuppa system is based on Bluetooth Low Energy technology, which provides several advantages – including long tag battery life, compatibility with mobile devices, and the ability to carry sensor data alongside positioning data. Grasping the versatility of Bluetooth connectivity is essential for understanding how to use the technology in advanced location-based applications, i.e., beyond the commonly used beacons.

How are RTLS solutions with Bluetooth technology being used in healthcare?

The ultimate goal of the hospitals is to save lives, and there are various ways RTLS can support this mission. A simple example is to enforce the compliance of hand hygiene systems to minimize the spread of infections. A concrete example of this is the soap dispenser sensor; enabled by Bluetooth® technology. The same Quuppa system can be used to track nurses who approach the hand hygiene station and the time spent in the zone surrounding the dispenser, as well as monitor when the dispenser is used. By combining these two data sources, we get a pretty accurate confirmation that the hands have been cleaned.

Another concrete example is faster care, such as nurses being immediately alerted when a patient falls or tries to get away from the bed against recommendations. In many medical emergencies, time is of the essence, and location-based services can help the staff track assets and find the needed equipment in each case faster.

RTLS can also help hospitals and healthcare facilities increase security. One simple way is by providing both staff and patients with devices equipped with a button with which they can call for help when needed. Another use case for enhancing security is via access control, making sure those without authorization cannot access areas they should not.

RTLS systems can also be used in eldercare for wander management, monitoring when elderly customers leave the premises and tracking Alzheimer patients.

Quuppa’s system also acts as an IoT gateway, monitoring all kinds of Bluetooth® based sensors like heart rate, blood pressure, body temp, etc.

FEATURED PAPER

Enhancing Bluetooth Location Services with Direction Finding

Bluetooth Direction Finding enables the development of proximity solutions that can understand device direction as well as positioning systems that can achieve down to centimeter-level location accuracy.

INSTANT DOWNLOAD

How long has this solution been in place?

Quuppa was established in 2012 by the team responsible for the invention of the High Accuracy Indoor Positioning (HAIP) at the Nokia Research Center. The founding team of Quuppa has worked with positioning technologies since the early 2000s. Based on the discovery of the superiority of the angle-of-arrival (AoA)/angle-of-departure (AoD) methods, the team developed the groundbreaking algorithms and conducted the research and testing required to solidify the technology into a proven concept. With over fifteen years of experience as its foundation, the Quuppa team commercialized their innovation to create a complete product platform – the Quuppa Intelligent Locating System™.

How does this solution benefit the healthcare industry, healthcare providers, and patients?

There are many use cases where Quuppa Bluetooth® Direction Finding technology can fulfill healthcare requirements, especially in a hospital system where there are many regulations and laws for how care needs to be provided to patients. Location-based services enable hospitals to save lives and make the facilities safer for both staff and patients. RTLS also supports multiple solutions for improving inefficiencies in the operations of hospitals, which can save money that could otherwise be used for patient care.

Hospitals are, in general, quite hectic and stressful places for both staff and visitors. Tight rules need to be followed to avoid liabilities for a care provider. RTLS can be used to improve the user experience, even in these types of stressful environments, by providing route optimization for staff and paperless work orders and navigation services for visitors.

Can you talk about some operational improvements that can be made in hospitals to save the lives of patients?

Some ways RTLS solutions can support operational improvements include:

    • Real-time heat maps for patients and staff, showing quarantine zones, restricted areas, etc.
    • Routing patients, using location-based indoor navigation, to certain entrances and optimized routes within the facilities to help reduce viral exposure
    • Locating and visualizing assets and people, and using tracking to locate vital resources – including ventilators, wheelchairs, and other medical equipment
    • Triggering alerts when an asset enters or exits designated areas
    • Recording and playing back recorded data to trace routes through particular zones
    • Visualizing indoor data live on a location map while displaying IoT sensor data, including room temperature, equipment health, etc.
    • Analyzing counts, dwell times, and movements to assess and identifying needs or trends
What major market challenges does Bluetooth technology help you overcome?

The market still needs to understand the full potential of the Bluetooth® Direction Finding technologies, both AoA and AoD. Too often, when people hear about Bluetooth location technology, they only think about the proximity RSSI-based Bluetooth beaconing location. Clearly, this is not the case. We are trying our best to further educate the market to showcase the full potential for Bluetooth Direction Finding technologies.

Can you tell us more about why interoperability is critical for this project?

As more and more location-based services deploy across different markets, we will see that within the same facility (from hospitals to enterprise, from smart offices to sports arena) there will be a large number of use cases all enabled by the same technology infrastructure. Therefore, having the possibility to leverage the interoperability across devices is key for such a multi-use-case scenario. Otherwise, we will fall into a very suboptimal situation where technology silos are created and facilities need to invest in a variety of technologies where each can satisfy only specific use cases.

Furthermore, both the end customers and the solution providers do not want to invest in technologies that will lock them down into working with very specific providers. Instead, the openness and interoperability of Bluetooth technology offer the possibility to adopt devices from multiple vendors, which, in return, creates a rich variety of offerings.

Are there any hospitals or organizations currently using this solution?

Current hospital deployments include:

    • Seoul National University Hospital in Korea
    • NTU Cancer Center in Taiwan
    • Nagoya University Hospital in Japan
    • Fukui University in Japan

FEATURED PROGRAM

Bluetooth Member Promotion Program

Are you a Bluetooth member designing innovative wireless solutions? You may be eligible to participate in the Bluetooth Member Promotion Program.

LEARN MORE

Bluetooth 6: What's New In The Latest Bluetooth Release?

Bluetooth technology is constantly growing, not only enhancing existing applications but also enabling entirely…

Taking Find My Applications to the Next Level with Telink

Discover how Telink’s solutions enhance Find My applications with cross-platform compatibility and Bluetooth Channel…

Bluetooth Channel Sounding Release and Lambda:4 Demo at Bluetooth SIG Event in Bellevue September 2024

To celebrate the release of the Bluetooth Core Specification 6.0 including the Channel Sounding…

Bluetooth Channel Sounding Brings Crucial Ranging to New Bluetooth Devices

The Bluetooth SIG has relentlessly pushed forward the capabilities and feature sets of the…

Bluetooth PAwR in a Large-Scale Test Network

In the ever-evolving, dynamic landscape of Bluetooth-connected smart devices, efficient interconnection and reliable communication…

Welcome to the New Era of True Distance Awareness

Get a first-hand look at Bluetooth®️ Channel Sounding and discover how this innovation brings…

Bluetooth Channel Sounding: How It Works and What It Means

Bluetooth® Channel Sounding is a new secure, fine-ranging capability that promises to enhance the…

Bluetooth® Channel Sounding: Your Top Questions Answered

Bluetooth® Channel Sounding is a new secure, fine ranging feature that brings true distance…

Bluetooth® Channel Sounding: A Technical Overview

This paper provides a detailed technical overview of Bluetooth® Channel Sounding, a secure fine ranging…

Security & Scalability: Navigating the Bluetooth LE Landscape for Retail

Bluetooth LE is a game-changer for the retail industry, enabling new levels of connectivity,…

2024 Bluetooth® Market Update

The 2024 Bluetooth® Market Update examines the direction and adoption of Bluetooth technology.

Using Bluetooth in Location Tracking Devices

Bluetooth ranging technology, which uses the distance between one or more devices through signal…

2023 Bluetooth® Market Update

Featuring new market insights and industry forecasts from ABI Research and other analyst firms...

EJOT | INDUTRAX Case Study

EJOT, headquartered in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany, is a group of medium-sized companies with production…

Galleria Borghese, Rome Case Study

The Galleria Borghese Museum, based in Rome, houses works by Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian, Correggio,…

No More Queueing At The Hotel Check-in

Over two thirds of the British population now own a smartphone, using it for…

Bluetooth Location Services

See 8 use cases for enhancing building efficiencies and creating a better visitor experience, discover new data that supports the latest trends and forecasts, and find out what’s driving the rapid adoption of location services solutions.

Designing and Developing Bluetooth® Internet Gateways

Learn about Bluetooth® internet gateways, how to make them secure and scalable, and design and implement your own...

Lighting as a Platform

See how connected lighting systems are being used as a platform to enable advanced building services like wayfinding, asset tracking, and space utilization to improve the ROI of smart building investments.

Build a Smarter Building with Blue

See how Bluetooth increases reliability, reduces costs, and enhances your smart building ROI.

An Introduction to Bluetooth Beacons

Learn how to build your own Bluetooth beacon or integrate beacon technology into your existing products and apps.

NOTICE: The Bluetooth SIG updated its Terms of Use on 29 October 2024Learn more
 Get Help