Patient Care Technology Systems announced the integration of Parco Wireless' radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking systems, which is designed exclusively for hospital use, and uses a highly developed form of ultra-wideband (UWB) RFID for automatically tracking patients and mobile medical equipment.

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The automatic tracking software allows for real-time data collection of patient location and care status using most major tracking technology platforms including infrared, active RFID, and now ultra-wideband. Automated tracking systems operate inertly in the background, passively collecting location data for the caregivers and are designed to eliminate data entry or bar code scanning in some instances. Because little demand is placed upon the caregiver to collect this data, clinicians are able to provide more time focused on care giving.

The ultra-wideband hardware operates across a range of frequency bands while not interfering with existing communication systems. This is because it uses very low transmit power, while still maintaining a high data rate. It operates in the time domain rather than the frequency domain, with its signals consisting of high-speed electromagnetic pulses rather than sine waves. This means that the waves traverse many frequencies unimpeded and unnoticed.

The combined system can accurately read tags attached to people and objects in real-time with accuracies between six and 12 inches. The tags are also capable of sending and receiving secure data packets from integrated components to which the tag is attached.