Daniel Tubbs
Francis Doligosa
Brian Easton
Jason Sadler
Latricia Simon
Joseph Williams
March 17, 2004
1
The STATag
Solutions for
Real-Time
Equipment Tracking
March 17, 2004
2
Problem
Hospitals need to reduce costs to
increase profitability
– From 1997 to 2001, spending on hospital care
increased by $83.6 Billion
– Hospital gross margins have declined
annually every year since 1997
March 17, 2004
3
Solution
The use of Real-Time Equipment Tracking
(RTET) with STATags will:
Reduce man hours searching for needed
equipment
Increase staff efficiency
Improve equipment utilization
March 17, 2004
4
Market Analysis
Our target market is US hospitals:
Hospitals: 5,794
Total Registered Beds: 975,962
Estimated mobile medical equipment in
US: Approximately 5 Million
Potential future market: International
hospitals
March 17, 2004
5
Market Analysis (continued)
Hospital equipment is very expensive and
highly mobile
Equipment tracking is a large problem that
causes:
– Time consuming equipment searches
– Unnecessary equipment purchases
Initial target price: < $20.00 per tag
March 17, 2004
6
Objective
Create a Real-Time Equipment
Tracking system that increases staff
efficiency and allows hospitals to
reduce operating costs
March 17, 2004
7
STATag Cons
More expensive setup than RFID or
Barcode
Requires periodic battery replacement and
calibration
Accuracy degrades slowly over time
March 17, 2004
8
STATag Pros
Less expensive than Real-Time Locating
System
Eliminates labor intensive and error prone
manual inventories
Instantly locates any tagged equipment
Detects tag removal, minimizing theft
Versatile report generation
March 17, 2004
9
STATags will:
Use “Dead Reckoning” to determine current
location
Use network security
Self-discover & self-configure network
Handle large quantities of equipment
March 17, 2004
10
STATags will (continued):
Activate Alarms
Store historical location and usage data
Run without intervention for long periods
– Battery lasts 5-7 years
– Need calibration only when battery is changed
March 17, 2004
11
STATags will not:
Prevent theft
Collect or transmit personally identifiable
health information (covered under HIPAA)
Communicate further than 100 feet
between STATags
March 17, 2004
12
Individual STATag
802.15.4 Module
Battery
Microcontoller
Flash RAM (1MB)
March 17, 2004
Usage Module
(In use switch)
Gyroscopes
(Angle Rate Sensors)
Tamper Detection Module
(Tag Removed Switch)
13
STATag Network
`
STATag
Web Browser
User
STATag
STATag
Network Coordinator DB Server
Internal Webserver
STATag
STATag
Database
March 17, 2004
14
Technical Issues
Component Selection
– Size/Cost inverse relationship
– Battery life and low power consuming
components
– Balance between accuracy and cost
Simplify design
March 17, 2004
15
Resource Issues
Need an electrical engineer for final design
Outsource manufacturing
In-house software development
– Data collection/Database
– Web based user Interface
Startup capital
Prototype testing
March 17, 2004
16
Management Issues
This technology has great potential
Conducted interviews that represent:
– Hospital staff and hospital management
– Civilian and Naval hospitals
– Technical project manager with NASA and
Lockheed Martin experience
Currently pursuing contacts with additional
hospitals and Harris Communications
March 17, 2004
17
Team Distribution
Project
Lead
Daniel Tubbs
Manufacturing
Director
Personnel
Director
Marketing & Web
Development
Research &
Development
Financial
Director
Francis Doligosa
Joseph Williams
Jason Sadler
Latricia Simon
Brian Easton
March 17, 2004
18
Major Risks
Interference with hospital monitoring
equipment
Conflicts with other 2.4 GHz networks
802.15.4 and ZigBee are new standards
and therefore there maybe unknown
issues
March 17, 2004
19
Conclusion
Hospitals are doing more business, but
making less profit
STATag use allows hospitals to lower costs
by:
– Freeing staff to treat patients
– Minimizing unnecessary equipment
purchases
Hospitals need STATags
March 17, 2004
20