DEVICE ANTENNA SOLUTIONS FOR CONNECTED HEALTHCARE

There are two categories for antenna device solutions: internal mounted & external mounted antennas. 

Mobile Mark offers a number of printed circuit board antennas that can be mounted inside the device. Two important factors when an antenna is mounted inside a device:

• The device itself be made from a material, such as plastic or fiberglass, that will not block the signal.
• The antenna designer needs to ensure internal or embedded, antenna is mounted in a location that will provide the best connectivity.

Some devices will have a connector port built into the side of the device and an external antenna can be connected directly to that port.  Other external antennas are stud mounted through a hole in the device. Custom-shaped antennas fit on narrow NEMA style boxes, are also available.

MOBILE MEDICAL IOT ANTENNA SOLUTIONS

Vehicle-mounted antennas are typically divided into two categories: Single-band antennas, for a dedicated application and Multi-band antennas, used when multiple applications are combined into one antenna

Emergency vehicles and ambulances are examples of medical vehicles that need to stay connected to the larger wireless network for both fleet management applications and to convey urgent and critical information. VHF and UHF have traditionally been used for emergency response vehicles.  

Examples of multi-band applications are:

• Emergency vehicles or medical transport vehicles
• Large mobile scanner equipment housed in trailers or vans and moved from hospital to hospital
• Temporary medical facilities

The multi-band wireless feature offers the ability to track the equipment, monitor onboard vehicle telematics, and communicate critical medical information. These antennas typically cover Cellular, WiFi, and GNSS, frequency bands. The multi-band antennas are paired with routers, gateways, or modems and might require two Cellular connections for a single Cellular Carrier and others might require four Cellular connections to provide for Dual Carrier MIMO (multiple-input-multiple-output). 

INFRASTRUCTURE ANTENNA SOLUTIONS FOR DIGITAL HEALTH

Wireless communications is needed throughout a hospital setting both within a building and between buildings. Mobile Mark offers infrastructure equipment that helps maintain the critical connections for Medical IoT.  Infrastructure is typically divided into two categories:

• Omni-directional antennas, such as Fiberglass Base Station antennas
• Directional antennas, such as Yagi, Log-periodic, and Panel antennas

Just as the infrastructure antennas extended wireless coverage outside the buildings, well-placed in-building antennas can extend the coverage to all corners within the building. 

Mounting options for Interior Mounted antennas are often divided into:

• Ceiling Mounts
• Wall Mounts

Well-placed in-building antennas can extend the coverage to all corners within the building. Also, Mobile Mark custom designs antennas covering WiFi 6e to provide the very latest in WiFi performance.  

WiFi 6e represents a major advancement in WiFi coverage.  The IEEE802.11ax standards allow for wider bandwidth and faster data processing. The FCC recently released the 6.125-7.125 GHz band to be used for WiFi6e.  Mobile Mark’s WiFi6e antennas also cover the 5.850-5.895 GHz band which was repurposed by the FCC for unlicensed commercial uses such as WiFi.  WiFi 6e routers can operate on all unlicensed bands from 2.4-2.5 GHz & 5.15-7.125 GHz.

SPECIALIZED ANTENNA SOLUTIONS FOR MEDICAL IOT

While Cellular and WiFi are the most common wireless technologies used by the Medical community.  There are many times when the unlicensed 915 MHz band in the US and the 868 MHz band in Europe will be used.  There is a reason this band is often called “ISM” which stands for Industrial, Scientific, and Medical!  LoRaWAN® and Sigfox, two low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies that also make sure of these bands.  It is not necessary for users of these bands to have a license. In addition, RFID is another application that falls in this band. 

Wireless applications in the medical community will continue to evolve.  Mobile Mark can help you prepare for the next generation of wireless activities.