The ZigBee Alliance has ratified a new wireless protocol for healthcare and made the standard available to the general public.
The protocol, called ZigBee Health Care, is an open standard for low-power wireless devices intended for low-acuity patient monitoring and management, particularly in disease management, eldercare, inpatient monitoring and asset tracking, the alliance says. The standard, which is compatible with the IEEE 11073 standard for point-of-care medical devices, can support thousands of devices on a single network.
"ZigBee Health Care provides a wide variety of remote and wireless health monitoring services that can inspire everyone to take a more active role in their own wellness and fitness," ZigBee Alliance Chairman Dr. Robert F. Heile says in a statement. "Wireless products based on ZigBee Health Care will enable people to get the care they need without sacrificing their independent lifestyles and mobility."
With wireless monitoring a relatively new field, the ZigBee standard may find itself in competition with a low-energy version of the Bluetooth wireless protocol, however.
For more:
- check out this SlashGear blog post
- see this ZigBee Alliance press release