RFID Company's Acquisition Combines BLE With UHF for Assisted Living, Hospitals

Internet of Things (IoT) technology company Quake Global has acquired Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) health-care technology firm Skynet to provide an active Bluetooth Mesh solution, in conjunction with its passive RFID system, for the health-care and assisted-living markets. The acquisition means customers can take advantage of both passive and active location systems, Quake Global reports, by using integrated dual BLE and UHF RFID tags and a single software platform. The benefit, according to the company, will be that passive RFID can be used on lower-cost items like consumables or long-lived equipment for scenarios in which battery changes on tags would be inconvenient.