Wi-Fi and BLE-based RTLS solutions are often the more popular choices in the healthcare sector. Let’s compare Wi-Fi and BLE from several perspectives. 

• Accuracy: Only BLE-based solutions have proven to provide true room-level location accuracy (i.e. not ambiguous locations such as “within +/- 3m”) and it does so at a lower price point with lower operational management burdens.

• Latency: Wi-Fi based solutions typically have higher latency, to determine positions on demand, while BLE solutions can offer continuous room level accuracy instantly for mobile devices and rolling 5 second location updates for tag locations. 

• Infrastructure density: Wi-Fi based solutions require a high density of infrastructure devices to meet accuracy requirements, which leads to higher costs when compared with BLE-based solutions.  

• Infrastructure interoperability: BLE-based solutions typically offer better interoperability across location tags from various vendors, while Wi-Fi deployments often face challenges with interoperability. 

• Tag battery life: Wi-Fi tags typically have poor battery life, requiring larger batteries and resulting in bulky tags that are unsuitable for smaller assets and more expensive to purchase and maintain. In contrast, BLE tags can be bought off the shelf and are designed to be extremely power efficient. BLE tags can last several years or longer even with constant tracking. 

• Cost: BLE-based solutions have lower capital and operational costs compared to Wi-Fi-based solutions.