Advancing Real‑Time Equipment Tracking in Hospitals through Tyndall–Reivr Fusion Collaboration

A collaboration between Tyndall National Institute and Irish SME Reivr Fusion Ltd. has delivered a next‑generation Real‑Time Location System (RTLS) designed to transform how hospitals track and manage critical medical equipment. Supported by Enterprise Ireland’s Innovation Partnership Programme, the project produced an integrated sensor‑fusion platform combining Ultra‑Wideband (UWB) radio technology with AI‑enabled vision sensing, culminating in a technology licence agreement transferring Tyndall‑developed IP to Reivr Fusion for commercial use.

Hospitals frequently struggle to locate mobile equipment - 80% of which is shared across departments - leading clinicians to spend significant time searching rather than delivering care. Existing RTLS solutions rely on radio‑only tracking and often provide difficult‑to‑use interfaces. This project set out to develop a simple, accurate and deployable system that would enable staff to instantly locate essential equipment and improve clinical workflow efficiency.

Led by Dr Miomir Todorovic, Tyndall optimised the UWB architecture, evaluating chipsets, power consumption and designing compact hardware capable of one‑year battery life. The team worked on the UWB anchor node and UWB tag incorporating secure ranging, an ePaper display, tactile inputs and contactless charging. Reivr Fusion complemented this work by integrating a state‑of‑the‑art AI vision module, enabling spatial interpretation of equipment movement. The resulting Reivr Fusion Node merges visual and radio data to produce highly reliable, real‑time location information with accuracy approaching the 10 cm benchmark associated with UWB technology.

The collaboration produced a manufacturable RTLS demonstrator now ready for pre‑commercialisation. A hospital pilot is planned, involving installation of fixed sensors, tagging of up to 100 devices and evaluation of improvements in operational efficiency. The project concluded with a technology licence agreement enabling Reivr Fusion to commercialise Tyndall‑developed IP and bring the solution to market.

Speaking about his experience working with Tyndall and UCC Innovation, Reivr Fusion CEO, Joe Moore said: "We were very satisfied with the outputs of the project and would recommend the Innovation Partnership programme to other companies as a cost-effective means of accessing expertise from Irish universities."

This case study originally appeared in UCC Innovation's Impact Report for 2025, which can be read here.