Wednesday, June 28, 2006

IEEE News: WIRELESS NETWORKS ENABLE LONG-DISTANCE HEALTH CARE

New technology based on Wi-Fi networks allows eye doctors to interview and examine patients in five remote clinics via high-quality video conferencing, according to the technology's developers at University of California, Berkeley, and Intel Corporation. The low-cost connectivity links rural clinics with doctors at Aravind Eye Hospital in southern India, researchers say, using high-speed links to screen patients. Standard Wi-Fi range is limited to about 200 feet, according to the system's developers, who created software to overcome range limitations, combined with directional antennas and routers to send, receive and relay signals at network speeds of up to six Megabytes per second at distances up to 40 miles (100 times faster than dial-up speeds, and 100 times farther than regular Wi-Fi). Read more: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/uoc--nlw060606.php

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