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Wireless LAN System General Information
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Industry-standard wireless expansion of the Unity Network®
The Wireless LAN* system, manufactured for Marquette by Aironet Wireless
Communications, Inc., a world leader in wireless technology, allows the Marquette Unity
Network to be expanded where traditional hard-wired Ethernet is not practical.
The system consists of two-way communication between Wireless LAN Adapters fixed to
Marquette Unity® monitors and Access Points distributed around the hospital. The Access
Points are connected directly into the Marquette Unity Network.
The Wireless LAN connection allows a Unity monitor to “roam” within a unit
and remain on the network. Patients can now be located physically anywhere within the unit
with a Unity monitor, yet remain “connected” to the Unity Network for alarms and
viewing. This system works today with all Marquette Unity monitors without requiring any
modification of the monitors. All network capabilities and features of the Unity network
are supported by the Wireless LAN connection.
Utilizing the IEEE 802.11 industry standard for wireless Ethernet, the system occupies
the ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) frequency band of 2.4 GHz, transmitting at 1
Mbits/sec. The superiority of the system lies in its software. The access points use a
frequency-hopping spread-spectrum technique that permits them to be located less precisely
during installation with no degradation in performance. Aironet’s system also
balances the data throughput load among access points dynamically minimizing the chance of
a bandwidth bottleneck.
