Where does handoff collide?

In cellular radio, a handoff (called handover in the European tradition) is the transfer of an active call or data session from one base station to another as a mobile moves across cell boundaries or as traffic is rebalanced, so the connection continues without being dropped. MacDonald's 1979 Advanced Mobile Phone Service: The Cellular Concept set out the architecture in which small reused cells make handoff a routine, continuous event rather than an exception. The referent is a network control procedure that reassigns a radio link between transmitters mid-session, judged by how seamlessly and reliably it holds the connection, and it is unrelated to a clinician transferring a patient or a robot passing an object across the shared word.[1]

Unit

The transfer of a live radio link from one base station to another

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Tracked by handoff success and dropped-call rates, signal-strength and handoff-margin thresholds, and the latency of the reassignment

In clinical care, a handoff (or handover, or sign-out) is the transfer of professional responsibility and the information needed to continue a patient's care from one clinician or team to another, at shift change or transfer between units. Starmer and colleagues' 2014 Changes in medical errors after implementation of a handoff program showed that a structured handoff protocol reduced preventable adverse events, framing the handoff as a safety-critical communication rather than a casual update. The referent is the human exchange of accountability and clinical context at a care transition, assessed by information completeness and downstream error rates, and it shares only the word with a cellular link change or a robotic object pass.[2]

Unit

The transfer of patient-care responsibility and information between clinicians

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Evaluated by rates of omitted information, preventable adverse events after transfer, and adherence to a structured handoff protocol

In robotics, a handover is the coordinated physical transfer of an object between two agents, typically a robot and a person, requiring joint timing of reach, grasp, and release so the receiver takes hold before the giver lets go. Ortenzi and colleagues' 2021 Object handovers: A review for robotics organises the problem into grasp planning, communication of intent, and the force-handover moment when load is exchanged. The referent is the transfer of a grasped physical object between manipulators, measured by success rate, timing, and exchanged grip forces, and despite the shared word it is a different construct from a cellular link transfer or a clinical care transition.[3]

Unit

The physical transfer of a grasped object between two agents

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Measured by handover success rate, transfer timing, and the grip-force exchange at the moment of release