GE Presses the FCC for Telemetry Protections
General Electric is petitioning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to protect the channels that are used by telemetry equipment. This effort is required now as more and more channels from the wireless spectrum are being used to support an array of devices. News of the request was published by Health Data Management.
Telemetry system in the healthcare environment utilize Channel 37. GE submitted a letter to the Secretary of the FCC recommending that Channels 36 and 38 be reserved for use by professionally installed fixed access devices.
The company notes that if this restriction was enacted, medical telemetry equipment would be protected from interference arising from overloading of the adjacent channels. This would also diminish the opportunity for co-channel interference that arises from white space device out-of band spurious emissions that fall onto Channel 37.
Should the FCC decide not to implement the suggested restrictions, GE has offered an alternative. This suggestion entails creation of an emissions mask for Channel 37. This will set a maximum signal strength for portable devices that use either Channel 36 or 38. This mask would also prevent concerns related to adjacent channel overload, along with spurious interference from emissions.
May 9, 2008 Related topics: Critical Care, Monitoring, Medical Devices & Products, Trends, Quality, Safety, Errors