C-Net and other sites ran stories on how the medical technology community is urging the wireless communications industry to be careful using white-space. About a decade ago, wireless heart monitors hooked to patients at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas went on the fritz, causing much scrambling among the building's engineering team.
Although I'm confident the white-space problem here will be addressed through FCC and the key players, there is a similar issue we all need to be thinking of.
As the barriers of possibility are pushed farther and farther away for systems integrators, the use of wireless technology is at the forefront. We can throw just about anything on a wireless network, or shoot a wireless signal across rooms, floors, wards or property lines to connect devices with the rest of the system.
As we do, we'd better be talking to the clinical technology folks if we are doing it anywhere near a medical facility. And we'd better be familiar with possible interference issues to avoid in all applications as well. I've found that clinical technology folks are more than happy to help make sure there are no problems.
That being said, signal interference has always been something to consider, even in wired applications. I've seen numerous "ghost problems" in systems where communication lines are run next to high voltage factory equipment or similar scenarios. So it's critical to make sure you're not going to interfere with any lifesaving devices, but it's also important to make sure wireless interference is not going to be causing trouble for the end users or service techs in the future.
