GE Healthcare is battling aerospace interests to gain access to 40 megahertz of government-regulated radiofrequency spectrum to support its plans for new wireless patient monitoring systems.

The company requested the spectrum for its Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs) in a December 2007 petition and is now closely watching a ¹ proposed rulemaking by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC posted the draft rule in the Federal Register Aug. 6 to seek comments on GE's request.

Although FCC has already granted spectrum for other medical telemetry purposes, GE says the proposed bandwidth allocation will allow for smaller, lighter sensors operating in low-power, high-bandwidth networks.

The company announced earlier this month that its Global Research division was developing the wireless technology, which will allow small sensors on the body to communicate an integrated series of vital signs to a network control center located on or near the patient and tuned to receive those signals. The sensors could monitor vital signs such as temperature, blood glucose, blood pressure levels, electrocardiogram readings and respiratory function.

A market launch is still "years" away, but getting the spectrum from FCC will allow GE to help pin down the specifications for the new wireless monitoring technology, said David Freeman, general manager of Parameters for GE Healthcare.

Aerospace Firms Worry About Interference

But the medical technology giant faces opposition from aeronautic interests, particularly the Aerospace and Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council, which protects radiofrequencies used for aerospace tests and evaluation on behalf of members including Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

AFTRCC argues that the frequency range targeted by GE should be reserved for sending data signals between airborne transmitters in military and commercial aircraft test flights to ground stations. It is already used for that purpose, and test flight operators say they will need to do so increasingly to relieve congestion in other frequencies employed for aeronautical mobile telemetry (AMT).

GE counters that the sought spectrum band is ideal for its planned MBAN design. It argues that it would be able to develop its products to avoid interference with test flights. It also says it would agree to exclude the technology from hospitals within a certain distance from AMT sites.

Freeman said in an interview that FCC could restrict the 2% of U.S. hospitals that would be within interference range from using the MBANs.

In the proposed rulemaking, FCC tentatively concludes that providing spectrum for MBANs "would serve the public interest," given the "significant health care benefits."

GE Touts Widespread Benefits Of Wireless

Freeman believes that the health care argument for MBANs is so obvious that the networks will eventually become ubiquitous. He recalled a customer advisory board member asking the company to make the wires and cables in conventional monitoring systems go away.

"Nobody in the hospital would tell you, 'Hey, we need more wires and cables,'" he said. "They're horrible. They're a pain. They break; they get dirty; they get misplaced; they get confused. There is nothing that people love about wires and cables."

Hospitals would benefit from the wireless technology by allowing patients to be monitored as they move from unit to unit without loss of data continuity or the need for personnel to hook up cables to new monitors, so patients could be redeployed more flexibly, Freeman said. Integrated wireless monitoring would also improve outcomes by increasing patient mobility and comfort, and reducing the potential for infections from cables.

GE has petitioned for use of the spectrum on a non-proprietary basis. Still, Freeman expects any manufacturers coming into a GE body sensor network would need to be carefully screened.

"I don't see a hodge-podge mix of sensors being applied from multiple companies as being incorporated ad hoc," he said. "It's going to require a lot more careful integration and testing and verification and validation than that, because it is vital patient information."

First-round comments are due to FCC Oct. 5, and reply comments are due Nov. 4.

- Monica Hogan ( ² m.hogan@elsevier.com )

GE Healthcare Seeks Spectrum For Wireless Patient Monitoring Networks

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