The "interference" cited at Baylor Medical Center in 1998 was due to the fact that the the hospital was using its wireless monitoring devices on unlicensed frequencies that were actually part of television broadcast channel 9--which was unoccupied in Dallas until the FCC assigned the frequency to a local television station as its new Digital Television (DTV) assignment. It was only when the station powered up its licensed transmitter on channel 9 that the problems began. Baylor and other local hospitals changed the frequencies their wireless monitoring systems were operating on and the problems were resolved. News reports at the time stated that the FCC advised hospitals and medical equipment manufacturers to ''avoid operating on occupied broadcast channels.''
The point is that there really is no such thing as "white space" frequencies--just frequencies that might be unoccupied in any given geographical area. Doesn't mean that they might be unoccupied at some point in the future! So wouldn't it make sense that your hospital's heart monitor actually operates in some spectrum that is set aside for that specific purpose?
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A few historical facts are in order here...
The "interference" cited at Baylor Medical Center in 1998 was due to the fact that the the hospital was using its wireless monitoring devices on unlicensed frequencies that were actually part of television broadcast channel 9--which was unoccupied in Dallas until the FCC assigned the frequency to a local television station as its new Digital Television (DTV) assignment.
It was only when the station powered up its licensed transmitter on channel 9 that the problems began. Baylor and other local hospitals changed the frequencies their wireless monitoring systems were operating on and the problems were resolved. News reports at the time stated that the FCC advised hospitals and medical equipment manufacturers to ''avoid operating on occupied broadcast channels.''
The point is that there really is no such thing as "white space" frequencies--just frequencies that might be unoccupied in any given geographical area. Doesn't mean that they might be unoccupied at some point in the future! So wouldn't it make sense that your hospital's heart monitor actually operates in some spectrum that is set aside for that specific purpose?