Hear No RF Evil, See No RF Evil

Diagnostic tests are an invaluable tool in identifying patient problems. The results must be accurate if the diagnosis is to be correct. The tests are often too expensive to be repeated, and facilities are in too high demand to tolerate scheduling changes to accommodate repeat procedures. This is particularly so if they are due to RF interference which can be prevented!

Case Study: A regional medical center established a sleep lab. In reviewing the traces of bodily parameters taken during the night, doctors noted weird sleep patterns never before described in the medical literature! Alas, no Nobel prizes came from this. Alert technicians realized that these behaviors happened only when the radio station down the street was broadcasting.

LBA interference engineers confirmed this as the problem, and prescribed electromagnetic shielding for the sleep lab.

Case Study: Several years ago, an incident occurred in a local hospital when an Ultrasound machine used for tracking fetal growth developed noise in the display that obscured the picture. In addition to being an aggravation to the medical attendants, imaging the erosion of confidence on the part of the patient and her husband viewing a distorted and obscured fetus!
This problem was traced to a nearby radio station by LBA engineers. As it happened, the station went out of business before archetectual shielding was installed. The old adage that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is definitely true in the case of RF emissions and medical technology. It is never too early to plan for effective RF interference abatement.

Beyond the cases outlined above, RF interference might manifest itself as false positive or negative readings, transient, undesirable audio-on signals, and aberrant readings on EKG and ECG machines from unshielded leads, to name but a few.
Medical offices are, by virtue of their focus, usually clustered in specific areas in any urban setting. Frequently, this cluster of medical facilities includes a hospital with its abundance of medical technology. Urban areas are a hotbed of constantly evolving RF sources both local and ephemeral, including multiple high power broadcasting stations. This provides a distinct possibility of higher RF interference which will have an increasingly greater impact on the medical equipment within the area. A convenient and free computer tool to provide an alert to local sources of high power radio interference may be found at the LBA Toolbox.

RF radiation is everywhere in medical facilities! We can’t smell it, see it, hear it or touch it, yet we know it is out there. It has beneficial therapeutic applications. Other times it can be downright mean!

Medical diagnostic equipment provides unreliable results. Weird audio can be heard through testing equipment. Rock and roll music accompanies a medical diagnostic test. Wheelchairs motor of on their own!

These gremlins may be caused by high-power RF installations like radio and TV stations as much as several miles away. Or, they may be right around the corner. Guard radios, EMT trucks, WLAN’s, MRI, and linear accelerators can add to the brew.

Medical equipment manufacturers work hard to provide immunity in their products, but user setups vary, and problems slip through; sometimes with unfortunate consequences.

Case Study: A neurologist was testing his new Neuro-Conduction/EMG machine. When applying the concentric needle to his wrist, he noted that his arm was dancing to clearly heard rock music!As an amateur radio operator, he was quite conversant with radio frequency and understood that this behavior by the machine was connected in some way to outside signals.This particular interference was traced by LBA engineers to an AM radio station a mile away. LBA supplied an architectural shielding design and materials, which were quickly and economically installed by his builder in the exam rooms, that solved the problem. On a technical note, the LBA engineer detected a signal of about 1 Volt/meter emanating from the radio station. Federal Communications Commission(FCC) guidelines suggest that RF interference problems with electrical medical equipment can be elicited within the 1 V/m field of a radio station. Go to the free LBA Toolbox to see if there are any broadcast stations threatening your facility. 

In our next installment, we have more on medical RF interference – check back soon.

For the fourth consecutive year, LBA Group has received recognition from DiversityBusiness.com, as one of the top 50 diversity-owned businesses in the state of North Carolina. LBA was also cited as advancing in ranking over last year.

The NC Div50 is the 8th annual listing of the State’s top diversity-owned businesses. The companies listed on the Div50 represent the State’s top multicultural earners and challenge the long-held notion that a small or diversity-owned business is insignificant.

Newspaper reporters on assignment at a hospital in Seoul, Korea noticed smoke coming from a colleague’s briefcase today. They rushed the briefcase outside where local news accounts say it exploded in flames. Is this what reporters call a “hot assignment”?

The notebook computer was reportedly made by LG Electronics, and the battery by a subsidiary. This incident brings new attention to the hazards that mobile device batteries may pose. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has just last week imposed new restrictions on batteries that airline passengers may carry on board.

Lithium and lithium ion battery technologies are at the focus of safety concerns. The TSA website has an extensive discussion of battery safety, as well as transportation rules. Find it here.

A typical LG Notebook

Click here to read more from this entry.

We call Greenville, North Carolina, USA home - where LBA was founded in 1963. Greenville is a city of nearly 100,000 people. It is also home to East Carolina University and its well known medical school. In past years Greenville was one of the largest tobacco markets in the world, which has given way to diversified technology manufacturing. Greenville is also home to the largest Voice of America facility in the world!

As you can see from the map, we are near the Atlantic coast in an area of farms, forests, and much water. Boating, golfing, hunting, and fishing are popular pastimes of LBA employees.

You are invited to visit us anytime that you are in this part of the world.

LBA Group is excited to announce a partnership with Ex-Im Bank. The Export-Import Bank will support the financing of U.S. goods and services to creditworthy LBA customers in qualifying countries.

According to our CFO Wayne Hildebrandt, this creates a team that empowers LBA to offer highly competitive financing terms to our qualifying international customers.

LBA Group announces that it has made Inc. magazine’s list of the top 5,000 fastest-growing businesses in the nation with a ranking of 3,613 and a three-year sales growth of 80 percent. Inc. 5,000 lists companies, that when put together, represents the back bone of the U.S. economy. The Inc. 5,000 is an extension of Inc. magazine’s annual 500 list.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just before the start of the 2007 NAB Radio Show in late September, LBA Technology developed two innovative products.

On the floor at the Radio Show’s exposition, we featured the new CAMI(TM) isolation system and our new RF vacuum contactor.

Read the rest of this entry »

Governor Mike Easley has signed Bill 831, which will standardize the process for siting wireless facilities in North Carolina. This will be the focus of the discussion held at the Carolina’s Wireless Association 3rd Quarter Luncheon that was initially announced back in early August. See our previous post to read more about the time and place for the event. To see the text of the ratified bill, visit the NC state website here.