Giants battle for spectrum rights: Boeing vs. GE, Philips, IBM (US)

Donna Cusano

The latest battle for spectrum (the last in the US being non-digital TV) before the FCC (back in their other business) is now in the area of ‘short range health devices’ or BSN–body sensor networks to replace all those bedside cables.  According to GE Healthcare, the optimum spectrum for chip power management is the 2360 MHz to 2400 MHz frequency range.  However, Boeing uses that same range for flight testing; the two uses despite 2% overlap are not compatible.  Not helpful is that the GE spokesperson then in his comments includes home monitoring and the potential savings. Is this critical to the development of remote patient monitoring, or just some ‘big boys’ slugging it out?  You decide.  Bloomberg.com in a swivet, ‘GE Healthcare Path to Patient-Monitoring Boom Impeded by Boeing’, a soberer backgrounder from Sep 2009’s ComputerWorld.