Radiated susceptibility of medical equipment in health care units: 2G and 3G mobile phones as an interferer

Abstract

Mobile phones have been started to be in concern as an electromagnetic interference source in hospitals in Turkey as well as other countries. There are about 50 million subscribers in the country that each patient can be assumed as a mobile phone holder, and they always want to be in service. Meanwhile, hospital buildings are very huge buildings which are not allowing deep radio penetration through the holes. While weak signal coverage level allows mobile phones camping on operator, it forces mobiles to operate at its maximum power level of 2 W. While ANSI C63.18 offers safety distances (m) for medical devices for mobile phone usage, this study points out that output power (equivalently distance) cannot be a reason itself. This phenomenon has been examined by three-dimensional electromagnetic field distribution measurement through the health units. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:2657–2661, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26321