No, the Radianse Solution was not tested in the JAMA article entitled “Electromagnetic Interference from Radio Frequency Identification Inducing Potentially Hazardous Incidents in Critical Care Medical Equipment.” In fact the Radianse system is fundamentally different than the tested systems.

No. While we certainly understand and want to respond to market concern, we view the study as confirmation that the choice made by Radianse founders to use 433MHz frequency and low power active tags was the right one for healthcare. In six years and hundreds of millions of hours of use within hospitals, there has never been a report of electromagnetic interference – precisely the intention when the system was designed.

The study evaluated location systems that used passive and semi-active RFID tags that require external exciters to power or activate the tags. Depending upon what is being tracked (i.e., patients, staff, equipment, etc.), the study determined that the high power levels and frequency of the Exciters and resulting Tag transmissions may have adverse effects and induce interference.

The Radianse solution uses the 433MHz unlicensed protected frequency set aside by the Federal Communications Commission specifically for this type of application. It is in the same UHF band that was used for decades to monitor EKGs of ambulatory patients -- with no interference.

Radianse selected the 433MHz frequency because it provides desirable signal propagation and body worn properties without interference with existing hospital telemetry or medical equipment. It is currently being used in hospitals specifically for location.

The Radianse solution emits about 200,000 times less power than the systems tested within the study. At the highest power level, the Radianse Active RFID Tags operate at a power level of 10 uWatts or an average of 0.00001 Watts.

The Radianse ID-Tags are active and transmit at preset intervals, so they do not require exciter and receiver combinations (which was the source high power output and interference in the study) to power the tags and induce transmission. Based on this design, very low power is emitted-- receivers simply listen for and receive the signal from the Radianse ID-Tag at 433 MHz.

The Study used passive and semi-active tags that required external exciters to power or activate the tags to broadcast the stored information. The tags evaluated needed to pass within a predefined distance from the exciter in order for the information to be picked up. The farther the distance from the tag to the exciter, the higher the power requirements were for the exciter.

As documented in the Study, the high power levels, frequency of the exciters, and resulting tag transmissions may have caused interference and adverse effects.

Mike Dempsey, Radianse Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, served on the American Hospital Association's taskforce on medical telemetry, acted as Chairman of the Service Rules Committee, and Vice-Chair of the Frequency Allocation Committee. Within this role, Mike was responsible for creating the rules for the FCC and FDA on how the radio spectrum is allocated in hospitals.

Dempsey and Paul Tessier, another founder, chose to use the 433MHz frequency for the Radianse Solution based on their 40+ years of combined experience developing healthcare technologies, specifically medical telemetry and other critical care devices.

No. Radianse customers have not reporting any experience of interference or adverse events related to the Radianse ID-Tag’s proximity to medical equipment/devices. In fact, our existing customers have willingly provided testimonials to potential customers about the absence of interference.