携帯電話機能抑止装置が医療機器 · 無線LANに及ぼす影響

抄録

Cell-phones have a possibility to interfere with medical equipment, and using a cell-phone is restricted in some or all areas in many medical institutions. Cell-phone jamming equipment (CJE) has been introduced in critical areas to prevent cell-phone use. The CJE that were developed for medical use will not interfere with medical equipment nor other communication systems. There are many such devices that one can easily get on the internet or by mail order. This study investigated the malfunction of irradiated medical equipment and Wireless LAN (WLAN) by that type of CJE. We investigated 20 medical devices and 3 WLAN routers. The CJE interfered with four types of medical equipment and all WLAN routers that were investigated. One syringe pump raised an occlusion alarm and stopped infusion at a maximum distance of 22 cm from the CJE. One WLAN router was disconnected at a maximum distance of 6.2 meter. The maximum interference distance of medical equipment was comparatively smaller than that of the WLAN routers. Therefore, serious malfunction of medical equipment by CJE is probably not threatening. However, the malfunction of WLAN might affect clinical work using networks, because some WLAN routers or communication systems were susceptible to interference by CJE.