Industry Intelligence

Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems are widely used for applications that include inventory management, package tracking, toll collection, passport identification and airport luggage security. More recently, these systems have found their way into medical environments to track patients, equipment assets and staff members.

There is, however, currently no published standardised, repeatable methodology by which manufacturers of RFID equipment or medical devices can assess potential issues with electromagnetic interference and evaluate means to mitigate them.

To resolve these concerns, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI; Atlanta, GA, USA) recently began developing testing protocols for RFID technology in the health care setting. The test protocol development is being overseen by AIM Global, the international trade association representing automatic identification and mobility technology solution providers, and also includes MET Laboratories, a company that provides testing and certification services for medical devices.

“A comprehensive set of test protocols, which are sufficiently precise to permit repeatable results, is required to understand if there is an interaction between various types of RFID systems and active implantable medical devices, electronic medical equipment, in vitro diagnostic equipment and biologics. Only after the protocols are developed will we be able to investigate the cause of any interactions, the result of any interactions, and ways manufacturers might eliminate or mitigate interactions,” says Craig K. Harmon, president and CEO of Q.E.D. Systems and chairman of AIM Global’s RFID Experts Group. This group is overseeing the Health Care Initiative and includes representatives from 40 organisations in the United States, Europe and Asia.

GTRI researchers will test how RFID systems affect the function of implantable and wearable medical devices, such as pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, neurostimulators, implantable infusion pumps and cardiac monitors.

“The internal components, firmware and hardware of every company’s devices are different, meaning that each device can respond differently to the same electromagnetic environment. Since there have been various preliminary tests and publications from different organizations indicating that there may or may not be issues with RFID system environments and these devices, it is important to standardise the way to test such devices,“ says Ralph Herkert, director of GTRI’s Medical Device Test Center.

Herkert and Gisele Bennett, directors of GTRI’s Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory, will evaluate and determine the best method for measuring whether interference takes place as a result of RFID emission in both active and passive RFID technologies covering the spectrum from low-frequency to ultra high-frequency.

The researchers will test whether radio frequency-emitting devices cause any negative effects on the medical devices, and under what conditions these effects might occur. Testing will also determine whether specific medical devices are particularly susceptible to certain radio frequency identification characteristics and if any corrective actions can be taken to mitigate such susceptibility.
www.gtri.gatech.edu