Volumetric 1.9-GHz fields in a hospital corridor: electromagnetic compatibility implications

The current draft of the next medical-equipment EMC standard, IEC 60601-1-2, will recommend usage of free-space minimal separations (between RF sources of given power and medical devices of given immunity) to minimize EMI malfunction of medical equipment. We have previously reported that such separations were useful in most hospital corridors, but such reports were based on mid-corridor measurements. We now describe preliminary three-dimensional 1.9-GHz extensions of these reports. We found that mid-corridor path loss was less than that at corridor walls. Path loss near floors was much less then that at higher locations. Because medical devices are rarely placed on the floor, our previously reported minimum-separation recommendations are still likely to apply at most corridor locations.