The medical community is all smiles today, since the FCC has decided to allocate a bit of radio spectrum for potentially life-altering wireless devices. Designed for stroke patients and people laid low with brain or spinal cord injuries, these so-called medical micropower networks (MMN) use a hard and fast of implanted electrodes and a wearable wireless controller to stimulate the muscles of a paralyzed user. In an announcement issued last week, the FCC announced that these devices were approved to be used inside the 413 to 457MHz range, as requested in a petition from the Alfred Mann Foundation, which has already constructed several prototype MMN systems. The organization’s CEO, David Hankin, immediately lauded the ruling, adding that the inspiration now plans to launch trials of MMN systems on humans, inside the hopes of receiving clearance from the FDA. “The FCC’s decision removes the main significant roadblock to helping people,” Hankin said. “The frequency that was approved to be used is the most productive for penetrating tissue with radio waves and without which the recent generation of our implantable neurostimulator technology will be impossible to advance.”
The importance of the occasion wasn’t lost on FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, either. “These broadband-enabled technologies are life-changing, impacting individuals, families, and communities in ways we will be able to only start to imagine,” Genachowski said in a prepared statement. His sentiments were echoed in remarks from fellow commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who heralded the call as “probably the most important the commission has adopted during my tenure,” citing its potential to “greatly improve the lives of these who’re faced with a number of today’s most difficult medical challenges.”
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