Media Contact: 
Katie Gorscak (202) 418-2156
katie.gorscak@fcc.gov

For Immediate Release

FCC GRANTS MIT WAIVER REQUEST OF PART 15 RULES FOR INDOOR HEALTH MONITORING DEVICE 
Order Permits Certification and Marketing of WiTrack System
 for Remote Patient Monitoring
  -- 
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2020—The Federal Communications Commission today announced that it has adopted under delegated authority a request by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a waiver of the Commission’s rules for unlicensed devices to permit the certification and marketing of its WiTrack system.

WiTrack is a wall-mounted system that allows caregivers to remotely monitor the health and safety of patients and senior adults without physical contact.  It wirelessly monitors physiological characteristics such as gait, breathing, heart rate, and sleep, and is designed to detect potentially life-threatening events, such as falls.

“Now, more than ever, we need to support and enable innovation in health care,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.  “That includes innovative wireless devices like WiTrack, which I had the chance to see in action when I visited MIT Professor Dina Katabi’s lab in 2018.  Devices like these can be the difference between life or death, especially now when remote monitoring is critical for patients, seniors and their caregivers as we all practice social distancing.  Through remote monitoring devices, hospitals can more effectively manage demand when spikes in severe illnesses stress their resources by allowing them to identify and quickly respond to cases of aggravated illnesses.  Whether deployed in a hospital, assisted living facility, or in an at-home setting, innovations like these can help keep our loved ones safe when we can’t always be in the same place.”

MIT sought a waiver of the rules specifying the amount of bandwidth that WiTrack’s transmissions could occupy and the methodology for demonstrating operational compliance.  The Commission found that a waiver would not undermine the purpose of these technical provisions and that when WiTrack devices are operated under the specified waiver conditions, they should pose no greater risk of causing harmful interference to communication services than those devices already permitted under the existing rules. These devices will operate under the Commission’s Part 15 rules governing the operation of ultra-wideband devices.  Part 15 permits low-power radio frequency devices to operate without an individual license from the Commission.

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This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.  See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).