Specific absorption rate assessment in a human head model exposed to radiation from cellular phone

Abstract

The increasing use of electromagnetic (EM) devices has caused growing concern about possible health hazards produced by EM radiation. So it is imperative to be able to quantify both the absorption of electromagnetic energy in the human body and the resulting thermal effect. In this study, the specific absorption rate of radiofrequency radiation (900 MHz) from cellular phones on the human head was investigated. A comprehensive review of the available data on EM radiation safety standards and electrical properties of human tissues was added.The electrical properties of the tissues are generally frequency dependent. Thermal properties are, in contrast, fixed and can simply be adapted from research literature on hyperthermia. As it is not possible to perform the experiments on human in vivo, we simulated the human head and the antenna radiated in 900 MHz. Two geometrical models for the head can be considered, namely the spherical model and the realistic head model. In this study the spherical model with a single layer and three layers was simulated by using the Agilent High Frequency Structure Simulator, which employs the finite element method (FEM), and the EM power absorption rate of tissue was calculated by a C++ program. The results were compared with the results of the studies in the literature performed by using Finite Difference Time Domain Method and Moment Method and Green's Function and great agreement was obtained.