SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF THE

COMPLIANCE ASSESSMENT
of
PORTABLE WIRLESS DEVICES
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Jafar Keshvari
Chairman, International Electrotechnical Commission
IEC MT1 (IEC 62209-1 & IEC 62209-2)
 Outline
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• Background & Historical review
• Ionizing and non-ionizing radiation
• EMF exposure standards
• Why to develop RF compliance standards
• RF measurement/assessment standards in International Electro-technical
Commission (IEC)
• Future of IEC wireless devices compliance standards
 Background & Historical review
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• Along the history, philosophers and scientists have explored and developed
several natural phenomena that facilitated the life of the humankind.
• The philosopher Thales of Milteus (640-546 B.C) is thought to have been the
first person who observed the electrical properties of amber and explored the
magnetic properties of lodestone.
• The twitch of the leg of a dead frog when dissected with a moisted metal scapel
that has been noticed by Galvani in 1786, had led Volta to invent the electric
battery .
• Armstrong demonstrated FM radio transmission in 1933.
• Advanced communications and telecommunications infrastructure have
reduced transportation needs, led to reduction of fuel consumption and
consequently reduction of air pollution from carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide,
nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and other pollutants.
 Background & Historical review…
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• Electromagnetic Radiation: consists of waves of electric and magnetic
energy moving together through space.
• All electromagnetic radiation can be classified by frequency from the
extremely low to extremely high frequencies.
• Extremely high frequency radiation such as Ultraviolet (UV) and X-rays
is called “Ionizing Radiation” because it is powerful enough to effect
changes in the atoms of matter it strikes, by breaking chemical bonds
(ionization) , thus altering their chemical and biological nature .
• Electromagnetic radiation at those frequencies below the UV band are
generally classified as “Non-Ionizing Radiation” because they typically
lack the energy to effect changes in atomic structure.
The Electromagnetic Spectrum
 Background & Historical review (Ionizing and
non-ionizing radiation
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• Non-ionizing radiation, when incident on matter, is incapable of liberating
electrons (i.e. ionizing) from atoms and molecules.
• There is a minimum quantum energy below which a radiation would be unable
to bring about ionization. The quantum energy, E, of radiation is given by:

E = Ћf
where f and Ћ denote frequency of radiation and Plank’s constant respectively.
• For minimum ionization energy of 12 electron volts (eV), since h = 4.1357e-15
eV.s, the minimum frequency of radiation would be around 2.9e15 Hz (2900
TeraHz). This corresponds to a wavelength of about 1.034e-07m or 103.4nm.
This lies near the lower wavelength-edge of the Ultraviolet (UV) spectrum
• Energy quanta of RF far below level needed to break chemical bonds in DNA
 Background & Historical review…
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Non-ionizing radiation wavelengths and frequencies
         
λ/ƒ  ULTRAVIOLET VISIBLE INFRA MW
  LIGHT RED &
RF
     
UVC **
UVB **
UVA**

 
200* 280 315 – 400 780nm 1mm
(λ ) – – 400 – – -
Wave- 280 315 nm 780 1mm 30km
length, nm nm nm
 
1500 1071– 952 – 750 385THz 300GHz
(ƒ) – 952 750 – - -
Fre- 1071T THz THz 385THz 300GHz 10kHz
quency Hz
** WHO (World Health Organization) classification of the non-ionizing UV spectrum.
* 100nm as per the International Commission on Illumination.
 Background & Historical review…
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• Wirless communication devices operates at frequencies 100-6000 MHz.
• Mobile phones operate at a variety of frequencies between about 800 and 2200
MHz.
• Mobile Phones base station antennas emit EMR in the range 1800 – 2000 MHz
• Computer monitors emit a broad range of EMR from 30 Hz up to 300 GHz.
• Electromagnetic waves may produce biological effects which may sometimes,
but not always, lead to adverse health effects. It is important to understand the
difference between the two:
• A biological effect occurs when exposure to electromagnetic waves causes
some noticeable or detectable physiological change in a biological system.
• An adverse health effect occurs when the biological effect is outside the
normal range for the body to compensate, and thus leads to some detrimental
health condition.
 Background & Historical review…
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• Does fast evolving Communications and Information Technologies has negative
Impacts on health and Environment:

• The electromagnetic exposure associated with equipment use?

• Equipment waste disposal?

Leave the answer to you, rather focus on:

• How to evaluate the energy absorption in the human body caused by

electromagnetic expsoure
 Wireless technology RF Sources
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 Exposure to common EMF sources
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 RF-human body Interaction analysis?
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• The quantification challenge of RF interaction with human body?

• Micro and micro approach?

• The dimension of the wave is much larger than the human body.

• The dimension of the wave is much smaller than the human body.

• The dimension of the wave is about the same size as the human body.
Low-frequency electric and magnetic fields
f = 0 - 30 kHz
=  – 10 km

Magnetic field
Electric field

Surface
charge

Currents
Circulating
currents
Radio frequency electromagnetic fields
f = 30 kHz – 300 GHz
 = 10 km – 1 mm

Radiowave

Heating
 Optical radiation
f = 300 GHz-1000 THz
 = 1 mm – 100 nm

Optical radiation

Heating,
photochemical
reactions

Epidermis Dermis
 How to quantify RF energy absorption, SAR

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The power absorbed per unit mass of tissue is referred to as Specific
Absorption Rate (SAR).

For sinusoidal EM fields, the time rate of energy deposited in a small

volume is defined as Specific Absorption Rate:

2
E
SAR  (σ  ωε') (W/kg)
ρ
σ and ε’ indicate how much energy will be absorbed by the material
Permittivity ε:
Describes how much induced polarization and partial
alignment of permanent electric dipoles occures for a given applied
electric field E

Conductivity σ:
How much conduction current density will be produced by
a given applied E.
 EMF EXPOSURE STANDARDS
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• ICNIRP

• guidelines developed by a committee of appointed experts, no industry

members
• ICNIRP’s guidance is equally applicable to both base stations, phones and
other radio transmitting equipments
• closed meetings
• Endorsed by WHO
Rationale behind limits for human RF exposure in
International Commission for Non-Ionizing
Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines
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• A biological effect occurs when exposure to electromagnetic fields causes

some noticeable or detectable physiological change in a biological system.
• An adverse health effect occurs when the biological effect is outside the
normal range for the body to compensate.
• In the RF region thermal effects are the stablished harmfull effect
• Only replicated studies can be a scietific basis of expsoure standards.
• Identified behavioural changes i.e. a rise in whole body temperature in excess
of 1°C at a Specific Energy Absorption Rate (SAR) of 1- 4w/kg.
 RF exposure limits and safety margins
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• Limits are given for whole body SAR and localized SAR to prevent excessive
tissue heating due to RF exposure

• Limit for whole body SAR is based on a threshold of 4W/kg (corresponds to

about 1°C body temperature rise). Safety factors 10 and 50 are used for
occupational and general public exposure respectively

• The rationale for local SAR limit and averaging mass is implicitly based on
exposure effects (thermal) on eye with a safety factor of 50
 Exposure from mobile phone

• SAR non-uniform (local SAR

value usually below 1 W/kg in
10 g tissue mass)

• Temperature more uniform

• Equilibrium local temperature

increase is <0.2 °C at
maximum
 T in head
(10 g average mass, antenna average emitted power of 0.25 W)
 ICNIRP: threshold-based

high Established health effects

Threshold of established health effects
Exposure

Reduction factors

low Exposure limit

Source: ICNIRP
 ICNIRP basic restrictions on exposure on the
frequency range 10MHz to 10GHz

Tissue SAR Limit Average

Region W/kg Parameters
Occupational General Mass Time
Public (g) (mins)
Whole 0.4 0.08 - 6
Body
Head and 10 2 10 6
Trunk
Limbs 20 4 10 6
 Flux of electromagnetic energy
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EMF source Approximate energy flux

(watts/square meter)
Sunlight at the earth's surface at noon 1350 W/m2

Infrared heat radiation from a living person 20 W/m2

Mobile base station 70 W/m2 – 3 mW/m2 a)

Microwave emission from a living person 3 mW/m2

a) 30 – 2000 MHz, Göteborg and various sites, Sweden (Uddmar T, Thesis, Chalmers U., 1999)
ICNIRP limit 4.5 W/m2 at 900 MHz
 Introduction: Measurement and Computational
standards
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• All portable wireless devices have to comply with RF exposure limits before
putting them in the market.
• Compliances standards for the portable RF wireless devices were developed by
International Electrotechnical Commission IEC and IEEE mainly relevant to the
mobile phones [IEC-62209-1 2005, IEEE-1528, 2003].
• The merge of new technologies and different usage positions of the mobile devices
led to development of relevant compliance standard to cover the exposure
evaluation of the other parts of the body other than the head [IEC-62209-2, 2010].
• Although the SAR was established at the highest certified level, the actual SAR
level for the mobile phone during use is generally much lower than the maximum
values. In fact, since mobile phones are designed to operate at many different
power levels, they only use the minimum level of power required to provide a
connection to the network. In theory, the closer you are to a base station antenna,
the lower the power level required by the mobile phone.
 RF compliance assessment standards
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• Compliance can be assessed through measurements or calculations.
• There is no meaning for existence of exposure Guidelines/standards if it
is not possible to measure it.
• Practically it is not possible to measure the energy absorption in the
body of living humans!
• In order to assess the exposure limits there has to be standardized
procedures to evaluate those limits.

 There is a need to develop phantoms head/body phantoms

• Advanced instrumentation is needed for this purpose

• Accurate procedure with well defined and quantified uncertainty is
needed.
International Electro-technical Commission (IEC)
Wireless devices RF Assessment Standards
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• IEC-MT62209,
- Part 1, SAR for handsets. To revise the standard
IEC62209-1: “Procedure to Measure the Specific
Absorption Rate (SAR) for Hand-Held Mobile Telephones
in the Frequency Range of 300 MHz to 3 GHz” by the
end of 2011.
- Part 2, SAR for other handheld and body worn devices. To
revise the IEC62209-2: “Procedure to determine the
specific absorption rate (SAR) for wireless
communication devices used in close proximity to the
human body (frequency range of 30 MHz to 6 GHz)
standard by 2013.
- To unify IEC62209 part 1 & 2 standards by 2013.
 SAM
Field measurement unit Head phantom
 SAM head phantom
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• the Standard Anthropomorphic Model - is a head shell phantom intended
primarily for use in the measurement of exposure from mobile phones (or
other hand-held transmitters)
• SAM is defined as standard phantom allowing a conservative measure of the
radio exposure of people of all origins and all ages. The ear region is defined
with reference points and planes to facilitate reproducible positioning of
telecommunications devices.
• The dimensions of a 90th percentile male head were selected for the
phantom.
• IEC, CENELEC, and IEEE have developed standard procedures for
assessing exposures from mobile phones which specify the use of a SAM
phantom.
•
Device under test Tissue simulating liquid
 Mobile phone exposure assessment
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Thank you!

Questions?