Modelling the Influence of Electromagnetic Field on the User of a Wearable IoT Device Used in a WSN for Monitoring and Reducing Hazards in the Work Environment

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the absorption in a user’s head of an electromagnetic field (EMF) emitted by the Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth module of a wearable small Internet of Things (IoT) electronic device (emitting EMF of up to 100 mW), in order to test the hypothesis that EMF has an insignificant influence on humans, and to compare the levels of such EMF absorption in various scenarios when using this device. The modelled EMF source was a meandered inverted-F antenna (MIFA)-type antenna of the ESP32-WROOM-32 radio module used in wearable devices developed within the reported study. To quantify the EMF absorption, the specific energy absorption rate (SAR) values were calculated in a multi-layer ellipsoidal model of the human head (involving skin, fat, skull bones and brain layers). The obtained results show up to 10 times higher values of SAR from the MIFA located in the headband, in comparison to its location on the helmet. Only wearable IoT devices (similar in construction and way of use to the investigated device) emitting at below 3 mW equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) from Wi-Fi/Bluetooth communications modules may be considered environmentally insignificant EMF sources.

Evolution and Applications of Recent Sensing Technology for Occupational Risk Assessment: A Rapid Review of the Literature

“…Indeed, most (n = 38) of the scientific papers retrieved by applying the abovementioned research query were published from 2010 to 2021, and only two papers [36,37] were published before 2010. Seven studies [38][39][40][41][42][43][44] were performed in both actual-occupational and laboratory settings and seventeen studies [5,11,18,19,25,26,37,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] were conducted in applied field-based settings, while eight [31,36,[55][56][57][58][59][60] were performed in a laboratory environment. At the time of writing (February 2022), most of the sensors used in the reviewed studies were available on the market.…”

“…Since the noise is a physical hazard that does not disperse from a certain source the same as other pollutants, the sensors' network that had been created had a limited ability, due to the abovementioned issues, to capture impact or impulse noise. Misistia and colleagues [40] conducted a study to assess the response to the BOP (blast over pressure) of wearable sensors against industry-standard pressure transducers. In this case, the Tourmaline ICP pressure-sensor model (PCB piezometric, Depew, NY, USA) was adopted to evaluate the sensor's orientation error in military-personnel helmets.…”

Modelling and Evaluation of the Absorption of the 866 MHz Electromagnetic Field in Humans Exposed near to Fixed I-RFID Readers Used in Medical RTLS or to Monitor PPE

“…These include: (1) “Internet of Things–From Research and Innovation to Market Deployment”, published in 2014, which describes the commercial exploitation of many of the IoT research and innovation lines that had been developing up to that moment, as well as its proposals for the future [ 38 ], or (2) the first joint text on the Internet of Things approved by the European authorities on 16 September 2014–specifically “Opinion 8/2014 on Recent Developments on the Internet of Things” [ 39 ]. Although Opinion 8/2014 raises many scenarios considering electromagnetic emissions—considering wearables, biometrics and domestic—only a few refer to these electromagnetic scenarios [ 40 ] and the majority focus exclusively on the information-related vulnerability of users such as the loss of their information, malware, unauthorised access to personal data, the intrusive use of portable devices or illegal surveillance [ 41 ]. Since then, the European Commission has continued to promote and finance lines of research on IoT, mainly for the development of the so-called digital single market, with new documents and standards [ 42 ] promoting this technological gamble, but again without referring to the energy of electromagnetic emissions.…”

Mathematical simulation of adaptive vector finite element method for the analysis of electromagnetic vibration spectrum field response

“…In order to eliminate the singularity of the electromagnetic vibration spectrum field near the source point, the electromagnetic vibration spectrum field is decomposed into the primary field ( with ) and conductivity = − the secondary field produced by the anomalous body ( with ). The primary field can be obtained by the pseudo-analytical method [24][25][26].…”