On the computation and comparison of specific absorption rate (SAR) in a skin tissue using analytical and numerical methods

Abstract

Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) is a measure of safety and a requirement for portable radio frequency devices which are regulated mainly by the standards recommended by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).Accurate approximation of SAR is therefore important for safety as well as for compliance purposes. This paper presents the analytical representation and derivation of the SAR from the basics of electromagnetic theory, Maxwell Equations, and law of conservation of energy in electromagnetic theory. It is shown, analytically, that for a time harmonic electromagnetic wave propagating in a homogeneous lossy medium having permittivity ϵ, permeability µ, and conductivity σ, the time rate change of electric and magnetic energy densities at steady state inside a given volume is zero. It is also shown that at the steady state, the net power flowing through a volume, bounded by a surface is equal to the power dissipated in that volume. Furthermore, this work demonstrates that at the steady state, SAR can be represented in terms of power density or in terms of power dissipated in the given volume. Moreover, calculation of SAR for a 1 mm × 1 mm × 0.01 m box having the dielectric properties of human skin was performed using the derived formulas and then compared with the numerical results, 1 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and has undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as