The Human Body and Millimeter-Wave Wireless Communication Systems: Interactions and Implications

TL;DR

This paper investigates how millimeter-wave signals interact with the human body, analyzing propagation, reflection, and thermal effects, and proposes a temperature-based method for safety compliance evaluation.

Contribution

It provides new insights into millimeter-wave propagation near the body and introduces a temperature-based safety assessment technique.

Findings

34% to 42% of incident power reflected at skin surface at 60 GHz

Power density alone is inadequate for safety compliance assessment

Proposes a temperature-based approach for evaluating safety

Abstract

With increasing interest in millimeter wave wireless communications, investigations on interactions between the human body and millimeter wave devices are becoming important. This paper gives examples of current regulatory requirements, and provides an example for a 60 GHz transceiver. Also, the propagation characteristics of millimeter-waves in the presence of the human body are studied, and four models representing different body parts are considered to evaluate thermal effects of millimeter-wave radiation on the body. Simulation results show that about 34% to 42% of the incident power is reflected at the skin surface at 60 GHz. This paper shows that power density is not suitable to determine exposure compliance when millimeter wave devices are used very close to the body. A temperature-based technique for the evaluation of safety compliance is proposed in this paper.