Numerical Analysis of Electromagnetic Field Exposure from 5G Mobile Communications at 28 GHZ in Adults and Children Users for Real-World Exposure Scenarios

Abstract

The recent development of millimeter-wave (mmW) technologies, such as the fifth-generation (5G) network, comes with concerns related to user exposure. A quite large number of dosimetry studies above 6 GHz have been conducted, with the main purpose being to establish the correlation between different dosimetric parameters and the skin surface temperature elevation. However, the dosimetric studies from 28 GHz user equipment using different voxel models have not been comprehensively discussed yet. In this study, we used the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method for the estimation of the absorption of radiofrequency (RF) energy from a microstrip patch antenna array (28 GHz) in different human models. Specifically, we analyzed different exposure conditions simulating three real common scenarios (a phone call scenario, message writing scenario, and browsing scenario) regarding the use of smartphones/tablets by four different individuals (adult male and female, child male and female). From the results of Absorbed Power Density (Sab), it is possible to conclude that all the considered exposure scenarios comply with the safety limits, both for adult and children models. However, the high values of the local Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in the superficial tissues and the slight differences in its distribution between adults and children suggest the need for further and more detailed analysis.