Calculation of SAR and temperature rise in a high-resolution vascularized model of the human eye and orbit when exposed to a dipole antenna at 900, 1500 and 1800 MHz

Abstract

The eye is considered to be a critical organ when determining safety standards for radiofrequency radiation. With a detailed anatomy of the human eye and orbit inserted in a whole-head model, the specific absorption rates (SARs) and thermal effects were determined under exposure to a dipole antenna representing a mobile phone operating at 900, 1500 and 1800 MHz with an output power of 1 W. The temperature rise was calculated by taking the blood flow into account either by the Pennes bioheat model or by including the discrete vasculature (DIVA). In addition, a simple spherical model using constant heat transfer coefficients was used. Peak SARs in the humour are 4.5, 7.7 and 8.4 W kg−1 for 900, 1500 and 1800 MHz respectively. Averaged over the whole eyeball, the SARs are 1.7, 2.5 and 2.2 W kg−1. The maximum temperature rises in the eye due to the exposure are 0.22, 0.27 and 0.25 °C for exposure of 900, 1500 and 1800 MHz, respectively, calculated with DIVA. For the Pennes bioheat model, the temperature rises are slightly lower: 0.19, 0.24, 0.22 °C respectively. For the simple spherical model, the maximum temperature rises are 0.15, 0.22 and 0.20 °C. The peak temperature is located in the anterior part of the lens for 900 MHz and deeper in the eye for higher frequencies, and in the posterior part of the lens for 1500 MHz and close to the centre of the eyeball for 1800 MHz. For these RF safety applications, both DIVA and the Pennes bioheat model could be used to relate the SAR distributions to the resulting temperature distributions. Even though, for these artificial exposure conditions, the SAR values are not in compliance with safety guidelines, the maximum temperature rises in the eye are too small to give harmful effects. The temperature in the eye also remains below body core temperature.