NSF/FDA Scholars: Computer Modeling of EM Energy Deposition within Human Subjects under Various RF Sources

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

0332957 Chen This work is supported under the guidelines of the NSF/FDA Scholar-in-Residence at FDA Program (SIR). SIR is an interagency partnership for the investigation of scientific and engineering issues concerning emerging trends in medical device technology and is designed to enable investigators in science, engineering, and mathematics to develop research collaborations within the intramural research environment at the FDA. The investigation includes two related projects to utilize computer software packages for analyzing the absorption of radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic energy in humans exposed to emissions from certain RF transmitters. The first project deals with the characterization and development of realistic human models for assessing safety with respect to exposure of pregnant women and children to certain types of RF electronic surveillance devices, such as those used in department stores. The goal of the second project is to characterize the uncertainty in analyzing exposure to RF devices such as cellular telephones using a recently developed model of the human head that is now being widely used. No human subjects are involved in the investigation as data is available in an existing and extensive data base of human images. The researchers will work closely with the Electrophysics Branch of the FDA Center for Medical Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), and the Principal Investigator is to work full time for two summer months each year of the two year project in the FDA intramural laboratory. The investigation may answer two important questions that currently are points of debate: (1) How does body shape/size/age effect the calculations for specific absorption rate (SAR) of radio frequency energy, and (2) Is the Specific Anthromorphic Mannequin (SAM) head a valid model generally?