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Project Synopsis
Background Wireless
communication is a key element of many schemes to reduce the environmental
impact of transport or to provide the pervasive network access needed for
future urban environments (including vehicle passengers). However, field exposure
issues associated with mobile telephone handsets and base stations continue
to generate considerable concern amongst many sectors of the general public,
and similar negative publicity regarding human field exposure at low
frequencies has also been a significant issue for the power distribution
industry. Consequently, ensuring electromagnetic safety is an increasingly
important issue for the design, operation and public acceptability of such
systems. Existing recommendations and limits for human field exposure do not readily apply to resonant environments such as vehicles and buildings. Furthermore, the field distributions that arise in these structures are so complex that reliable assessment of the exposure threat by measurement alone may not be a practicable solution. However, simulation techniques offer the potential to investigate these issues, and to avoid many of the limitations of measurements. Objectives and expected results This project addresses the development and experimental validation of large-scale simulations to assess the characteristics and safety of fields due to radio transmissions in resonant environments. The project will use both car and aircraft test cases, and aims to: · develop strategies for simulating the fields within partial cavities at high frequencies; · characterize the high frequency properties of typical materials used in furnishings; · construct a low disruption, scanning field measurement system for use in vehicles; · validate the simulation results against reliable measurement data; · investigate the effects of furnishings and personnel on the field distribution; · develop understanding of the field distributions resulting from a wide range of communication systems and source types (eg. external, vehicle-mounted, personal); · investigate possible mitigation measures to limit field exposure levels. Although
the project uses car and aircraft test cases, selected as widespread examples
of resonant electromagnetic environments, the same issues and solutions are
also relevant to other environments of this nature where wireless
communications will be much more widely deployed in future. Consortium The consortium includes organisations with expertise in electromagnetic modelling, antenna engineering and associated measurements techniques, as well as end-users from the automotive, aerospace and building industries. The composition of the project consortium is detailed in the table below.
Project schedule The project started in February 2006, and is due to complete in January 2010. Contact details Further details about the project may be obtained by contacting: info@sefere.org Please direct comments regarding the
content of this web site to: info@sefere.org
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