Contrast in specific absorption rate for a typical plant model due to discrepancy among global and national electromagnetic standards

Abstract

Different global and national electromagnetic regulatory standards have been developed based upon significantly diversified premises, developmental backgrounds, and objectives to safeguard life. Some standards aim at minimizing short duration thermal effects; some try to mitigate non-thermal effects over prolonged duration; and rest have adopted precautionary limits. As a consequence, these global and national electromagnetic standards substantially differ from each other. Moreover, in spite of lossy dielectric nature of plant tissues, electromagnetic energy absorption rate level estimations for a complete plant model have neither been reported in literature nor been considered while preparing safety standards. To this end, Specific Absorption Rate levels have been estimated for a typical Catharanthus roseus plant model — typical geometric shape of the plant prototype has been modelled considering the most practical scenario. Detailed analyses on variation of Specific Absorption Rate levels due to wide discrepancy among the existing electromagnetic regulatory standards have been reported in a quantitative manner. This particular work encompasses dielectric properties measurement of different Catharanthus roseus plant samples, modelling a typical Catharanthus roseus plant containing leaves, flower, and twig with appropriate dielectric properties defined, and finally the simulation-based investigations to estimate the variation in Specific Absorption Rate levels based on the contrasting electromagnetic exposure standards. Specific Absorption Rate levels have been reported at five different telecommunication bands as per two occupational and four public exposure scenarios. Variations among the estimated Specific Absorption Rate levels have been noted to be significant and presented in detail in this article. A total of thirty rigorous simulations have been carried out along with one hundred and twenty Specific Absorption Rate data evaluations to ensure accurate comparison among different electromagnetic standards. Noted vast variations among estimated Specific Absorption Rate levels based on contrasting electromagnetic standards over the frequencies indicate the necessity of re-evaluating all existing guidelines and also call for the need of maintaining a global uniformity among the existing electromagnetic standards worldwide.