Human exposure to electromagnetic fields generated in smart vehicle communications

This paper evaluates the dose of exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) of people inside a car during vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication operated at 5.9 GHz. The exposure dose is estimated with numerical simulations that make use of detailed and realistic 3D models of the geometry and material of the car and V2V antennas and of the organs and different tissues of an adult phantom at the driver position. The dose of EMF exposure was expressed in terms of the power absorbed by the tissues and organs of the driver and was quantified with the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). The simulations revealed that SAR was higher in the body regions closer to the emitting antennas (the limbs) and very rapidly decreased with the distance from the antennas. Also, SAR values were observed only in the very superficial tissues, i.e., in the skin and were negligible elsewhere, such as in the muscles, bones and other more profound tissues. SAR values for both the whole-body- and local-body-exposure were well below the ICNIRP general public exposure limit in the 100 kHz-6 GHz frequency range and were equal to 1% and 7% of the limits of exposure for the whole-body and local body regions, respectively.