Radio Frequency/Microwave Hazard Assessment Tool (RHAZ)

With the advent of High Powered Microwave (HPW) weapons, it has become necessary to understand the effect of the radiated energy on those persons exposed. Additionally other systems, such as microwave and troposcatter systems, also pose a danger to humans who are exposed to their radiated energy. The U. S. government, the Air Force and other international organizations have developed standards that specify the safe exposure limits. When computing Electromagnetic biohazards, it is necessary to properly consider all aspects of the problem. The aspects are the proper definition of the source and its radiation, proper propagation of the energy to the designated location, and proper computation of the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). The proposed effort extends Remcom’s demonstrated Wireless InSite software to treat the prediction monitoring of Radio Frequency and microwave exposure hazards. Thus the focus of Phase I will be to extend WI to compute hazards using key newly developed Remcom technology. In order to meet the run time requirement in Phase I, Remcom will leverage the UPPS and EMPIRE capabilities. This capability, while lower fidelity than what is possible, will, nonetheless, allow the feasibility to be demonstrated in a realistic Phase I prototype. Further, accessing the computational capability via the EMPIRE API will allow the Air Force to incorporate the tools in existing applications. Following successful completion of the Phase I effort, Phase II will focus on enhancing the run time performance of the high fidelity engine using advanced ray tracing techniques.