Concepts and Techniques to Quantify RF Induced Current and RF Burn Hazards for Humans

We propose a comprehensive program to develop reliable techniques for predicting the RF current and RF burn hazards that exist in RF radiation (RFR) environments. The work is motivated by a combination of the ANSI/IEEE C95.1-1992 standard governing human exposure to RFR and the large RFR fields that are common on Navy ships. We will analyze in detail a number of approaches for quantifying the RF currents and burn hazard that can be expected at a specified location, evaluating the accuracy, speed, cost, complexity, and ancillary requirements of each of the approaches. We will evaluate procedures that incorporate existing commercial instrumentation as well as methods that utilize novel instrumentation that we propose to develop. The most promising approaches for each of the hazards (free-field induced current, current generated when grasping an object having an induced voltage, and RF burn) will be identified. Detailed designs of these approaches will be developed along with a test plan for demonstrating them during Phase II.