Health Aspects of Millimeter-Wave Radiation in 5G and Beyond

Dr. Abbas Omar,
Professor Emeritus
University of Magdeburg, Germany

Abstract: The physical concepts underlying the wave-matter interaction, particularly at millimeter-wave frequencies, are reviewed and discussed in this talk. Health hazard associated with electromagnetic wave exposures are then discussed. These can generally be categorized in ionizing and non-ionizing effects. Health impact of millimeter-wave exposures belong to the latter, and therefore can be either the direct increase in the body temperature or the indirect overloading of the biological processes responsible for the body thermal regulation.

At wavelengths that are much larger than the atomic/molecular scale, a continuous spatial distribution of the electromagnetic wave is an adequate mathematical representation. The wave power-density is described by the Poynting vector, and the power transfer from the wave to the biological substances can be calculated with high precision using the concept of constitutive parameters (conductivity, permittivity, and permeability). These are macroscopic spectral quantities (moving spatial averages), which cannot account for special treatment of specific molecular-scale structures similar to that of, e.g., DNA strand. Millimeter Waves and even Tera-Hertz Waves belong to this category. In addition, the Millimeter Waves suffer from very strong attenuation inside the human body, so that they cannot penetrate deeper than few millimeters.

Speaker’s Bio: Dr. Omar is Professor emeritus at the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg in Germany. He received the B.Sc., M.Sc. and Doktor-Ing. degrees in electrical engineering in 1978, 1982 and 1986, respectively. He has been professor of electrical engineering since 1990 and director of the Chair of Microwave and Communication Engineering at the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, Germany from 1998 to his retirement in 2020. He joined the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi as a Distinguished Professor in 2012 and 2013 as an organizer of the research activities for the Oil and Gas Industry in this area. In 2014 and 2015 he chaired the Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Akron, Ohio, USA. Dr. Omar authored and co-authored more than 480 technical papers extending over a wide spectrum of research areas. His current research and teaching fields cover the areas of health aspects of millimeter-wave radiations, quantum computing, phased arrays and beamforming for massive MIMO, and magnetic resonance imaging. He also covered in the past other disciplines including microwave and acoustic imaging, microwave and millimeter-wave material characterization, indoor positioning, subsurface tomography and ground penetrating radar, and field theoretical modeling of microwave systems and components. Dr. Omar is IEEE Fellow.