Research Objectives

The objectives of Certification Research at IT'IS are to:

• investigate the EM interaction mechanism and exposure of future technologies with the human body
• develop instrumentation, simulation tools and procedures to enable rigorous and scientifically sound demonstration of compliance with safety guidelines
• actively participate in standardization committees to ensure fast transition of the research results into the certification process
• develop solutions for establishing compliance with specific requirements for products with no available standards
  (see also Services)
• publish its findings in peer-reviewed publications and present at scientific conferences

The objectives are addressed by active collaboration with leading industry, complementary research groups, and involvement in standards committees for emerging technologies. Active dialogue with regulators and testing laboratories is also key to staying on the leading edge in this field.

Past Achievements

Today’s exposure assessment of wireless devices is largely based on the research conducted by the IT’IS Foundation and the BioEM Group of the ETHZ. The major contributions include:

• establishment of the absorption mechanism of transmitters in the vicinity of the body (Kuster et al., 92)
• development of the first dosimetric scanner DASY1/2 funded by the German government, Deutsche Telekom, Swisscom, and Mannesmann (Schmid et al., 96)
• evaluation of the dependence of the inner anatomy on the peak spatial-average SAR (Hombach et al. 96, Meier et. al. 96, Christ et al. 06, Christ et al. 10)
• evaluation of the dependence on the outer anatomy (Meier et. al. 96, Schönborn et al. 98, Christ et al. 05, Christ et al. 05, Kühn 09) and the ear modeling on the psSAR (Burkhardt et al. 00, Christ et al. 09)
• evaluation of the enhancements due to metallic implants (Thesis Meier 96)
• development of the SAM phantom and tissue materials (Drossos et al. 01, SPEAG)
• evaluation of the dependence of the hand on the psSAR (Thesis Meier 96, Kuster et al. 97, Douglas et al 10 submitted)
• establishment of transmitter design rules for optimal OTA & minimal SAR (Tay et al., 98)
• development of the uncertainty budget for compliance testing (thesis Pokovic, 99)
• evaluation of body-worn devices (Christ et al. 06, Kühn et al. 09)
• validation of SAM head (Beard et al. 06, Kainz et al. 05)
• evaluation of exposure from mobile phone base stations (Gosselin et al. 09) and wireless LAN (Kühn et al. 2007)
• determination of the electromagnetic exposure from magnetic resonance imaging equipment (Capstick et al. 2008) and MR safety of people with medical implants (Neufeld et al. 2009, Kyriacou et al. 2010 submitted)

The success of the research activities of ETH and later the IT'IS Foundation led to the ETH spin-off company Schmid & Partner Engineering AG (SPEAG) in December 1994. The first dosimetric system, DASY1, was introduced and continuous improvements and extensions have resulted in the 5th generation system DASY52 NEO.

The IT’IS Foundation has also contributed substantially to the area of MR safety of implants (Neufeld et al. 2009, Kyriacou et al. 2010, Cabot et al. 2010 submitted). The work first focused on the development of standards and testing equipment to demonstrate the safety of MRI for people with medical implants, and this led to the creation of a third spin-off company, Zurich Med Tech (ZMT), founded in 2006 by leading scientists of the IT'IS Foundation. ZMT has since expanded its efforts into computational life sciences and hyperthermia cancer treatment.

Current Standards Activities 

ISO/TC 150/SC 6/JWG2 and IEC SC 62B/JWG1: "Requirements for the safety and compatibility of magnetic resonance imaging for patients with an active implantable medical device."

IEEE 1528: Recommended Practice for Determining the Peak Spatial-Average Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in the Human Head from Wireless Communications Devices: Measurement Techniques

IEEE 1528.1: Recommended Practice for Determining the Peak Spatial-Average Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in the Human Body from Wireless Communications Devices, 30 MHz - 6 GHz: General Requirements for using the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) Method for SAR Calculations

IEEE 1528.2: Recommended Practice for Determining the Peak Spatial Average Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in the Human Body from Wireless Communications Devices, 30 MHz - 6 GHz: Specific Requirements for Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) Modeling of Vehicle Mounted Antenna Configurations

IEEE 1528.3: Recommended Practice for Determining the Peak Spatial-Average Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in the Human Body from Wireless Communications Devices, 30 MHz - 6 GHz: Specific Requirements for Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) Modeling of Mobile Phones/Personal Wireless Devices

IEC 62209: Human exposure to radiofrequency fields from wireless communication devices used in close proximity to the head or body - Human models, instrumentation and procedures - Part 1: Procedure to determine the specific absorption rate (SAR) for devices used in close proximity to the ear (frequency range of 300 MHz to 6 GHz)

IEC 62209: Human exposure to radiofrequency fields from wireless communication devices used in close proximity to the head or body - Human models, instrumentation and procedures - Part 2: Procedure to determine the specific absorption rate (SAR) for wireless communication devices used in close proximity to the human body (frequency range of 30 MHz to 6 GHz)

IEC 62232: Determination of RF field strength and SAR in the vicinity of radiocommunication base stations for the purpose of evaluating human exposure

ANSI C63.19: American National Standard for Methods of Measurement of Compatibility between Wireless Communications Devices and Hearing Aids

Research Challenges

As existing technologies mature and new technologies are introduced, the challenges of certification research are to identify the gaps where new instrumentation and specialized procedures are needed. We have recently identified gaps in determining compliance close to sources emitting in the low and intermediate frequency range (i.e., between 1 Hz and 10 MHz) and for people moving in strongly non-homogenous fields.

Examples of current projects in which we address these challenges are:

• Sound Exposure and risk Assessment of Wireless Network Devices (SEAWIND)
• Assessment of EM Exposure of Energy-Saving Bulbs & Possible Mitigation Strategies
• Development of Procedures and Instrumentation for Demonstration of Worker's EM Safety (EUREKA WEMS)
• Exposure Evaluation and Procedures to Demonstrating Compliance of Wireless Power Transfer Systems (WPS) with Human Exposure Limits
• Evaluation of the RF Safety of a Deep Brain Stimulator System (DBS System) when Exposed in a 1.5T MR Scanner