Abstract :
Phantom is the rather esoteric name given to models that mimic the response of a subject to an external agent under investigation. For the purpose of this paper the subject is man, the agent electromagnetic (EM) radiation and the purpose of the investigation is to quantify the interaction between them. Such studies are essential in the assessment of human exposure for, among others, health and safety considerations and biomedical applications. Such studies became part of the design of antennas of hand-held transceivers used for mobile communication. Devices such as the antenna of cellular phones are required to operate optimally near the head, hence the need to account for the interaction with the body. Phantoms can be physical or numerical entities depending on the nature of the intended study. Bioelectromagnetic studies are rather complex and often treated both experimentally and numerically in order to cross validate the result and increase confidence in the outcome. This led to the need for and development of increasingly realistic physical and numerical phantoms. This paper deals, albeit briefly, with the use of phantoms in mobile communication for human exposure assessment and antenna design. A physical model developed in our laboratories is used to illustrate the basic principles involved
