Compliance Testing Tools and Procedures for Emerging Technologies (3-6 GHz)

Frequency saturation of existing communication technologies and applications resulted in world-wide opening of new frequency bands for general public usage. For example, recently introduced IEEE 802.11a has provided additional channels in 5 GHz bands to ease congestion at 2.4 GHz. These new transmitters are typically certified to operate in laptop computers, PDAs or similar electronic accessories mainly used in the vicinity of a human body. The lack of SAR measurement procedures for frequencies above 3 GHz has resulted in test laboratories adapting the procedures for testing handsets at 0.3 - 3 GHz to evaluate 5 GHz transmitters. Various committees and agencies have started work on addressing the SAR measurement difficulties for these frequencies as well as to discuss possible solutions. The contributions by IT´IS and SPEAG within these committees are summarized in this paper. Topics such as analysis of the field probe requirements, tissue simulating liquid and requirements for field scanning procedures will be presented. With newly developed tools and procedures, SAR measurements at frequencies 3-6 GHz should soon become a routine evaluation, as it is for frequencies below 3 GHz