A special short course on 'The Exposure of Humans to Electromagnetic Radiation' was held recently at the 24th BEM World Congress in Sintra, Portugal. The Course Presenter was Prof Dragan Poljak from the University of Split, Croatia.
His research interests include frequency and time domain computational methods in electromagnetics, particularly in the numerical modelling of wire antenna structures, and recently numerical modelling applied to environmental aspects of electromagnetic fields.
Professor Poljak has published more than 100 papers in the area of computational electromagnetics as well as the recently published book: Electromagnetic Modeling of Wire Antenna Structures, WIT Press, 2002.
From the beginning of the 1990's, public concern regarding the presence of electromagnetic fields in the environment has been awakened by the controversy on possible adverse health effects. Generally, the effects of electromagnetic fields on humans depend on their intensity and frequency. Consequently, the fields are split into two main categories: low frequency spectrum (up to about 30kHz) and high frequency spectrum (from 30kHz to 300GHz).
The objective of the Course was to give a tutorial on the computational models, experimental techniques and safety standards regarding possible radiation hazards with reference to the existing International Commission on 'Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) Guidelines for human beings' exposure limits.
The Course covered several aspects of the environmental electromagnetic compatibility (EEMC) related to electrical, electronic, telecommunication and medical equipment.
The Course was divided into two parts. The first part dealt with sources of electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic modelling of the human body and the second part was concerned with the thermal modelling of the body and safety standards. The Course material is soon to be published in book form by WIT Press.
Wessex Institute