IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 65, NO.
12, DECEMBER 2017
Impact of Antenna Topology and Feeding
Technique on Coupling With Human Body:
Application to 60-GHz Antenna Arrays
Carole Leduc and Maxim Zhadobov, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract— The 60-GHz band has been identified as an attrac-
tive solution for the next-generation mobile networks (5G) as well
as for body-centric applications. This paper provides a quan-
titative comparative analysis of electromagnetic exposure and
heating induced by 60-GHz body-mounted antennas. Near-field
interaction between representative antenna arrays for off-body
communications with three feeding topologies and human body
is compared in terms of matching and radiation, as well as in
terms of user exposure. The presence of a ground plane results
in exposure reduction by more than 70 and 8 times in terms of
peak and averaged levels, respectively. Designs allowing to avoid
grating lobes allow further reduction of exposure. For considered
antenna arrays operating at the maximum allowable power,
International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection
occupational exposure limits are not exceeded. However, only
the antennas with a ground plane comply with general public
limits. Resulting heating is quantified for on-body millimeter-
wave antennas. Detailed analysis is performed for acute and
disperse exposures. Numerical results are validated by measure-
ments. Effect of averaging is also investigated. For antennas
with a ground plane, heating (typically of several tenths of °C)
remains within environmental temperature fluctuations. However,
the antennas without a ground plane can induce heating locally
exceeding 10 °C.
Index Terms— 5G, 60 GHz, antenna arrays, antenna/human
body interactions, body-area networks, dosimetry, feeding,
heating, millimeter-wave (mmW) band, specific absorption
rate (SAR).
I. I NTRODUCTION
B ODY-CENTRIC wireless networking is increasingly used
for health care, sport, entertainment, military, and other
applications. Because of the growing need in wireless network
capacity, operating frequencies have been shifting toward the
millimeter-wave (mmW) band, which offers high data rates
(typically several Gb/s) [1]. Recently, the 60-GHz band (e.g.,
57–64 GHz in North America) has been identified as an attrac-
tive solution for next-generation mobile networks (5G) [2]
as well as for some body-centric applications [3]–[5]. In this
frame, mmW antennas can be located close to or on body.
Manuscript received October 25, 2016; revised February 28, 2017; accepted
April 11, 2017. Date of publication May 3, 2017; date of current version
November 30, 2017. This work was supported by the French Ministry of
Higher Education and Research, and by the National Center for Scientific
Research (CNRS), France. (Corresponding author: Maxim Zhadobov.)
The authors are with the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications
of Rennes, UMR CNRS 6164, University of Rennes 1, 35042 Rennes, France
(e-mail: maxim.zhadobov@ieee.org).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2017.2700879
0018-926X © 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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6779
Evaluating and reducing their coupling with the human body
is of importance to stabilize performances of wireless mmW
devices, make them more robust, and reduce exposure of users.
Several wearable antennas have been proposed for body-
centric communications at 60 GHz. Endfire radiation is
required for antennas designed for on-body communications.
A few prototypes have been reported, the most promising
candidate being Yagi–Uda antennas [6], including those on
a textile substrate [7]. Besides, a button-like antenna with
a radiation pattern tangential to the human body surface
has been recently proposed for on-body communications at
61 GHz [8]. For off-body communications, patch antennas or
antenna arrays with a broadside radiation have been identified
as suitable candidates [9]. Patch antenna arrays proposed for
off-body communications at 60 GHz include 2 × 2 microstrip
patch antenna array on a classical [10], textile substrate [11],
or patch antenna array fed by a substrate integrated waveguide
network [12]. However, the evaluation of antenna/human body
interaction with an attempt to minimize them has never been
a subject of in depth investigation at mmW.
Wearable antennas for off-body communications have to be
designed to minimize the impact of the body presence on
antenna performances. Indeed, human body can affect their
input impedance, radiation, and efficiency. Influence of feeding
for a single patch antenna at 60 GHz placed on a human body
model has been numerically analyzed in terms of matching and
radiation [4]. However, to the best of our knowledge, possible
solutions for reducing impact of the human body presence on
antenna performances have never been reported in the 60-GHz
band. Note that such investigations are mainly of importance
for antennas designed for off-body communications as anten-
nas for on-body communications intrinsically strongly couple
with the body.
Besides, mmW near-field exposure of users results in a
very local absorption of electromagnetic energy, mainly by
skin, leading to local heating even for relatively low-power
exposures [13], [14]. It was suggested that the temperature
rise can be considered as an mmW exposure-related metric
directly linked to possible biological responses. Several studies
investigated the heating of tissues related to exposure at
microwaves [15], [16].
To the best of our knowledge, this issue has never been
addressed in context of body-centric wireless communications
at mmW. Note that current international exposure standards
and guidelines do not provide any recommendations for
6780
Fig. 1. Schematic of antenna array structures. (a) A1 . (b) A2 . (c) A3 . Dimensions are in mm.
near-field mmW exposures [17]–[19]. In this context, it is
essential to investigate, both from electromagnetic and thermal
viewpoints, the impact of antenna topology and feeding type
on near-field antenna/human body coupling.
The aim of this paper is to quantitatively investigate
antenna/body coupling under near-field exposure conditions in
the 60-GHz band and explore antenna design solutions allow-
ing to minimize this coupling. To this end, three antenna arrays
(2×2 radiating elements) with different topologies and feeding
techniques have been designed for off-body communications.
The antenna performances in free space and on a tissue-
equivalent phantom are evaluated and compared to highlight
their sensitivity to the human body presence. Electromagnetic
and thermal dosimetric analyses are performed to quantify the
impact of the feeding type on exposure levels in the human
body.
II. A NTENNA A RRAY T OPOLOGIES
A. Feeding Techniques
Different methods exist to feed microstrip patch antennas:
1) direct contact feed as a coaxial probe or microstrip line; 2)
proximity feed; and 3) aperture coupled feed [20]. Here, three
feeding antenna array solutions for 60-GHz on-body anten-
nas are proposed and compared. The antenna structures and
dimensions optimized for each feeding type are presented in
Fig. 1. All structures are printed on RT Duroid 5880 substrate
(εr = 2.2 and tan δ = 0.003 at 60 GHz).
1) Patch Antenna Array Fed by Microstrip Lines (A1):
The antenna array A1 [Fig. 1(a)] is a monolayer structure
inspired from [10]. It is composed of a single 127-μm-thick
RT duroid 5880 substrate layer, with a 17-μm-thick copper
ground plane. Microstrip patches are connected and fed by
a microstrip network. Interelement spacing between printed
antennas (ds ) is 3.7 mm (≈0.74λ0 at 60 GHz), resulting in the
presence of grating lobes. The ground plane allows to reduce
the backward radiation of the antenna array.
2) Aperture-Coupled Patch Antenna Array Excited by
Microstrip Lines (A2): The antenna array A2 [Fig. 1(b)] is a
multilayer structure composed of two 127-μm-thick substrate
layers Sub1 and Sub2 , as well as of three copper levels.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 65, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2017
Microstrip patches are fed using an aperture-coupled method,
where apertures are excited by a microstrip feeding network
printed on the bottom. With this feeding method, the interele-
ment spacing ds is kept at 0.5λ0 at 60 GHz (ds = 2.5 mm)
allowing to avoid grating lobes.
3) Aperture-Coupled Patch Antenna Array Excited by
Stripline Lines (A3): Similar to A2 , the antenna array A3
[Fig. 1(c)] is a multilayer structure (three substrate layers)
with four microstrip patches fed using an aperture-coupled
method allowing to keep the interelement spacing ds at 0.5λ0 .
Due to the choice of stripline technology for the feeding
network, a ground plane is present on the bottom surface
of the antenna array A3 . To increase the coupling between
the stripline network and aperture, Sub3 thickness exceeds
by more than three times the thickness between the feeding
network and ground plane (Preg2 + Sub2 ).
B. Fabrication and Measurement Constraints
1) Multilayer Structure: To assemble different layers in A2
and A3 , 90-μm-thick FastRise 27 prepreg glue is used. The
electromagnetic properties of this prepreg are close to those of
RT/duroid 5880 (εr = 2.7 and tan δ = 0.0017). Note that the
prepreg thickness represents roughly 25% of the total thickness
of A2 and A3 . This is taken into account in simulations to
enable a fair comparison with measurements. Positions of
Preg1 and Preg2 in the antenna array stack are chosen to
increase coupling and avoid critical misalignments between
the feeding network and aperture layers.
2) V-Band Connector: To measure the performances of the
fabricated antenna array prototypes (Fig. 2), a V-band connec-
tor is used (overall size is 20 mm × 8.8 mm × 10.5 mm).
Note that this connector is only required for measurements
and will not be present in prospective body-area networks and
next generation mobile systems, where antennas are expected
to be integrated and fed by electronic circuits. To allow a
direct comparison with measurements, the connector is taken
into account in simulations.
Transition strips with a length of 5 mm are integrated
into the antenna array structures to link the antenna feeding
network to the V-band connector. The strips represent an
LEDUC AND ZHADOBOV: IMPACT OF ANTENNA TOPOLOGY AND FEEDING TECHNIQUE ON COUPLING WITH HUMAN BODY
Fig. 2. Manufactured antenna arrays. (a) A1 . (b) A2 . (c) A3 . Left: top and bottom views. Right: antenna array prototypes with V-band connectors.
Fig. 3. Schematic of the antenna array position on a planar skin-equivalent
phantom. (a) 3-D view. (b) Side view.
extension of the microstrip feeding networks [Fig. 1(a) and (b)]
or microwave-stripline transition [Fig. 1(c)] allowing to reduce
the impact of the connector support on the antenna radiation
pattern.
III. P ERFORMANCES IN F REE S PACE AND ON B ODY
A. Tissue-Equivalent Model
At 60 GHz, the human body is electrically very large, and as
a consequence, some body parts can be locally approximated
by simple geometrical shapes (e.g., a flat phantom can locally
represent torso). Here, we considered a flat dry skin phantom
(100 mm × 100 mm × 15 mm) with εr = 7.4 and tanδ = 1.54
at 60 GHz [21]. The antenna arrays with the connector are
placed at 4.5 mm above the phantom (Fig. 3).
B. Matching
Simulated and measured reflection coefficients (S11 ) of
the antenna arrays mounted on the connector are presented
in Fig. 4 for antennas in free space and on phantom. The
measurements have been performed using a 10 MHz–67 GHz
vector network analyzer (Rohde and Schwarz ZVA67) after an
open-short-load calibration.
For all antenna arrays, a good matching is demonstrated
with S11 below −10 dB at 60 GHz. Simulated and mea-
sured S11 are in a reasonable agreement both for antennas
in free space and on phantom. The bandwidth variations
and frequency shifts between numerical and experimental
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6781
TABLE I
A NTENNA G AIN M EASURED IN F REE S PACE AND ON P HANTOM AT 60 GHz
results are due to fabrication accuracy (etching accuracy and
misalignment between substrate layers).
A parametric analysis has been performed numerically to
determine possible variations in experimental results due to
fabrication uncertainty. This study revealed that the measure-
ment results are included in the range of possible variations.
The copper printing accuracy decreases with the copper thick-
ness, and misalignment effects on the antenna performances
increase with the substrate layer number. In case of A2 , the
parametric analysis highlights that the main impacts of the
printing precision uncertainty as well as the antenna layers
misalignment induce maximal shift of about +/−2 GHz in
terms of the bandwidth.
Besides, the analysis of experimental results suggests
that S11 is insensitive to the presence of the phantom
for A1 and A3 . However, a slight shift is noticed for A2 in
the 56–60 GHz range due to the absence of a ground plane
strongly decoupling antennas from the phantom.
C. Radiation
The normalized radiation patterns of antenna arrays are
plotted in Fig. 5. For the sake of brevity, they are only
presented in the E-plane (x z plane in Fig. 1). Numerical and
experimental results are in a very good agreement.
The impact of the phantom on the front radiation is almost
negligible for all three structures while, as expected, it is much
more pronounced on the back radiation and gain (Table I).
Note that due to an interelement spacing exceeding 0.5λ0
at 60 GHz, relatively high level grating lobes appear in the
front radiation of A1 (−7 dB compared with the main lobe)
[Fig. 5(a)]. A2 demonstrates the highest backward radiation
in free space among the considered structures due to the
microstrip feeding network on the back side (−8 dB along 0°),
which significantly reduces on phantom (−21 dB along 0°).
A2 is also the most affected by the body presence in terms of
gain (+0.7 dBi compared with free space).
Note that S11 and radiation are unchanged when a wet skin
model is used.
6782 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 65, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2017

Fig. 4. Reflection coefficient S11 in free space and on phantom for (a) A1 , (b) A2 , and (c) A3 . Measured in free space ( ), measured on phantom ( ),
simulated in free space ( ), and simulated on phantom ( ).

Fig. 5. Measured and simulated normalized radiation patterns in the E-plane at 60 GHz for (a) and (d) A1 , (b) and (e) A2 , and (c) and (f) A3 . Top line:
front radiation. Bottom line: back radiation. Measured in free space ( ), measured on phantom ( ), simulated in free space ( ), and simulated on
phantom ( ).

IV. E LECTROMAGNETIC N EAR -F IELD D OSIMETRY
In this section, electromagnetic power absorption in the
phantom is assessed numerically for each antenna array. Based
on specific absorption rate (SAR) computations, the incident
power density (P0 ) is retrieved. The impact of the connector
presence is also investigated.
A. Numerical Electromagnetic Model
Antennas and 100 mm × 100 mm × 2 mm phantom are
modeled using the time-domain finite integration technique
implemented in CST Microwave Studio. Perfectly matched
layers are used as boundary conditions. Due to a low penetra-
tion depth in the phantom (roughly 0.5 mm at 60 GHz), local
meshing is used to get an acceptable accuracy and ensure a fine
resolution close to the phantom surface [λg /50 ∼ 0.037-mm
mesh cell size along z close to the phantom surface progres-
sively increased to λg /15 ∼ 0.125 mm in the rest of the
phantom (λg = 1.84 mm at 60 GHz)].
B. Computed SAR and P0
Exposure levels at the phantom surface are computed for
the models of antenna arrays without the feed strip and
connector for an input power of 500 mW, which corresponds
to the maximal authorized power for transmitting antennas
at 60 GHz [3], corresponding to the “worst case” scenario
from the viewpoint of user exposure. Note that in realistic
body-centric applications, the typical output antenna power at
60 GHz is expected to be limited to 10 mW due to power and
autonomy constraints.
The SAR distributions are shown in Fig. 6. Peak SAR
and equivalent incident power density P0 averaged over

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LEDUC AND ZHADOBOV: IMPACT OF ANTENNA TOPOLOGY AND FEEDING TECHNIQUE ON COUPLING WITH HUMAN BODY
Fig. 6. Computed SAR distributions on the skin-equivalent phantom exposed to antenna arrays. (a) A1 . (b) A2 . (c) A3 . Dashed lines: antenna perimeter.
TABLE II
S IMULATED P EAK SAR AND P0 , AS WELL AS AVERAGED OVER 1
AND 20 cm2 P0 C OMPARED W ITH THE ICNIRP L IMITS [17].
Pa D ENOTES THE T OTAL P OWER A BSORBED IN THE
P HANTOM . T HE A NTENNA I NPUT P OWER I S 500 mW
1 and 20 cm2 are provided in Table II for each antenna. Plane-
wave equivalent incident power density P0 is calculated as [5]
ρ · δ · SAR
P0 =
2 · (1 − R)
where ρ is the mass density of the phantom, δ is the pene-
tration depth, and R is the power reflection coefficient at the
air/phantom interface.
Two main antenna parameters impacting SAR are:
1) interelement spacing ds between patches and 2) the presence
of a ground plane.
1) A1 has an interelement spacing >0.5λ0 resulting in
grating lobes. SAR induced by A1 spreads along x due
to the grating lobe radiation in the E-plane [Fig. 6(a)].
However, A1 has a ground plane, which significantly
reduces the back radiation.
2) A2 has an interelement spacing of 0.5λ0 allowing to
avoid grating lobes. However, due to the absence of a
ground plane, significant back radiation results in a high
level of SAR under the antenna, i.e., 70 times higher
compared with A1 [Fig. 6(b)].
3) A3 has a ground plane and interelement spacing of
0.5λ0 , and therefore, SAR induced by A3 is the lowest
one among considered structures. The maximum SAR
appearing on the right (direction of positive x) of the
antenna [Fig. 6(c)] is due to a relatively low, while not
negligible, grating lobe in this direction [Fig. 5(c)].
Comparison of exposure levels for A1 and A3 (Table II)
shows that avoiding grating lobes results in a reduction of
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6783
local SAR and P0 (here SAR by 25%, P0 averaged over
1 cm2 by 15%, and P0 averaged over 20 cm2 by 60%).
Comparison for A2 and A3 demonstrates that the ground plane
presence allows reducing local SAR and P0 by 98.9%, P0
averaged over 1 cm2 by 98.4%, and P0 averaged over 20 cm2
by 95.5%.
These results demonstrate that occupational exposure limits
defined by the International Commission on Non Ionizing
Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) [17], [18] are not exceeded
whichever the antenna array is. However, only two of
three antenna arrays comply with the general public lim-
its. Indeed, P0 for A2 exceeds by 3.5 to 4 times the
general public exposure limits. Note that these results are
obtained for the maximum allowable power, and in practice,
wireless devices are expected to operate at lower power
levels.
(1) C. Impact of V-Band Connector
To evaluate the impact of the feed strip and connector
in measurements, SAR distributions have been compared for
antennas with (Fig. 7) and without (Fig. 6) a connector. The
results demonstrate that the connector significantly disturbs the
near-field distribution. In case of A1 , distortions of SAR are
mainly due to the radiation pattern reflection from the V-band
metallic connector support [Figs. 6(a) and 7(a)]. For A2 , SAR
under the feed strip slightly increases [Figs. 6(b) and 7(b)]
due to the microstrip line and connector radiation. The
most pronounced impact of the connector is noticed for A3
[Figs. 6(c) and 7(c)]; the peak SAR significantly increases
(by a factor of 46) and shifts to the area under the feed strip.
V. T HERMAL D OSIMETRY
This section deals with the numerical and experimental
assessment of mmW-induced heating under near-field expo-
sure conditions.
A. Numerical Thermal Model
In the electromagnetic-thermal cosimulations, SAR is used
as a source to compute heating in a 100 × 100 × 15 mm3
phantom using CST Multiphysics Studio. Here, the heat trans-
fer equation is solved using thermal stationary and transient
solvers.
6784
Fig. 7. Computed SAR distributions on the skin-equivalent phantom exposed to antenna arrays. (a) A1 . (b) A2 . (c) A3 with a V-band connector. Dashed
lines: antenna and connector perimeters.
Fig. 8. Schematic of the measurement setup.
The thermal conductivity k and specific heat c of the skin-
equivalent phantom have been measured using the guarded hot
plate and differential scanning calorimetry methods, respec-
tively (k = 0.386 W/(m · °C) and c = 3480 J/(kg · °C) [22]).
Only the heating induced in the phantom by electromagnetic
fields is taken into account.
The heat transfer at the phantom/air interface is governed
by the convective heat transfer coefficient h c and emissivity
e equal to 5 W/(m2 · °C) and 1, respectively. To find the best
tradeoff between the reasonable computational accuracy versus
simulation volume and duration, the optimal mesh is defined
based on a parametric convergence analysis.
B. Experimental Model and Measurement Setup
The experimental setup used to measure mmW-induced
heating is schematically shown in Fig. 8. Filter paper sam-
ple saturated with water is used as an equivalent model
(100 mm × 100 mm × 0.2 mm). Note that due to relatively
low temperature rise induced by antennas for off-body com-
munications, direct use of a semisolid skin equivalent phantom
does not allow to obtain infrared (IR) images with a sufficient
contrast for reliable interpretation of results. Using a filter
paper allows increasing the temperature increment and as a
result the signal-to-noise ratio of the IR signal compared to
measurements with a phantom; a similar approach was used
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 65, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2017
in [23]. For short exposures (<10–20 s), the heating pattern
measured using the filter paper coincides with that on phantom
and reproduces the SAR distribution [11]. To avoid water
evaporation during measurements, both faces of the filter paper
are covered by a 5-μm-thick water resistant and IR-transparent
plastic film [24].
Filter paper is placed inside a compact 710×470×470 mm3
anechoic chamber on a plastic grid (0.2-mm-thick wires with
1.5-mm pitch). Antenna array with connector is fed by a high-
power mmW generator (QuinStar, CA, USA) and placed below
the sample. The input antenna power is set to 500 mW; it is
controlled using a −30 dB directional coupler and Agilent
E4418B V-band power meter.
The total length of WR-15 waveguides connecting the
generator to the antenna is roughly 0.4 m; the total loss in
the waveguides and adapter <1.5 dB.
FLIR SC5000 IR camera operating in the 2.5–5 μm range
with a thermal sensitivity of 0.025 °C is used to measure the
heating pattern on the upper paper surface. Thermal images
are recorded with a 5-frames/s rate. Three successive mea-
surements have been performed for each antenna following
the same experimental protocol demonstrating an acceptable
measurement reproducibility.
C. Heating Assessment and Analysis
Measured temperature rise distributions after 10 s of expo-
sure are presented in Fig. 9. These distributions are consistent
with computed SAR provided in Fig. 7 for A2 and A3 . Slight
discrepancies are observed for A1 , which may be explained
by a very low temperature increase (0.1 °C) approaching
the environmental temperature fluctuations and, therefore,
sensitivity limit of measurements. These discrepancies can
also be attributed to heating of the antenna itself, which
is not negligible for A1 compared to heating due to the
electromagnetic power absorption in the phantom.
Measured heating distribution is also in good agreement
with the computed one for 10 s (Fig. 10), as well as for
30 and 300 s of exposure (for the sake of brevity, results for
the last two are not shown).
Effect of temperature rise averaging over 1 and 20 cm2
after 10 s of exposure (T10 s ) and at steady-state (T∞ ) is
presented in Fig. 11 and compared to the P0 trend. For short
LEDUC AND ZHADOBOV: IMPACT OF ANTENNA TOPOLOGY AND FEEDING TECHNIQUE ON COUPLING WITH HUMAN BODY 6785

Fig. 9. Measured temperature rise distributions on the sample exposed for 10 s by (a) A1 , (b) A2 , and (c) A3 at 500 mW at 60 GHz. The position of the
antenna array with connector is indicated by dashed lines.

Fig. 10. Simulated temperature rise distributions on the sample exposed for 10 s by (a) A1 , (b) A2 , and (c) A3 at 500 mW at 60 GHz. The position of the
antenna array with a connector is indicated by the black dashed lines.

Fig. 11. Heating after 10 s of exposure and at steady-state, as well as P0 ; peak and averaged over 1- and 20-cm2 values for (a) A1 , (b) A2 , and (c) A3 .
Percentages: temperature rise change between two linked points due to averaging.

exposures, the temperature rise follows the P0 trend (compare
T10 s and P0 ). At steady-state, averaging results in a less
pronounced reduction compared to the peak values (e.g., for
peak to 1 cm2 averaging A1 ⇒ −55%; A2 ⇒ −71%; and
A3 ⇒ −56% for T10 s and A1 ⇒ −11%; A2 ⇒ −49%;
and A3 ⇒ −31% for T∞ ). The latter is explained by the
heat conduction naturally leading to a more uniform heating
distribution for longer exposure durations. The reduction is
more pronounced for more localized exposures.
Fig. 12 shows the temperature rise dynamics computed on
the phantom surface at the locations of maximum heating.
Peak temperature rises induced by A1 and A3 are well below
1 °C (with maximal values at steady-state equal to 0.27 °C and
0.16 °C, respectively), contrary to A2 inducing the temperature
rise ranging from 4.5 °C after 10 s of exposure to 10.2 °C at
steady-state. In case of A1 with the less localized phantom
exposure among three considered antennas, the maximal peak
temperature rise value is increased by a factor of 5 passing
from 10 s exposure to steady-state. This factor increases
for averaged heating (i.e., 10 and 12 for averaging over 1
and 20 cm2 , respectively). For local exposures induced by
A2 and A3 , this factor decreases to 2.5 and 3.5, respec-
tively, passing from 10 s to steady-state, respectively. For
averaged heating induced by A2 and A3 , it is of 4 and 5.5
(for 1 cm2 averaging) and 12.5 and 10 (for 20 cm2 averaging),
respectively.

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6786 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 65, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2017
Fig. 12. Heating dynamics on the phantom surface for (a) A1 , (b) A2 , and (c) A3 .
VI. C ONCLUSION
This paper provides a quantitative assessment of electro-
magnetic exposure and resulting heating induced by mmW
on-body mounted antennas. Four-patch antenna arrays with
three feeding topologies have been considered, and the impact
of the presence of a skin-equivalent phantom on antenna
performances has been investigated.
Presence of a ground plane results in an exposure reduction
by more than 70 and 8 times in terms of peak and averaged
levels, respectively. It also reduced the sensitivity of the
antenna reflection coefficient to the human body presence.
Avoiding grating lobes by appropriately choosing interpatch
spacing allows to further reduce the exposure. For considered
representative antenna arrays operating at maximum allowable
output power, ICNIRP occupational exposure limits are not
exceeded whichever is the antenna array. However, only the
antennas with a ground plane comply with the general public
limits.
Heating is quantitatively assessed for on-body mmW anten-
nas in transient and steady-state regimes. Numerical results
are validated by measurements using a specifically developed
setup based on IR imaging. Detailed analysis is performed for
acute and disperse exposures. Effect of averaging over 1 and
20 cm2 , used in ICNIRP guidelines, is investigated. The results
demonstrated that, for antennas with a ground plane, heating
(typically of several tenths of °C) remains within environ-
mental temperature fluctuations. However, antenna structures
for off-body communications without a ground plane result in
temperature increments that can locally exceed 10 °C.
In this paper, we used a dry skin model. If a wet skin
model is used, the SAR and heating trends are unchanged,
and absolute values variations remain within 5%.
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Carole Leduc was born in Rennes, France, in
1988. She received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in
electronic and telecommunication engineering from
the University of Rennes 1, Rennes, France, in 2010
and 2012, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in
signal processing and telecommunications from the
Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of
Rennes, University of Rennes 1, in 2015.
Her current research interests include the design
and characterization of millimeter-wave antennas
and the evaluation of interactions between the elec-
tromagnetic field and human body.
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6787
Maxim Zhadobov (S’05–M’07–SM’15) received
the M.S. degree in electromagnetics from the Univer-
sity of Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia,
in 2003, and the Ph.D. and Habilitation à Diriger
des Recherches (HDR) degrees from the Institute
of Electronics and Telecommunications of Rennes
(IETR), University of Rennes 1, Rennes, France.
He was a Post-Doctoral Researcher with the
Center for Biomedical Physics, Temple University,
Philadelphia, PA, USA, until 2008, and then joined
the French National Center for Scientific Research
(CNRS). He is currently the leading Scientist in biomedical electromagnetics
with the IETR/CNRS. He co-authored five book chapters and over 50 research
papers in peer-reviewed international journals. His review article in the
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies was the most
cited paper in 2016. He has been actively involved in over 20 research
projects at the National and European levels. His current scientific interests
and research activities are in the field of innovative biomedical applications
of electromagnetic fields and associated technologies.
Dr. Zhadobov was a Session Organizer and/or a Technical Committee
Member at several international conferences, including the IEEE iWEM 2017,
the BodyNets 2016, the MobiHealth (since 2015), the IMWS-Bio 2014, and
the PIERS 2013. Since 2017, he has been Engineering/Physical Sciences Chair
of the EBEA Council. He received multiple scientific awards, including the
EBEA Award for Excellence in Bioelectromagnetics 2015, the CNRS Award
for Scientific Excellence 2015, and the Brittany’s Young Scientist Award 2010.
Since 2010, Ph.D. students he supervised received six national awards and four
awards from BioEM and the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Societies.