IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 56, NO.

3, MAY 2007 1295

Fine Positioning Three-Dimensional Electric-Field
Measurements in Automotive Environments
Yoshiaki Tarusawa, Member, IEEE, Sadayuki Nishiki, and Toshio Nojima, Member, IEEE
AbstractA ne positioning system is introduced that measures
the 3-D electric-eld space distributions around passenger cars
that are equipped with cellular radio antennas. The measurement
system, which is constructed of nonmetallic materials to reduce
the electric-eld uctuation that is caused by the manipulator,
uses an air-motor mechanism that yields a eld sensor spatial
resolution of better than 10 mm. The uncertainty of the measured
electric-eld strength is estimated as 4 dB, i.e., variations are
within 4 dB. Detailed electric-eld distributions inside and outside
the passenger car are derived for three antennas: a trunk-lid
antenna, rear-window antenna, and roof antenna. The measure-
ment results show that the electric-eld strengths in the front
and back seats are less than 30 V/m when the antenna input is
less than 1 W as the net power. Inside the car, the local peak
of the eld strength is higher by 2 and 4 dB for the trunk lid
and roof antenna, respectively, and approximately 10 dB higher
for the rear-window antenna. The electric elds both inside and
outside the car do not exceed the Level 4 (30 V/m) specica-
tion, which is one of the immunity levels for electronic devices
dened in the IEC electromagnetic-compatibility standard. In
addition, the measured electric-eld strengths are lower than the
reference levels for human exposure to RF electromagnetic elds,
which are recommended by the International Commission on Non-
Ionizing Radiation Protection. At maximum, the eld strength of
30 V/m as a specially averaged value at the frequency of 900 MHz
corresponds to half of the whole body specic-absorption-rate
basic restriction of 0.08 W/kg with respect to specications for
the general public, when assuming conservative estimates for the
maximum coupling between the human body and the eld. The
differences in the far-eld distributions of the three antennas
outside the car are also estimated.
Index TermsElectromagnetic compatibility (EMC), land mo-
bile radio cellular system, mobile antennas, radiation safety.
I. INTRODUCTION
O
NE SIGNIFICANT trend in the automotive industry is
the rapid replacement of mechanical control systems
with their electric equivalents. Such systems may allow new
applications that can reduce the risk of collision, minimize
personal injury, protect the environment, improve fuel econ-
omy, implement automatic cruise control, achieve effective
trafc control, and enhance comfort [1]. They utilize advanced
Manuscript received April 9, 2003; revised December 18, 2003, December
22, 2005, April 6, 2006, May 22, 2006, and June 20, 2006. This work was
supported in part by the NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Japan. The review of this paper
was coordinated by Dr. K. Dandekar.
Y. Tarusawa is with the NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Yokosuka 239-8536, Japan
(e-mail: tarusawa@nttdocomo.co.jp).
S. Nishiki is with the DoCoMo Mobile, Inc., Tokyo 104-0053, Japan.
T. Nojima is with Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0814, Japan.
Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TVT.2007.895540
microprocessors, radar, high-speed ICs, and signal processing
chips.
On the other hand, the use of mobile phones has rapidly
expanded in our daily lives over the last decade. Mobile
communication systems have evolved from analog-to-digital
technology. Recent digital mobile communication systems aim
to handle many types of information, as well as provide two-
way voice links. In the near future, it is greatly anticipated that
digital mobile communication systems will be linked to new
automotive-technology applications.
The reliability of these electronic systems is paramount from
a safety standpoint. They increase the need to ensure electro-
magnetic compatibility (EMC) with the environment in which
they operate. An electromagnetic eld that is excited from a
car-mounted radio antenna is a potential source of interference
to the electric devices in the car. Moreover, compliance with
the safety guidelines for human exposure to RF electromagnetic
elds must be conrmed [2]. Therefore, a detailed examination
of the electric-eld distributions inside and outside actual cars
that are equipped with mobile radio antennas is essential.
The National Bureau of Standards measured the electric-
eld-strength levels of different types of vehicles exposed to
mobile radio transmitters operating at frequencies under the
400-MHz band and broadcast stations [3]. A handy eld sensor
held by an engineer was used to measure the eld-strength
level. The number of measurement points inside and outside
an actual car was around 15. This report provides some guid-
ance to manufacturers regarding the eld-strength levels their
electronic systems may encounter and establish susceptibility
test bounds.
McCoy et al. [4] estimated the eld strengths in an envi-
ronment comprising a compact car with a quarter wavelength
band antenna input of approximately 100 W at frequencies of
146 and 460 MHz. The electric-eld data from 20 points were
measured along a straight line across the backseat headrests
of the car. The measurement results showed that the specic
absorption rate (SAR) in the backseat satised the basic FCC
safety limits. Chou et al. [5] derived the SAR distributions in
human models standing near trunk- and roof-mounted mobile
antennas for an 835-MHz cellular system. Tanaka [6] assessed
the internal electric-eld distribution in a car body by using a
1/15 scale car. The wire grid method [7] and the nite difference
time domain (FDTD) technique [8] have been applied to esti-
mate radiation patterns of antennas for FM broadcast receivers
and cellular radio systems. None of these studies, however,
derived the 3-D electric-eld distribution inside and outside an
actual car that is equipped with a cellular radio antenna using
frequencies above the 900-MHz band.
0018-9545/$25.00 2007 IEEE
1296 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 56, NO. 3, MAY 2007
Fig. 1. Conguration of 3-D scanner for E-eld measurements. (a) Rear view. (b) Side view.
Section II describes our 3-D scanner that measures the
electric-eld distributions inside and outside actual cars. Mea-
surements are conducted for a 900-MHz band radio antenna for
cellular communications. Section III discusses the measured
results as well as the maximum electric-eld strength and
compliance with the safety guidelines for human exposure to
RF electromagnetic elds.
II. MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
A. Basic Design of 3-D Scanner
The scanner comprises a main frame, a subframe, and two
rails. It has R-, L-, and H-axes to move the eld sensor in three
dimensions, as shown in Fig. 1. The frames must minimize the
disturbance to the electric eld to the greatest extent possible
while offering sufcient torsional rigidity so that the eld
sensors can be precisely and repeatability positioned. Steel and
berglass reinforced plastic (FRP) frames are typically used to
provide sufcient torsional rigidity. However, we must consider
that these materials disturb the electric eld. The electric-eld
uctuations caused by the FRP and steel frames are estimated
as follows.
Fig. 2 shows that in this estimation model, a plane wave
is incident to a rectangular column whose cross section is S
(millimeter) square and T (millimeter) thick. The reection
of the incident wave from the rectangular column causes an
electric-eld uctuation. The electric eld around the rectan-
gular column is calculated by using the FDTD technique. This
calculation assumes that the relative dielectric constant and the
loss tangent are 4 and 0.04 for FRP, respectively. The resistivity
of steel is taken to be 0 m. Fig. 3(a) shows the calculated
results of the electric-eld uctuation E that is dened by
E = E E
0
where E is the electric eld along the direction perpendicular to
the rectangular column, and E
0
is the electric eld without the
rectangular column in units of decibels, respectively. From the
Fig. 2. Model for estimating the electric-eld uctuation caused by a plane-
wave incident to a square column. It is assumed that the column length is
innite.
viewpoint of estimating the EMC, the values of the electric-
eld amplitude are compared. The electric-eld uctuation
E depends on the function of the distance from the column
surface, as described hereafter.
The steel column yields an electric uctuation of higher than
4 dB at distances shorter than 500 mm from the surface of the
column even if the section is 150 mm. On the other hand, the
uctuations caused by the FRP are approximately 2 dB at
the surface of the column even if the section is greater than
150 mm. Based on this comparison between the steel and FRP
columns, FRP is selected in this paper. In the actual measured
eld, it is considered that both the antenna and the body of the
car work as the RF source. The eld cannot only be described
by the perpendicular incidence of a TEM wave. To estimate
the eld uctuation in this situation, the eld is calculated in
terms of parameters, i.e., the angles of incidence and frequency
values, as shown in Fig. 3(b). At the of 90

and of 90

, the
uctuation is at the maximum value of 2 dB. Fig. 3(c) shows
that the uctuation increases with an increase in the frequency
in the range from 0.5 to 2 GHz; however, a drastic change in the
eld uctuations due to resonant phenomena is not found.
TARUSAWA et al.: FINE POSITIONING THREE-DIMENSIONAL ELECTRIC-FIELD MEASUREMENTS 1297
Fig. 3. Calculated electric-eld uctuation caused by the square column.
(a) Distance dependence. (b) Incident-angle dependence of 300 300-mmFRP
column. (c) Frequency dependence of 300 300-mm FRP column.
In addition to the plane-wave analysis, the electric-eld uc-
tuation is also estimated with respect to the near eld excited
from a half-wave dipole antenna. Fig. 4(a) shows the estimation
model that comprises the FRP column and the dipole antenna.
The dipole antenna is set to d
o
, which is longer than 22 mm,
because the minimum distance between the car body (or the car
mounted antenna) and the column is maintained to longer than
100 mm in the actual measurement described in Section III. In
addition, the elements of the dipole antenna are set parallel to
the column surface. Fig. 4(b) shows the electric-eld uctuation
E as a parameter of d
o
and d
1
at the frequency of 900 MHz.
The E value is dened by E E
0
, where E is the electric
eld along the direction, as shown in Fig. 4(a), and E
0
is
the electric eld (in decibels) without the column. On the
dipole antenna, the boundary between the near eld and far
eld is approximately 53 mm if it can be calculated by /2.
Fig. 4. Electric-eld uctuation caused by the square column in the near and
far elds of a dipole antenna. (a) Estimation model. (b) Calculated electric-eld
uctuation.
Fig. 4(b) shows the calculated results where the estimated
electric-eld uctuation is less than 1 dB in both near and
far elds of the dipole antenna. In addition, the electric-eld
uctuation is greater than that of the other angle of the dipole
elements against the column surface.
From these estimations, the FRP columns with a cross sec-
tion of 300 mm are used to construct the main frame, and
the positioning repeatability is better than 10 mm. The FRP
mainframe parameters are set to S = 300 mm (each side) with
T = 5 mm. The subframe basically comprises FRP material
with S value of 150 mm.
B. Design of Mechanical Driving System and Data
Acquisition System
Fig. 5 shows the scanner. The main frame and the subframe
are basically constructed from the FRP and rigid plastics to
minimize the electric-eld uctuations. Two eld sensors are
mounted on the subframe via a exible rack that provides
R-axis movement. The same isotropic electric-eld sensor
that has three shorted monopoles was used for each of the
eld sensors, as described in Section II-C. The subframe is
linked to the main frame by a plastic rack-and-pinion gear
assembly. The exible rack and the pinion on the subframe
are driven by air motors with the maximum power of 0.1 hp
and the maximum torque of 3 kg cm. Fig. 6(a) shows the
air motor driving the exible rack of the subframe. The main
frame rolls along two steel rails (H-axis) using eight steel
1298 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 56, NO. 3, MAY 2007
Fig. 5. Three-dimensional scanner for E-eld measurement using passenger
car as the test subject.
Fig. 6. Details of drive mechanism. (a) Subframe and main frame connection.
(b) Foot of the main frame.
Fig. 7. Extension pipe for internal measurements.
wheels driven by two stepping motors. Fig. 6(b) shows the
stepping motor at the foot of the main frame. The resolution is
0.0036 mm/pulse. Positioning data of the R- and L-axes are
acquired from the optical pulse sensors that are attached to
the subframe. Positioning data of the H-axis are taken as the
number of pulses input into the stepping motor that is used to
drive the main frame. To measure the electric eld inside the
car, a sensor is mounted on a 1.5-m-long FRP extension pipe
that is added to the end of the R-axis arm, as shown in Fig. 7.
Fig. 8. System-controller conguration.
The system controller acquires the E-eld data and drives the
scanner. Fig. 8 shows a block diagram of the system controller.
It comprises a scanner driver, an air compressor, a desktop com-
puter, an optical-to-electrical (O/E) converter, and an external
hard disk. The scanner driver controls the pressurized air that is
used to drive the air motors and generates the pulses that drive
the stepping motors. The desktop computer reads the E-eld
data and the sensor position data. These data are stored in the
hard disk. Two eld sensors are mounted on the subframe to
shorten the amount of time taken to complete the measurements
taken outside the car.
The current measurement system has the scanning volume of
5 m (wide) by 6 m (long) by 3 m (high), and the resolution is
better than 10 mm, as shown in Table I.
C. Uncertainties in Electric-Field Strength
Isotropic electric-eld sensors (Holaday HI series) are
used to detect the electric eld and comprise three shorted
monopoles and an electrical-to-optical converter. This eld
sensor is packed in a rigid case with the maximum dimension
of 100 mm, and the frequency range covers from 100 kHz to
40 GHz. The RF voltage induced on the shorted monopoles
is transformed to dc voltage using a Schottky diode. The dc
voltage is proportional to the square of the electric-eld strength
and is converted to an optical signal in the rigid case equipped
with the shorted monopoles. The optical signal is transmitted
to the O/E converter of the system controller, as shown in
Fig. 8, by using optical bers. The use of optical ber could
make minimum an interaction between the feeder material
and the electromagnetic eld excited from the antenna. In the
eld sensor, each shorted monopole is orthogonally placed and
corresponds to the x, y, and z components of the electric
eld. In this paper, the electric-eld strength E at the point
of measurement is read out as the root mean square of each
eld component E
x
, E
y
, and E
z
, i.e., E
2
= E
2
x
+E
2
y
+E
2
y
.
Consequently, the directivity of the electric-eld sensor has an
isotropic characteristic. The uncertainty of the measured eld
strength is 1 dB, including the isotropy of less than 0.5 dB.
The eld sensor is used in the near metal surface of the car
body. To estimate the error of the employed eld sensor due to
the capacitive coupling between the eld sensor and the metal
surface, the electric eld near the metal surface is measured
and calculated as shown in Fig. 9(a). In the experiment, a
TEM wave is incident perpendicular to the aluminum plate
with the electric-eld strength of 1 V/m. The TEM wave is
TARUSAWA et al.: FINE POSITIONING THREE-DIMENSIONAL ELECTRIC-FIELD MEASUREMENTS 1299
TABLE I
MEASUREMENT-SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
Fig. 9. Error of used eld sensor due to capacitive coupling with metal plate.
(a) Test conguration. (b) Calculated and measured electric eld.
generated from a horn antenna at the frequency of 900 MHz.
The calculation of the electric eld assumes that the aluminum
plate is a perfect electric conductor and that a transmission line
model is used. Fig. 9(b) shows the measured and calculated
values of the electric-eld strength. The difference between the
measured and calculated eld strength is approximately 1.5 dB,
at the distance of 50 mm where the position of the eld sensor
is as near as possible to the aluminum plate. The amplitude
component of the electric eld is considered in order to estimate
the EMC. With respect to each axis of the eld sensor, the same
difference is found.
The eld sensor is used in the near- and far-eld regions
of the antenna. The error due to the near eld is estimated
Fig. 10. Error of used eld sensor in the near eld excited by the dipole
antenna.
from the experiment of the electric-eld measurement for the
900-MHz half wavelength dipole antenna, as shown in Fig. 10.
The electric eld is also calculated by using the wire grid
method, assuming a sinusoidal current distribution along the
wire of the dipole. The measured electric eld is 2 dB lower
than that of the calculated value, at the distance of 15 cm.
Based on these results, the errors of the eld sensor in the
near metal surface and that in the near eld of the antenna are
estimated within 2 dB. The resulting electric-eld strength
yields an uncertainty of 4 dB, including the electric-eld
uctuation of 2 dB that is caused by the rectangular FRP
columns that are used to construct the 3-D scanner, and 2 dB
from the error of the eld sensor in the near metal surface and
the near eld of antenna, as summarized in Table I. The IEC
Standard 62209-1 that denes the SAR measurement method
based on the electric-eld sensor analyzes the measurement
uncertainty [9]. According to this standard, the uncertainty of
1300 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 56, NO. 3, MAY 2007
2 dB due to the boundary effect has a rectangular distribution.
The uncertainty of 1 dB of the eld sensor for the far eld has
a normal distribution. Therefore, the resulting uncertainty can
be estimated using the condence interval, which is dened by
the uncertainty estimation in Section 7 of the IEC Standard.
The scanner and the test car are grounded and are far
from buildings and industrial plants. The car engine and all
electronic devices except the transmitter are shut down during
the measurements. While the actual cellular systems have the
transmission power levels of less than 2 W, these measurements
used an antenna input of 10 W to ensure adequate signal-to-
noise ratios given by the electric-eld sensors that are used.
Since the antenna input, as net power input, is dened by the
forward power minus the reverse power at the antenna input
port, the forward power and the reverse power are measured
by using a directional coupler and power sensors. The VSWR
at the antenna input port is held to under 1.5 during the
measurement.
III. MEASUREMENT RESULTS
Electric-eld measurements are performed using a passenger
car, which is a 1993 MAZDA CAPELLA. Detailed electric-
eld distributions are derived for the three antennas: trunk-lid
antenna, rear-window antenna, and roof antenna. The transmis-
sion frequency lies in the 900-MHz band. The value of the
eld strength shown in the following measurement results is
normalized by the antenna input of 1 W because the antenna
input is typically on the order of the value for a mobile radio
unit of a cellular system, and it is easy to calculate the eld
strength when the antenna input is arbitrary. The measured
electric-eld strength in the following measurement results
shows the root mean square of each eld component. Three-
dimensional eld-strength data are acquired using the proposed
measurement system. The data show that the maximum eld
strength exists on the plane, including the radiation center
of the antenna. Consequently, the xy, xz, and yz planes,
including the radiation center of the antenna, are selected to
estimate the EMC requirements in the orthogonal coordinate
system.
This paper provides a set of measurements for the electric
eld inside and outside a vehicle that is equipped with three
different antennas. Even if the measurement results show only
three specic congurations that are related to three possible
antenna installations on a particular car model, they can be
useful for general recommendations regarding the installation
of antennas on vehicles for EMC.
A. Trunk-Lid Antenna
The trunk lid is a popular place to mount radio antennas. A
vertical space-diversity antenna is located 40 cm from the top
rear edge of the trunk lid. This antenna comprises two sleeve
elements aligned along the vertical axis, as shown as the simple
single pole in [10, Fig. 5]. In this conguration, the upper sleeve
element is used as a transmission and reception port while the
lower sleeve element is used only as a reception port.
The distribution of the electric-eld strength is represented
as contours based on the orthogonal coordinate axes converted
Fig. 11. Measured electric-eld strength of the trunk-lid antenna in the xz
plane at y = 120 cm.
from the R-, L-, and H-axes. Figs. 1113 show the distribution
of the electric-eld distribution inside and outside the car. In
this paper, the unit for electric-eld strength is decibelvolt
per meter in addition to volt per meter. The value of 1 V/m
is converted to 0 dBV/m (decibelvolt per meter), and 10 V/m
is converted to 20 dBV/m, respectively. At any location, the
electric-eld strength at any antenna input power can be eas-
ily calculated from these measured results because the eld
strength is proportional to the square root of the antenna input
power. When the electric-eld sensor scans inside or outside
the car, the scanning area of the eld sensor is limited to 10 cm
from the surface. Since the eld strength could not be measured
closer than 10 cm from the surface, the contours were extrapo-
lated based on the rst-order prediction method.
Inside the car, the maximum eld strength is 5 V/m
(14 dBV/m) in the vicinity of the rear window, and the strengths
in the front seat and that on the instrument board are less than
2.5 V/m (8 dBV/m) when the antenna input is 1 W. The rear
window included a heating wire for a defogger, and the front
seats have a metal frame. It is possible that the measured eld
strength includes error due to the effect of the near metal.
From the estimation of uncertainty as mentioned in the previous
section, if it is assumed that the uncertainty of the measurement
system is 4 dB, the maximum eld strength is 8 V/m in the
vicinity of the rear window and less than 4 V/m in the front seat
and on the instrument board. The local peak of the electric eld
is 2 and 4 dB higher in the front and rear seats, respectively. The
IEC Standard (61000-4-3) that denes test and measurement
techniques for electromagnetic elds designates four immunity
levels for digital mobile radios [11]. If an electronic device
passes the immunity test for Level 4, which corresponds to
the eld strength of 30 V/m, the eld within the car cannot
inuence the electronic devices.
TARUSAWA et al.: FINE POSITIONING THREE-DIMENSIONAL ELECTRIC-FIELD MEASUREMENTS 1301
Fig. 12. Measured electric-eld strength of the trunk-lid antenna in the yz plane at x = 200 cm.
Fig. 13. Measured electric-eld strength of the trunk-lid antenna in the xy plane at z = 400 cm.
For human exposure to RF electromagnetic elds, the In-
ternational Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection
(ICNRP) denes that the reference levels of electric elds are
obtained from the basic restriction derived from the whole
body average SAR [2]. The reference level is 41.1 V/m at the
frequency of 900 MHz and could be yielded at the SAR of
0.008 W/kg with respect to the specications for the general
public when the maximum coupling between the human body
and the eld is assumed. If the eld strength of 30 V/m
as a specially averaged value is found in the eld-strength
measurement, the SAR is half of the basic restriction value at
maximum using the most conservative simple estimation. This
is because the square of the ratio between the measured 30 V/m
and the reference level of 41.1 V/m is about 1/2. If a more
precise SAR is needed for the dosimetry of the human body, the
local SAR distribution and specially averaged value of the eld
strength in the human body should be measured using the hu-
man body phantom, as described in [4]. However, the provided
maximum protection when the measured electric-eld strength
is at maximum is lower than the reference level, although the
specially averaged value of the electric-eld strength is not
estimated.
Outside the car, the distribution of the far-eld strength can
be predicted from the details of the measured eld distribution.
The metal rooftop of the car did not signicantly block the elec-
tromagnetic eld excited from the upper sleeve element. The
eld strength is highest in the region up to a half wavelength
from the upper sleeve element of the antenna. At the rear and
the side edges of the trunk lid, the eld strength is less than
13 V/m (22 dBV/m). On the other side of the body, however,
the eld strength did not exceed Level 3 (10 V/m) when the
antenna input is 1 W. If it is assumed that the uncertainty of the
measurement system is 4 dB, the eld strength is less than
20 V/m at the rear and side edges of the trunk lid, and the eld
strength did not exceed Level 3 (10 V/m) on the other side of
the body. The eld strength did not exceed the reference level
indicated by the ICNRP guidelines even at the rear or side edges
of the trunk lid.
1302 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 56, NO. 3, MAY 2007
Fig. 14. Rear-window antenna for 900-MHz band cellular system.
B. Rear-Window Antenna
The rear window is a good place to mount antennas for
systems such as cellular radios and broadcast receivers because
it is an unused location. A rear-window antenna comprising
two vertical dipoles is mounted on the rear window using two
suction cups, as shown in Fig. 14. To achieve parallel space
diversity, one dipole is used as the transmission and reception
ports while the other dipole is used only as a reception port; the
dipoles are separated by 15 cm. The transmitted signal lays in
the 900-MHz band. Figs. 1517 show the measured results.
Inside the car, the eld strength in the front seat (interior)
is up to 14 dB higher than that with the trunk-lid antenna.
The local peak of the electric eld is approximately 10 dB
higher in the vicinity of the steering wheel, as shown in Fig. 13.
The same point yields the maximum eld strength of 13 V/m
(22 dBV/m) when the antenna input is 1 W. This means that
electronic devices that offer Level 3 immunity (10 V/m) may
suffer an interference due to the electric eld within the car.
Since the steering wheel has a metal frame, it is possible that
the measured eld strength includes error due to the effect of
the near metal. A Level 4 device (30 V/m) would not experience
interference even if it were assumed that the uncertainty of
the measurement system is 4 dB because the maximum eld
strength is 20 V/m. For human exposure to RF electromagnetic
elds, the eld strength did not exceed the reference level
dened in the ICNRP guidelines.
Outside the car, a comparison of the side views, as shown
in Figs. 12 and 16, shows that the eld strength in the front
of the car with the rear-window antenna is less than that with
the trunk-lid antenna, because the metal rooftop and body act
as a shield and reector. Along the sides of the body, the eld
strength did not exceed Level 4 (30 V/m) even if it is assumed
that the uncertainty of the measurement system is 4 dB.
C. Roof Antenna
The roof can be used to mount a radio antenna. A whip
antenna with the electrical wavelength of 5/8 in the 900-MHz
band is clamped to the junction of the roof and a windowpane.
This location is useful because the antenna is accessible, allow-
ing rapid mounting or removal of the antenna. Figs. 1820 show
the measured results.
Inside the car, the eld strengths at the headrest of the front
seat range from 10 V/m (20 dBV/m) to 20 V/m (26 dBV/m)
when the antenna input is 1 W. Since the headrest has a metal
frame and is near the metal roof of the car body, it is possible
that the measured eld strength includes error due to the effect
of the near metal. If it is assumed that the uncertainty of the
measurement system is 4 dB, the eld strength is from 16 to
32 V/m. Near the headrest of the front seat, the electric eld
of Level 4 (30 V/m) is exceeded; however, the reference level
indicated by the ICNRP is not exceeded if the antenna input is
less than 1 W, even though the eld strength is extremely high
within one-half wavelength from the antenna. The local peak
of the electric eld is higher by 2 or 4 dB in the rear and front
seats, respectively, as shown in Fig. 19.
Outside the car, the maximum eld strength along the side of
the body toward which the antenna is mounted is approximately
10 V/m (20 dBV/m). However, along the other side, a value
less than 3 V/m (10 dBV/m) is obtained. If it is assumed
that the uncertainty of the measurement system is 4 dB, the
eld strengths are 16 V/m for the antenna-mounted side and
5 V/m for the other side. The eld strength did not exceed the
reference level dened in the ICNRP guidelines.
IV. SUMMARY
A. Construction of 3-D Measurement System
A 3-D system for measuring the electric-eld space distri-
bution around a passenger car was described. The measure-
ment system can position a eld sensor with the positioning
repeatability of better than 10 mm; the system was carefully
designed using nonmetallic materials and air motors to reduce
the electric-eld uctuation caused by the manipulator system.
The electric-eld uctuation due to the rectangular FRP col-
umn was calculated using the FDTD method. The calculation
considered the plane wave with different angles of incidence
and frequency values to take into account the actual measured
eld, and the measurement system using the rectangular FRP
column was designed to hold the electric uctuation to under
2 dB. In addition to the eld uctuation due to the rectan-
gular FRP column, the error of the used eld sensor due
to the capacitive coupling between the eld sensor and the
metal surface was also experimentally estimated to be 2 dB.
The resulting electric-eld strength yielded an uncertainty of
4 dB, including the electric-eld uctuation of 2 dB caused
by the rectangular FRP columns that are used to construct the
3-D scanner and 2 dB from the capacitive coupling.
The developed measurement system was used to deter-
mine the detailed electric-eld distributions of three antennas
mounted on a passenger car: a trunk-lid antenna, rear-window
antenna, and roof antenna.
B. Electric Field Within the Car
In the front seat, the eld strength of the rear-windowantenna
was up to 14 dB higher than that for the trunk-lid antenna.
TARUSAWA et al.: FINE POSITIONING THREE-DIMENSIONAL ELECTRIC-FIELD MEASUREMENTS 1303
Fig. 15. Measured electric-eld strength of the rear-window antenna in the xz plane at y = 120 cm.
Fig. 16. Measured electric-eld strength of the rear-window antenna in the yz plane at x = 200 cm.
When the antenna input was under 1 W, the electric eld of the
trunk-lid antenna was nearly equal or less than 10 V/m at any
point inside the car even if it was assumed that the uncertainty
of the measurement system was 4 dB. However, there were
local peaks; the eld strength exceeded 10 V/m for the rear-
window antenna and the roof antenna. The local peak of the
eld strength was approximately 10 dB higher (maximum). For
all three antennas assessed, Level 4 (30 V/m) devices would
not experience interference due to the electric elds within the
car. However, the eld strength of the headrest close to the
roof antenna was 32 V/m at maximum if the uncertainty of the
measurement system was assumed to be 4 dB.
For the human exposure to RF electromagnetic eld, the eld
strength did not exceed the reference level shown in the ICNRP
guidelines.
C. Electric Field Outside the Car
The electric eld exceeded Level 3 (10 V/m) on the side
of the body toward which the trunk lid or roof antenna was
1304 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 56, NO. 3, MAY 2007
Fig. 17. Measured electric-eld strength of the rear-window antenna in the xy plane at z = 200 cm.
Fig. 18. Measured electric-eld strength of the roof antenna in the xz plane at y = 120 cm.
mounted (input under 1 W). For all three antennas assessed,
Level 4 (30 V/m) devices would not experience interference
from the electric elds outside the car. In addition, the eld
strength did not exceed the reference level described in the
ICNRP guidelines.
The eld strength in the far-eld region outside a car
can be predicted from the results presented here. The eld
strength in the horizontal plane of the trunk-lid antenna was
nearly isotropic, even though the metal rooftop of the car
partially blocked the electromagnetic eld. With the rear-
window antenna, the electromagnetic eld in the front of
the car was less than that excited by the trunk-lid antenna
because the metal rooftop and body acted as shields and
reectors.
TARUSAWA et al.: FINE POSITIONING THREE-DIMENSIONAL ELECTRIC-FIELD MEASUREMENTS 1305
Fig. 19. Measured electric-eld strength of the roof antenna in the yz plane at x = 200 cm.
Fig. 20. Measured electric-eld strength of the roof antenna in the xy plane at z = 50 cm.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank H. Nishio at NTT DoCoMo
Engineering Company for his support.
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1306 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 56, NO. 3, MAY 2007
Yoshiaki Tarusawa (M93) received the B.S. and
M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Nihon
University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1982 and 1984, re-
spectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electronics and
information engineering from Hokkaido University,
Sapporo, Japan, in 2005.
In 1984, he joined Yokosuka Electrical Commu-
nication Laboratories, NTT, Yokosuka, Japan. Since
then, he has been engaged in the development of
microwave circuits, mobile radio equipment, and
electromagnetic-compatibility technologies for mo-
bile radio systems. He is currently an Executive Senior Research Engineer in
Wireless Laboratories, NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Yokosuka.
Dr. Tarusawa is a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information, and
Communication Engineers of Japan.
Sadayuki Nishiki received the B.S. degree in elec-
tronic engineering from Tokyo University of Agri-
culture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan, in 1976.
In 1976, he was with Yokosuka Electrical Com-
munication Laboratories, NTT, Yokosuka, Japan.
Since then, he has been engaged in the development
of frequency synthesizer circuits and high-efciency
power amplier circuits for mobile radio system.
From 1992 to 2003, he was engaged in the develop-
ment of electromagnetic-compatibility technologies
and the maintenance of base station radio equipment
for NTT DoCoMo, Inc. Since 2003, he has been a Senior Manager in Mobile
Multimedia Business Planning Department, DoCoMo Mobile, Inc.
Mr. Nishiki is a member of the Institute of Electronics, Information, and
Communication Engineers of Japan.
Toshio Nojima (S73M74) received the B.E. de-
gree in electrical engineering from Saitama Univer-
sity, Saitama, Japan, in 1972, and the M.E. and Ph.D.
degrees in electronic engineering from Hokkaido
University, Sapporo, Japan, in 1974 and 1988,
respectively.
From1974 to 1992, he was with Nippon Telegraph
and Telephone (NTT) Communications Laborato-
ries, where he was engaged in the development of
microwave radio systems. From 1992 to 2001, he
was with NTT DoCoMo, Inc., where he was a Senior
Executive Research Engineer and conducted research on the radio safety issues
related to mobile radio systems. Since January of 2002, he has assumed the
position of Professor in the graduate school of Hokkaido University.
Dr. Nojima is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan
and the Institute of Electronics, Information, and Communication Engineers
of Japan.