Bioelectromagnetics 36:10^26 (2015)

Generation of Infant Anatomical Models

for Evaluating Electromagnetic
Field Exposures
Congsheng Li,1,2 Zhiye Chen,3 Lei Yang,1 Bin Lv,1 Jianzhe Liu,1

geVarsier,4 Abdelhamid Hadjem,4 JoeWiart,4 Yi Xie,1 Lin Ma,3
Nade
and TongningWu1*
1

China Academy of Telecommunication Research of Ministry of Industry and Information

Technology, Beijing, China
2
College of Computer and Communication Engineering, University of Science and
Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
3
Department of Radiology, PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
4
Orange Labs, Issy Les Moulineaux, France

Realistic anatomical modeling is essential in analyzing human exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Infants have significant physical and anatomical differences compared with other age groups.
However, few realistic infant models are available. In this work, we developed one 12-month-old
male whole body model and one 17-month-old male head model from magnetic resonance images.
The whole body and head models contained 28 and 30 tissues, respectively, at spatial resolution of
1 mm
1 mm
1 mm. Fewer identified tissues in the whole body model were a result of the low
original image quality induced by the fast imaging sequence. The anatomical and physical
parameters of the models were validated against findings in published literature (e.g., a maximum
deviation as 18% in tissue mass was observed compared with the data from International
Commission on Radiological Protection). Several typical exposure scenarios were realized for
numerical simulation. Dosimetric comparison with various adult and child anatomical models was
conducted. Significant differences in the physical and anatomical features between adult and child
models demonstrated the importance of creating realistic infant models. Current safety guidelines for
infant exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields may not be conservative. Bioelectromagnetics 36:1026, 2015. 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Key words: segmentation; reconstruction; magnetic resonance; finite-difference time-domain;
electromagnetic fields exposure

INTRODUCTION
To protect against radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure, the International
Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection
(ICNIRP) published guidelines in 1998 for limiting
excessive emission [ICNIRP, 1998]. Basic limits (e.g.,
specific absorption rate [SAR]) and reference levels
(e.g., spatial power density) are used to evaluate RF
EMF safety. Compliance with the reference levels is
regarded as compliance with the basic limits. Measurement and numerical simulation are frequently used for
compliance evaluation.
Recent developments on computer technology
have led to the adoption of high-resolution computational human models for evaluating EMF exposure.
Most of the available human models, such as Visible
Human [Ackerman, 1995], Norman [Dimbylow, 1995],
Naomi [Dimbylow, 2005], Japanese adult models
[Nagaoka et al., 2004], Korean adult models [Lee

2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

et al., 2006; Kim et al., 2008], Glenn, Duke, and Ella

from Virtual Family [Christ et al., 2010a], and Chinese
adult male and female models [Wu et al., 2011],
represent only adults. Several realistic child models, as

Grant sponsors: National Key Basic Research Project; grant

number: 2011CB503705; National Natural Science Foundation of
China; grant numbers: 61001159, 61201066, 61371187; French
ANSES Project ACTE; grant number: 2012/2/044.
Conflict of Interest: None.
*Correspondence to: Tongning Wu, No. 52, Huayuanbei Road,
Beijing 100191, China. E-mail: toniwoo@gmail.com
Received for review 29 September 2013; Accepted 6 July 2014
DOI: 10.1002/bem.21868
Published online 18 October 2014 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com).

Infant Models for EMF Evaluation

well as some child-sized models scaled down from

adults, have been developed and used in EMF calculations [Williams et al., 1986; Lee et al., 2009; Christ
et al., 2010a]. However, these models generally represent children older than 5 years old.
Few infant models (ages between several weeks
and 2 years old) are available. These models include
University of Florida (UF) hybrid non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) phantoms [Lee et al., 2007,
2010], software-generated baby models [Cassola
et al., 2013], Japanese infant models [Hirata
et al., 2008], and the baby model from the National
Research Center for Environment and Health (GSF)
voxel
family
in
Germany
[Petoussi-Henss
et al., 2002]. Of these, the first two models use scaled
tissues/organs from different individuals to form a
reference model. The Japanese infant model is linearly
scaled from a child-size model. Only the UF model is
a realistic model of an 8-week-old female infant. As
such, realistic infant models, during which the growth
rate is the highest over the entire human lifespan (from
several months to 2 years old) are lacking.
Proportional [Nagaoka et al., 2008] or nonproportional [Wang and Fujiwara, 2003; Hadjem
et al., 2005; Beard et al., 2006; Monebhurrun, 2010]
scaling of adult models into an infant model is
technically feasible. However, significant physical and
anatomical differences exist between infants and
adults. First, an infant has an unproportionally large
head, short neck and tongue. Second, an infants
immature hypothalamus reduces its temperature regulation capability. An infant also has thinner skin, and
its brain mass experiences the most rapid increase
during the first 2 years after birth [Huelke, 1998].
Thus, scaled models from adults or children cannot
accurately be used to represent infants for evaluating
EMF exposure. To address this issue, the French
Agency for Food, Environmental, and Occupational
Health and Safety (ANSES) launched a 3-year international research program to assess infant exposure to
long-term evolution (LTE) EMF exposure (ACTE,
Analyse et Caractrisation de lexposition des Tr
es
jeunes Enfants aux syst
emes de communication sans
fil LTE, which is analysis and characterization for the
very young infants exposure to the LTE wireless
communication system, in English); this program
requires the development of realistic infant numerical
models.
Epidemiological evidence has indicated the risk
of extremely low-frequency (ELF) EMF exposure on
childhood leukemia [National Cancer Institute, 2013].
At birth, all bone marrow is red [Ellis, 1961]; it
gradually converts into yellow with age. Only about
half of the adult bone marrow is red. Thus, investigat-

11

ing the effect of EMF exposure on infants is of

particular importance, especially when the central
nervous system (CNS) undergoes rapid development.
Generation of the realistic infant models can help
elucidate whether the current EMF safety limits are
conservative for the subjects of this age group in
various exposure scenarios. These important scenarios
include the exposure to the near field of the mobile
phone [Monebhurrun, 2010], exposure during highintensity MRI scan [Jin et al., 2012], and the
environmental exposures by various wireless communication signals [Bakker et al., 2010].
In this study, one whole body model and one
head model were developed from the magnetic
resonance (MR) images of the two 12- and 17-monthold male infants. The whole body model included 28
tissues, while the head model contained 30 tissues.
Comparison of results with the published anatomical
and physical data was performed to validate the
developed models. Numerical simulation by the finitedifference time-domain (FDTD) [Taflove and
Hagness, 2000] method was used to compute SAR in
several typical RF EMF exposure scenarios, and the
results were compared with adults and children.
Dosimetric differences between the infant and adult
models confirm the necessity of constructing realistic
infant models. The correct anatomical data of the
infant models were also validated via numerical
evaluations.
The models are free for non-commercial research
with the permission of the corresponding author. The
distributable models are available in the format as
segmented images (.jpg, .bmp, .png, or .bmp) or as the
three-dimensional (3D) binary array.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data Acquisition
MR scans were performed on two male infants,
one 12-month-old and the other 17-month-old; both
infants had auditory abnormalities (ear canal stenosis).
The abnormality might hinder its application in EMF
evaluation for the external auditory canals. Procedural
sedation was administered by the pediatric staff. The
potential risks were discussed with the legal guardians
of the infants prior to the scans. To prevent movement
during the scans, the infants were strapped to the MR
bed at waist level.
A 3.0T scanner (GE Healthcare, Little Chalfont,
UK) was used for T1-weighted image acquisition with
a 3D fast spoiled gradient recalled echo sequence.
Separate scans were performed on the 12-month-old
male for imaging the upper and lower parts of the
Bioelectromagnetics

12

Li et al.

body. Combination of the different image datasets was

performed at the chest level. Since the subject was
strapped to the MR bed, the different image datasets
could be aligned without further manipulation. A
radiologist examined the surface continuity and organ
integrity. The in-plane resolutions were 1.8715 mm

2.0 mm and 0.4688 mm
0.7 mm for the wholebody and head models, and the slice thicknesses were
1.8715 and 0.4688 mm, respectively. No slice interval
was assumed in the scans.
Segmentation
Identified tissues and resolutions depend on the
original image quality. To ensure infant safety and
expedite the imaging process, we employed an efficient whole-body scan configuration at the cost of
degraded image quality. As this configuration can
obscure small tissues, we focused on segmenting
major tissues and organs (in terms of volume), tissues
featuring large dielectric variabilities with age
[Peyman et al., 2009], CNS tissues, and other tissues
with functional and physiological importance.
Segmentation was performed on two-dimensional (2D) slices and 3D volumes. The interactive
segmentation tool, iSeg (ZMT, Zurich, Switzerland),
and in-house software [Wu et al., 2013a; Li
et al., 2014] based on Insight Segmentation and
Registration Toolkit (ITK) [Ibez et al., 2003] and
Visualization Toolkit (VTK) [Schroeder et al., 2003]
were used.
Manual segmentation of the whole-body images
with relatively low quality was performed by anatomical experts of the 12-month-old infant. This procedure
is fairly common in terms of technology. Relevant
details can be found in our previous report [Wu
et al., 2011]. A segmentation example at the chest
level is shown Figure 1.

The original T1 MR images of the 17-month-old

head were corrected for bias fields and intensity nonuniformity using the N3 algorithm [Sled et al., 1998]
and followed by image smoothing with an anisotropic
filter. The 3D region growing method was applied to
generate a head mask by eliminating the background
noise. The resultant images were further processed for
atlas-based segmentation by tissue registration. This
work was conducted using two open-source software
suites, FreeSurfer [Fischl, 2012] and Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) [Friston et al., 2006]. The scalp,
white matter, gray matter, cerebrospinal fluid, and
hippocampus can be identified from the images. Consequently, the partially segmented images were imported
by iSeg and our in-house software for segmenting
other tissues. The selected methods included thresholding with different values, morphological operation
(e.g., filling holes, opening and closing operators, etc.),
region growing, and the graph cut method [Chen
et al., 2012]. Manual segmentation and expert inspection
was performed before head model reconstruction.
Figure 2 shows the segmentation process.
For both the whole-body and head models, skin
was invisible in the original images. A single skin
layer (1 mm thickness) surrounding the models was
artificially added. The thickness of the skin corresponded with the ultrasonic measurement results
[Usher and McLean, 1969; Kil et al., 2007; Zhang
et al., 2007]. We linearly interpolated and adjusted the
voxel resolution to 1 mm
1 mm
1mm. The reconstructed models are shown in Figure 3.
Simulation Configuration
To demonstrate the application of the reconstructed models in RF EMF numerical calculations,
three typical exposure scenarios were created. These
simulations did not aim to cover all aspects of EMF
exposure. Dosimetric studies with extensive exposure

Fig.1. Example of segmentation for the12-month-old infant whole-bodyimages at the chest level
(a) theoriginalimageand (b) the correspondingsegmentedimage.
Bioelectromagnetics

Infant Models for EMF Evaluation

13

Fig. 2. Segmentation for the 17-month-old infant head images.The original T1 MR images of the
17-month-old head images (a) were corrected for bias fields and intensity non-uniformity (b).
Smoothingoftheimageswith an anisotropic filterandapplicationofthe 3Dregiongrowingmethod
to generate a head mask to eliminate background noise followed (c,d).The resultant images were
further processed for atlas-based segmentation by tissue registration. The scalp, white matter,
graymatter, cerebrospinalfluid, andhippocampuscan beidentified fromtheimages (e-g).Subsequently, thepartiallysegmentedimageswereimportedbyiSegandourin-house softwareforsegmentingother tissues (h).

configurations will be presented in subsequent manuscripts in the frame of the same project.
The FDTD method was used to update the E and
H fields in the human models under RF EMF
exposure. The FDTD spatial lattice was as 1 mm
1
mm
1 mm for 20 MHz to 3 GHz corresponding to a
time update step as 1.8 ps. Sinusoidal E field was
applied to the transverse mode (TEM) plane-wave
exposure scenario and sinusoidal voltage source was
applied to the localized exposure scenarios. Eightlayer uniaxial perfectly matched layer (UPML)
[Gedney, 1996] was used as an absorption boundary
condition (ABC). We inserted 30 grid cells between
the PML boundary and the models. The number of
iterations varied from 2 periods (20 MHz) to 40
periods (3 GHz). Selection of the iteration time

corresponded to a propagation distance of at least two

times the maximum diameter of the computational
domain. To verify our results, the whole body
averaged SAR (WBASAR) from the Thelonious and
Billie models was validated against published data
[Bakker et al., 2010]; a difference of less than 5% was
observed for all the frequencies. In addition, one study
[Bakker et al., 2010] also reported that even a drastic
increase in the padding distance and the updating steps
from our current configurations could insignificantly
impact WBASAR (about 6%). However, the consequential computational domain will exceed the memory capacity of our simulation hardware.
Frequency dependent dielectric parameters were
obtained from Gabriel et al. [1996] and the tissue
densities were imported from the database of ITIS
Bioelectromagnetics

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Li et al.

Fig. 3. Reconstructed infant models (a) the 12-month-old male infant whole body model and (b)
the17-month-oldmaleinfant headmodel.

[Hasgall et al., 2013]. The database was based on the

averaged values found in the published literatures.
The simulations were realized by SEMCAD-X
v14.8 (SPEAG, Zurich, Switzerland). The hardware
configuration is as follows: two central processing
units (CPU): Xeon X5677 (3.46 GHz); memory on
board: 48 GB; and four graphic processing units
(GPU): NVIDIA FX 5800 (16 GB memory in total).
The field update speed may vary during the simulations, but a minimum speed of 500 MVoxels/s was
maintained. The following scenarios were simulated.
TEM plane-wave exposure. Frequency-dependent
WBASAR was calculated for the TEM plan-wave
Bioelectromagnetics

exposure scenario for human models. The E field

polarization was parallel to the length of the anatomical model with propagation direction pointing to the
face of the anatomical models. In total, seven models
were used in the simulations: the whole-body 12month-old infant, Korean child, Billie and Thelonious
(Virtual Family), standing Chinese male and female
adults [Wu et al., 2013b,c], and a Chinese female adult
proportionally downscaled to achieve the same height
as the whole-body infant. In the simulations, the
models were isolated from the ground. WBASAR was
normalized to the plane-wave power density as
prescribed by the reference levels from the ICNIRP
guidelines.

Infant Models for EMF Evaluation

Dipole exposure. Infants can gain access to mobile

terminals at a very young age. In this scenario, we
simulated the near-field exposure of an infants head to
the popular 3G and 4G wireless telecommunication
bands of 2.1, 2.4, and 2.53 GHz. Five human models
were used in the simulations: the 12-month-old infant,
the 17-month-old infant, Thelonious, Billie, and the
Chinese male. Half-wavelength dipoles were used in
the simulations. The dipole length was parallel to the
length of the head, and the dipole gap aligned to the
entrance of the ear canal. The distance between the
head and the top of the dipole was 3.5 cm. This setup
could ensure an identical distance from the dipole to
the head for all the models while preventing the result
variability induced by the compressed pinna (a minimum separation of 1 cm was kept between the dipole
and the pinna for all the simulated models).
PC tablet in front of the eye. Infants can also be
exposed to EMF via smartphones or PC tablets in
data-transfer mode. A PC tablet with tri-frequency
antenna was numerically modeled, and the antenna
prototype was obtained from the SEMCAD-X v14.8
user manual [SPEAG, 2013]. Optimization for the
antenna adaptation was performed. Figure 4 shows the
schematic diagram of the PC tablet and the simulated
S11 parameters (S11 describes the reflection from the
input port when the output port was terminated).
In the simulation, five head models were involved: the 12-month-old infant, the 17-month-old
infant, Thelonious, Billie, and a Chinese male. The

15

center of the PC tablet was aligned to the midpoint of

the two eyes. A 20 cm separation was maintained
between the dielectric substrate of the PC tablet and
the midpoint of the eyes.
RESULTS
The whole-body model weighed 9.84 kg and
measured 73.0 cm. The corresponding data from
WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study Group
[2006] for weight and height are 9.65 kg and 75.7 cm,
respectively. The head circumferences of the 12- and
17-month-old models were 44 and 48 cm, respectively.
Reference data from WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study Group indicate circumferences of 46 and
48.7 cm for these two ages.
Table 1 compares the tissue masses with the
International Commission on Radiological Protection
(ICRP) data [Valentin, 2002]. The maximum deviation
from the ICRP values was approximately 18% while
the mean value  standard deviation for all the surveyed tissues was 12.36  4.79%. The tissue mass of
the head models is listed in Table 2. We observed a
20% increase in total brain tissue mass (including the
gray matter, white matter, cerebellum, midbrain, pons,
hippocampus, and thalamus) between the 12-monthold and the 17-month-old model.
The WBASAR is plotted in Figure 5, and the
tissue-specific SAR (TSSAR) of major tissues from
the simulated models is shown in Figure 6. The
resonance frequency of the whole-body infant model

Fig.4. Numericalmodelofthe PCtablet (a) isthestructuresandthedimensionsand (b) isthesimulated S11.Theprototype oftheantennaisfromthe SEMCADusermanual [SPEAG,2013].
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Li et al.

TABLE 1. Identied Tissues in the 12-Month-Old Infant Whole-Body Model

Whole body model
Tissue

Reference value

Grayscale
label

Density
(kg/m3)

kg

Body
composition %

Mass
(kg)

Body
composition (%)

Deviationc (%)

6
12
30
54
42
24
72
18
126
36
48
60
66
78
84
90
96
102
108
114
120
132
138
144
150
156
162
168

1.2
1908
1908
1908
1090.4
911
1045.5
1007
980
1028.5
1109
1075
1090.4
1035
1004.5
1080.8
1030
1045.2
1066.25
1078.75
394
1089
1088
1045.2
1080
1.2
1.2
1101.5

0.000046
0.38
0.038
0.43
1.72
4.27
1.02
0.092
0.017
0.12
0.41
0.0065
0.010
0.0087
0.008
0.11
0.12
0.51
0.064
0.28
0.13
0.031
0.017
0.033
0.0014
0.00000046
0.000054
0.0040

0.00047
3.82
0.39
4.34
17.50
43.57
10.43
0.94
0.18
1.22
4.15
0.066
0.10
0.088
0.082
1.13
1.18
5.16
0.66
2.84
1.28
0.32
0.17
0.34
0.014
0
0.001
0.041

/
1.00a

/
10.00

/
14.5

1.90
3.80
0.95
/
0.02
0.15
0.35
/
0.010
0.0090
0.0070
0.098
0.135b
/
0.070
0.33
0.15
0.029
0.020
/
0.0015
/
/
/

19.00
38.00
9.50
/
0.20
1.50
3.50
/
0.10
0.090
0.070
0.98
1.35
/
0.70
3.30
1.50
0.29
0.20
/
0.015
/
/
/

7.9
14.66
9.79
/
10
18.67
18.57

Air_internal
Bone
Mandible
Skull
Muscle
Fat
Brain
CSF
Marrow_yellow
Marrow_red
Skin
Spinal_cord
Tongue
Bladder
Eye
Heart
Intestines
Intestine_lumen
Kidney
Liver
Lungs
Spleen
Stomach
Stomach_lumen
Trachea
Trachea_lumen
bladder_lumen (Urine)
Penis

0
2.22
17.14
15.31
12.59
/
5.71
13.94
14.67
10.35
15
/
6.67
/
/
/

The comparison is made with the data from ICRP89.

Marrows exclusive.
b
Walls of the large, small intestines, colons, and rectosigmoid inclusive.
a

Deviation %

Body compositionwholebody model Body compositionreference

Body compositionreference

100%. The reference values are from ICRP 89.

TABLE 2. Identied Tissues in the 17-Month-Old Infant Head Model

Tissue
Air_internal
Mandible
Skull
Muscle
Fat
CSF
Marrow_red
Skin
Spinal_cord
Tongue
Artery
Cornea
Eye_lens
Eye_sclera
Vitreous_humor
Bioelectromagnetics

Grayscale
label

Denisity
(kg/m3)

Mass
(kg)

6
30
54
42
24
18
36
48
60
66
74
98
110
116
122

0
1908
1908
1090.4
911
1007
1030
1109
1075
1090.4
1049.8
1050.5
1075.5
1032
1004.5

0
0.024
0.38
0.17
0.40
0.15
0.057
0.050
0.0022
0.012
0.0048
0.00045
0.00027
0.0030
0.0085

Tissue
Ear cartilage
Nerve
Pharynx
Vein
Grey matter
White matter
Cerebellum
Midbrain
Pons
Hippocampus
Thalamus
Hypophysis
Hypothalamus
Medulla_oblongate
Pineal_body

Grayscale
label

Denisity
(kg/m3)

Mass
(kg)

104
158
176
188
80
86
92
152
170
128
182
134
140
146
164

1099.5
1075
0
1049.75
1044.5
1041
1045
1045.5
1045.5
1044.5
1044.5
1053
1053
1075
1053

0.0048
0.0017
0
0.0011
0.78
0.21
0.13
0.0067
0.0099
0.0060
0.011
0.00018
0.00025
0.0018
0.000068

Infant Models for EMF Evaluation

Fig. 5. WBASAR for the different humanmodels.Theresult isnormalized to theplane-wavepowerdensityasprescribedby thereferencelevelsof ICNIRPguidelines.

occurred at around 150 MHz. Below this frequency,

the WBASAR for the infant model was lower than
that for the larger models. Beyond 150 MHz, this trend
was reversed.
Peak spatial-average SAR over 1 and 10 g cubic
mass (pSAR1g and pSAR10g) for dipole exposure is
shown in Figure 7. The two infant head models did
not show higher pSAR compared with the other two
children models when exposed to the dipoles. In
particular, similar pSAR10g values were obtained
between these child and infant models. In contrast, the
adult head had the largest pSAR10g and pSAR1g.
Dealing with the SAR averaged over the brain and the
nerve tissues, the 12-month-old head model showed
the highest absorption in all of the surveyed frequencies (Fig. 8).
pSAR1g and pSAR10g for the PC tablet exposure are shown in Figure 9. The infant models showed
modest pSAR compared with the other models. On the
contrary, brain and nerve tissue for the 12-month-old
model featured the highest SAR among all the
surveyed models (Fig. 10).
DISCUSSION
We observed substantial differences in terms of
mass percentages when the infant model was compared with the adult or child models. The mass
percentages of the brain, fat, muscle, bone, and skin of
the models in Table 3 (Chinese adult female, Chinese
adult male, Korean child, Billie, and Thelonious) are
around 36%, 1535%, 3040%, 1215%, and 69%,
respectively. In comparison, the corresponding values
are 10.43%, 43.57%, 17.50%, 3.82%, and 4.15% for
the constructed infant model (Table 1). We also
observed a rapid increase in brain mass between the

17

12- and 17-month-old models. These differences in

anatomical and physical features confirm the need to
establish realistic models rather than simply using
scaled models for assessing the effects of infant
exposure to EMF. Since the thickness of the infants
skin in our model was 1 mm, remeshing the models
with coarser resolutions must be performed with
caution.
The variation of the frequency dependant WBASAR could be attributed to the penetration depth and
cross-sectional dimensions of the infant models. From
20 to 100 MHz, the penetration depths of the major
tissues ranged from 0.24 to 0.10 m for brain tissues,
from 0.15 to 0.08 m for muscles, from 0.30 to 0.10 m
for the skin, from 0.74 to 0.40 m for fats, and
from 0.66 to 0.34 m for bones. By contrast, the
maximum dimensions of the trunks of the simulated
models were 0.27 m (posterior to anterior) and 0.32 m
(left to right). The detailed dimensions for the simulated models are listed in Table 3. These findings indicate
that EM waves can effectively penetrate into the
bodies of all the models. Therefore, the tissue composition in the body will determine power absorption.
The infant model had the largest proportion of fat
(tissue has lower conductivity and, thus, lower power
absorption ability). Hence, the WBASAR of the
infant model was the smallest among all of the
surveyed models. By contrast, at higher frequency
(e.g., 450 MHz), the penetration depth decreased to
0.05 m for brain tissues, muscles, and skin, and 0.20 m
for bones. Therefore, the EMF power can penetrate
deeper into the infant model (in terms of crosssectional proportion) than into the larger models.
Higher EMF powers cannot only deposit in superficial
and less lossy layers (e.g., fat), but also in deeper and
lossy tissues (e.g., muscles and internal organs) for the
infant model. When averaging over the entire body
mass, larger models tended to show smaller WBASAR
than infant models. In this case, the ICNIRP guidelines
may not be conservative for infants.
The aforementioned assumption is supported by
the WBASAR obtained from the whole-body 12month-old infant model and the scaled Chinese female
adult model; these models had similar cross-sectional
depth and, thus, featured a similar WBASAR (Fig. 5).
Figure 11 shows the absorbed power (at 450, 900,
2400, and 3000 MHz) by a slice at the chest level from
the whole-body infant, Chinese female, and scaled
Chinese female models. The infant and scaled female
models showed similar patterns in EMF power distribution. As the Chinese adult female had larger
dimensions, absorption occurred only in superficial
tissues. The TSSAR results demonstrated a similar
trend (Fig. 6).
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Li et al.

Fig. 6. SAR of the major tissues from the different human models.The result is normalized to the
plane-wavepowerdensityasprescribedby thereferencelevelsof ICNIRPguidelines.

When exposed by the dipoles, the Chinese adult

male model had the highest pSAR10g/pSAR1g; this
feature was attributed to the individual profile of the
pinna since pSAR10g/pSAR1g of the adult model
occurred in this tissue (Fig. 12). We observed comparative low pSAR for the head of the infant models
(Fig. 7) but very high SAR in their brain and nerve
tissues (Fig. 8). Two factors can account for this effect.
First, the dimensions of the ear influence EMF power
absorption. The dimensions of an individual ear and its
Bioelectromagnetics

power absorption are shown in Table 4 and Figure 13.

The 12-month-old infant model had the smallest ear
and, thus, the least power absorption in this part.
Higher EMF powers can penetrate into the head,
resulting in higher power absorption in the brain.
Second, the head model of the 12-month-old infant had
the fewest identified tissues and a smooth brain profile
(less remarkable gyri and sulci) partially because of the
immature stage of the infant brain [Richman
et al., 1975; Hofman, 1985, 1989; Ruoss et al., 2001]

Infant Models for EMF Evaluation

19

pSAR1g (W/kg)

20
15
10
5
0
900

1800

2100

2530

Frequency (MHz)
12-month-old infant

17-month-old infant

Thelonious

Billie

Chinese male

pSAR10g (W/kg)

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
900

1800

2100

2530

Frequency (MHz)
12-month-old infant

17-month-old infant

Thelonious

Billie

Chinese male

b
Fig.7. pSAR10gandpSAR1gfor thesimulatedmodelsexposedtothedipoles.Theresultisnormalizedtotheincident power tothedipoleas1W.

and partially because the images used to construct this

model were of relatively low quality. A less-diversified
tissue composition results in both uniform distribution

of dielectric properties and fewer interfaces between

heterogeneous tissues. EMF power reflection from
different dielectric layers was minimized, while the

SAR (W/kg)

0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
900

1800

2100

2530

Frequency (MHz)
12-month-old infant

17-month-old infant

Thelonious

Billie

Chinese male

Fig. 8. SAR averaging over the brain and CNS tissues for the simulated models exposed to the
dipoles.Theresultisnormalizedtothenetincident power tothedipoleas1W.
Bioelectromagnetics

20

Li et al.
4.00E-04
pSAR1g (W/kg)

3.50E-04
3.00E-04
2.50E-04
2.00E-04
1.50E-04
1.00E-04
5.00E-05
0.00E+00
2100

2400

2530

Frequency (MHz)
12-month-old infant

17-month-old infant

Thelonious

Billie

Chinese male

pSAR10g (W/kg)

a
2.25E-04
2.00E-04
1.75E-04
1.50E-04
1.25E-04
1.00E-04
7.50E-05
5.00E-05
2.50E-05
0.00E+00
2100

2400

2530

Frequency (MHz)
12-month-old infant

17-month-old infant

Thelonious

Billie

Chinese male

b
Fig. 9. pSAR10g and pSAR1g for the simulated models exposed to the PC tablet.The result is normalizedtothenetincident power totheantennaas1W. (a) pSAR1gand (b) pSAR10g.

absorption was enhanced. This assumption is supported

by the slice view of EMF power absorption (Fig. 14).
The EMF power distribution pattern in the head of

the 12-month-old infant was more uniform than

that in the other head models. Previous studies also
confirmed that the uniform head phantom was slightly

2.50E-05

SAR (W/kg)

2.00E-05
1.50E-05
1.00E-05
5.00E-06
0.00E+00
2100

2400

2530

Frequency (MHz)
12-month-old infant

17-month-old infant

Thelonious

Billie

Chinese male

Fig. 10. SAR averaging over the brain and CNS tissues for the simulated models exposed to the
PC tablet.Theresultisnormalizedtothenetincident power totheantennaas1W.
Bioelectromagnetics

Infant Models for EMF Evaluation

21

TABLE 3. Dimensions for the Cross-Sectional Slice of the Simulated Models

Front to back (mm)

Left to right (mm)

Twelve-month-old infant

120

160

Scaled Chinese female

128

160

Korean child

147

220

Thelonious

156

224

Billie

145

258

Chinese male

270

320

Chinese female

230

297

conservative for SAR evaluations [Gandhi et al., 1996;

Hombach et al., 1996; Meier et al., 1997; Nikita
et al., 2000]. We will not explain the effect as different

thicknesses in fat, skin, and skull on power absorption

because no obvious difference can be observed from
Table 5. Christ et al. [2010b] reported no significant

Fig.11. SAR distribution on the cross-sectional slice at the chest level for the simulated models.
Theresultisnormalizedtotheplane-wavepowerdensityas1W/m2.
Bioelectromagnetics

22

Li et al.

Fig.12. SAR distribution in the head of the simulated models for the dipole exposure case.The resultisnormalizedtothenetincident power tothedipoleas1W.

difference in distance between the skull and the pinna

for adults and children (68 years of age) when a force
of 4.9 N was applied. Therefore, the realistic spacing
when using a mobile phone closely against the ear
might not be necessarily smaller for infants. It is a
compelling issue for further study.
According to previous studies [Bernardi
et al., 1998, Hirata et al., 2002, 2007], localized head
SAR by frontal incidence can be influenced greatly by
the individual anatomy, even the air in the nose. The
result also indicates that SAR variability induced by
the anatomical characteristics, including the comparaBioelectromagnetics

tively smooth brain profile, requires further investigation, especially in neonates.

This work does not analyze SAR variability
caused by dielectric properties or influences of the
adult body; these features will be discussed in future
reports.

CONCLUSION
We reconstructed one whole-body model and
one head model from the MR datasets of two 12- and

Infant Models for EMF Evaluation

23

Power absorption (W)

0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
900

1800

2100

2530

Frequency (MHz)
12-month-old infant

17-month-old infant

Thelonious

Billie

Chinese male

Fig. 13. EMF power absorption in the ear of the simulated models for the dipole exposure case.
Theresultisnormalizedtothenetincident power tothedipoleas1W

17-month old infants. The anatomical and physical

parameters of these models were validated using data
from published literature. We found significant physi-

cal differences between the infant models and models

from other age groups. A rapid increase in brain mass
was observed between the 12- and 17-month-old

Fig.14. SAR distributioninthebrains ofthe simulated modelsfor the dipole exposure case.Theresultisnormalizedtothenetincident power tothedipoleas1W.
Bioelectromagnetics

24

Li et al.

TABLE 4. Dimensions for the Right Ears of the Simulated Models

X (mm)

Y (mm)

Z (mm)

Twelve-month-old infant

11

28

45

Seventeen-month-old infant

13

31

53

Thelonious

15

32

55

Billie

15

33

56

Chinese male

25

41

58

TABLE 5. Thickness of the Skull, Fat, and Skin of the Simulated Head Models
Thickness range (mm)

Twelve-month-old infant

Seventeen-month-old infant

Thelonious

Billie

Chinese male

1
5
3.43
0.43

0.87
2.5
2.37
0.75

1
6.5
2.44
0.73

1
7
3
0.82

1
8
4
1.10

2
11.66
4.81
1.07

1
9.85
3.61
0.89

1
3.5
1.65
0.39

1
4
2
0.43

2
7
3.76
0.73

1
1
1
0

1
3
1.25
0.63

1
3
1.62
0.51

1
3
1.85
0.42

Skull
Minimum (mm)
Maximum (mm)
Mean (mm)
Std (mm)
Fat
Minimum (mm)
Maximum (mm)
Mean (mm)
Std (mm)
Skin
Minimum (mm)
Maximum (mm)
Mean (mm)
Std (mm)

1
1
1
0

infant heads, which was not observed in other age

groups. Three RF EMF exposure scenarios were
established. Results revealed that safety limits prescribed in ICNIRP guidelines might not be conservative for infants. The individual anatomy of infants may
significantly influence localized SAR. These findings
confirm the necessity of filling the gaps between
human anatomical models for evaluating EMF exposure effects. Simulation results covering larger frequency bands and exposure scenarios using the
present models will be published in future reports.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Dr. Ae-Kyoung
Lee from ETRI, Republic of Korea, for sharing the
Bioelectromagnetics

Korean child model and Dr. Andreas Christ from ITIS

foundation, Switzerland, for sharing the Virtual Family
models.
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