Human temperature responses to localized and whole-body radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposures above 6 GHz.

射频（RF）电磁场用于大众使用的各种当前和新兴无线消费设备（如5G移动电话、互联网路由器和物联网设备）的信息通信。为了支持更快的数据传输，这些技术将越来越依赖于频率更高的射频能量，范围从6 GHz到300 GHz。在这些频率下，射频能量在体表附近被吸收，这可能导致皮肤和眼角膜等浅表组织过热。包括电气和电子工程师协会和国际非电离辐射防护委员会在内的国际组织最近制定了关于该频率范围内消费设备的安全射频暴露限值的建议。在加拿大，最近也更新了《安全守则6》中的暴露限值，以保护公众免受射频暴露的不利影响。重要的是，该领域的大多数研究都集中在计算机模型上，以预测射频暴露后皮肤温度的变化，而对人类皮肤温度反应的直接评估仅在少数研究中进行。因此，我的研究计划的目的是在避免疼痛和组织损伤的安全条件下，直接评估人体皮肤对射频场= 6 GHz的温度反应，以提高我们对年龄、性别和身体成分等个体间因素以及空气温度和湿度等环境因素对组织温度升高的影响的理解。这项工作对于了解来自消费设备的射频暴露如何影响加拿大公众的不同部分以及制定安全暴露限值以保护最脆弱的人群至关重要。最终，这项工作将用于改进安全暴露限值的建议，以支持将在加拿大在该频率范围内运行的消费无线设备的合规要求。

Radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields are used to communicate information for a wide variety of current and emerging wireless consumer devices used by the general public such as 5G mobile phones, internet routers, and Internet of Things devices. To support faster data transmission, these technologies will increasingly rely on RF energy at higher frequencies ranging from 6 GHz to 300 GHz. At these frequencies, RF energy is absorbed near the body's surface, which can result in excessive heating of superficial tissues such as the skin and cornea of the eye. International organizations including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection have recently developed recommendations for safe RF exposure limits for consumer devices in this frequency range. In Canada, the exposure limits in Safety Code 6, which have also been recently updated, are used to protect the public from adverse effects of RF exposures. Importantly, most research in this area has focused on computer models to predict skin temperature changes in response to RF exposures, while direct evaluation of skin temperature responses in humans have only been conducted in a small number of studies. As such, the aim of my research program is to directly evaluate human skin temperature responses to RF fields = 6 GHz under safe conditions that avoid pain and tissue damage in order to improve our understanding of the impact that Inter-individual factors such as age, sex and body composition, as well as Environmental factors such as air temperature and humidity have on the resulting rise in tissue temperature. This work is vital for understanding how RF exposures from consumer devices may impact different segments of the Canadian public and for developing safe exposure limits to protect the most vulnerable people. Ultimately this work will be used to improve recommendations for safe exposure limits in support of compliance requirements for consumer wireless devices that will operate in Canada within this frequency range.