MCL-T in situ SAR measurement system

This unique, portable system allows volume-averaged localised SAR to be measured accurately in locations outside the laboratory, for example inside vehicles or on antenna ranges. The major difference between this system and a standard laboratory SAR system is that the robot is inside the phantom, and the system is self-contained. It is based on an MCL-T whole-body phantom (seated or standing)with the robot, probe and control software provided by IndexSAR Ltd.

There is a recessed section in the pelvic section which takes the motors and gearing and which is "dry" (see pictures below). The rest of the head and torso is filled with tissue-equivalent liquid, or can be made from solid tissue-equivalent material. The robot is under computer control and can position the probe almost anywhere on the inner surface of the torso or head. The software that controls the robot and processes the data is based on standard laboratory SAR system control software, and uses the normal measurement procedure of a surface or 2D scan to locate the SAR maximum, followed by a 3D volume scan to return the 10 g average value. The SAR calculation, interpolation and surface extrapolation are the same as in a commercial laboratory SAR system.

The in situ SAR system has been validated against both computational predictions of SAR and by direct comparison of measured data using a standard commercial SAR measurement system. The agreement was to within 10%; the uncertainty for the in situ system is comparable with the standard commercial SAR measurement system: less than 30%.