Introduction to RF Radiation Safety / 7 / 7.8

7.8 FROM BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE TO COMPLIANCE

The scientific pathway developed in Chapters 6 and 7 connects a source with its possible health significance: source characterization describes the emissions, exposure assessment determines the external fields, RF dosimetry determines the internal fields and absorbed power or energy, and biological-effects assessment identifies the responses those internal quantities may produce.

Practical compliance assessment follows the same pathway but uses the least complex method capable of answering the question reliably. A verified far-field exposure may be assessed using a suitable external field quantity, whereas a reactive near field, radiating near field, body-worn source, or strongly non-uniform exposure may require separate electric- and magnetic-field measurements, standardized product testing, or computational dosimetry. Exposures from multiple sources or frequencies must be combined using the rules of the applicable standard.

Chapter 8 develops these measurement and computational methods. Chapter 9 identifies the guidelines, standards, and legal requirements against which the results are compared, while Chapter 10 addresses the controls and management arrangements used to maintain safe conditions.