PBL and Innovation in learning

viarise from resonant or focusing eects.In the third part, FDTD is benchmarked for well dened antenna congurationsand applied to electromagnetic eld prediction of a variety ofantenna near-eld con-gurations. Within the rst study, potential diculties from simulating transmittersin the closest proximity of lossy scatterers were investigated. For this purpose a geometricallyand electrically well-dened generic phone was developed and analyzedin free space and close to a lossy phantom in the far- and near-eld. The resultsshowed that FDTD is highly suitable with high accuracy for well dened antennacongurations in the close proximity of lossy scatterers.In a second study, a specic Crawford TEM cell exposure setup was analyzed thathad already been utilized for bio-experiments but could not previously be characterizedwith respect to the exposure. The results of this study not only had signicantimpact on the interpretation of these bio-experiments but also on a series of otherexperiments which were scheduled to be conducted in TEM cells. It was discoveredthat the exposure homogeneity as well as the eciency were much lower than originallyanticipated. This was the starting point for the proposal and analysis of avariety of other exposure setups better suited for in vitro bio-experiments.In a third study, a caroussel exposure setup used for in vivo bio-experiments wasanalyzed and optimized with respect to its eciency. For the rst time, the performanceof an in vivo exposure setup was analyzed in great detail using high resolutionMRI data of animals, including experimentally validated SAR distributions in theanimal brains.Thanks to this initial experience and the unique combination of the availabilityof both the most advanced numerical and experimental tools, the group currentlyevaluates, optimizes and develops in vitro and in vivo exposure setups for variouslaboratories throughout the world.The last study documented in this thesis is an application of FDTD for an issuewhich was also driven by an urgent request from outside, namely by the US FederalCommunications Commission (FCC). It addresses the question of ear exposure duringusage of a mobile phone. This issue was brought up in a legal conict since it is relatedto the question of correct ear modeling for testing compliance with safety guidelinesfor electromagnetic exposure. The study was an excellent test for the developed codesince it required the use of a phantom with better resolution than had ever been usedbefore and with arbitrarily oriented phone positions.All applications have been thoroughly validated with either an independent numericaltechnique, experimental investigations or using both approaches.