Computational dosimetry of electromagnetic and thermal exposure for pacemaker wearers in vehicle-to-vehicle environments.

Abstract

This study conducts a quantitative safety assessment for pacemaker wearers by evaluating their electromagnetic and thermal exposure to vehicle-mounted antennas in a realistic Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication scenario. An integrated exposure scenario comprising a vehicle with a V2V antenna, an implanted cardiac pacemaker, and an anatomical human model is constructed using COMSOL Multiphysics®. Coupled simulations of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) and bioheat transfer are conducted to compute the specific absorption rate averaged over 10g of tissue (SAR_10g) and the induced temperature rise. The results indicate that the peak SAR_10g occurs in the superficial tissues at the skin of the left ear, which is the region closest to the antenna and the vehicle's side window. The peak SAR_10g of skin tissue is 0.067 W/kg, which accounts for 3.35% of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) public exposure limit of 2 W/kg. Cardiac exposure SAR_10g peaks at a significantly lower value of 0.19 mW/kg. The maximum temperature rise at the critical pacemaker lead-electrode interface is 0.061°C, substantially below the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14708-2 safety threshold of 2°C. The corresponding temperature increase within the heart tissue is merely 0.059°C. All evaluated exposure values comply with ICNIRP guidelines for general public exposure. The findings indicate that the modeled V2V communications do not pose a health risk from RF-EMF exposure to pacemaker wearers in the investigated scenario, thereby providing key data to alleviate their travel safety concerns in current environments.