Cell Phone Radiation - Are You Concerned?

For the last couple of weeks, there has been a great amount of discussion about the possible risk that cell phone radiation can cause brain tumors since the head of a prominent cancer center released a letter to the faculty recommending that everyone limit their use of cell phones, especially children (Here is a link to the ABC news coverage on the story). He recommends that children not use them at all (except for emergencies) and that adults should reduce exposure levels as much as possible (limited use or always use Bluetooth devices). He says there is no data that proves there is a risk but since we are not sure, we should be safe. He is basing his alarm on unpublished data which will take too long to make public.

There have been many studies and no link has been found. The FCC does limit the radiation levels of cell phones to a maximum specific absorption rate (SAR) of 1.6 W/kg (European limits are 2.0 W/kg). You can find the measured SAR values for many cell phones on CNET's website.

What do you think? Are cell phones really dangerous to our health?? Let's hear from some technical experts about the subject!

Upcoming RFID Webinar

This past week we were extremely pleased to sign up Tektronix and Analog Devices as co-sponsors for the upcoming RFID UHF Tag webinar (August 19th - visit Microwave Journal to sign up). Our goal for these technical webinars has been to find sponsors that offer products and/or services related to the webinar topic. While serving the needs of the advertiser, this also provides a service to the webinar attendee. One of the most valuable aspects of these webinars is that they are presented by individuals with real-world experience. Sponsorship by commercial companies with the relevant technical know-how and products that address the needs being discussed, furthers the goals of these events. That is -- to provide you with practical, high-quality information.

I became aware of the RFID measurement solution offered by Tektronix through the dedicated RFID page on their web site . Here they have tutorials, application notes and more. Engineers designing RFID systems and devices must characterize and troubleshoot complex transient RF systems while still meeting the tight time to market deadlines. Tektronix Real-Time Spectrum Analyzers enable engineers to quickly solve RFID measurement problems with their unique Discover, Trigger, Capture, Analyze capabilities. More details are available at the site mentioned above.

Click here to find out more >>

Analog Devices has a long and successful connection to the RFID world with a family of products including the ADF9010, which targets applications that operate in the 900 MHz frequency range, including RFID readers, industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band radio communications devices, professional mobile radios, cellular base stations and RF-over-coax applications.

I am looking forward to joining you at this next webinar. Many attendees typically download the speaker’s presentation for archiving. Additionally, I encourage everyone to check out the information from our sponsors and download what’s relevant to your needs.