Far-field microwave dosimetry in a rhesus monkey model

Dosimetric measurements were made in a muscle-equivalent model of an adult rhesus monkey subjected to far-field irradiation at 1.29 GHz. Profiles of microwave-induced heating in the model were obtained at eight locations, and a gradient-layer whole-body calorimeter was used to measure total absorbed energy. Average specific absorption rate (SAR) was calculated both from the calorimeter experiments and from the local temperature measurements. Thermographic imaging techniques were used to qualitatively show the microwave-induced surface heating patterns. For this model the calculated average SAR was 0.15 9W/dg)/(mW/cm2) which, at 1.29 GHs, makes the absorption cross section 84% of the geometric shadow cross section. The SAR is about three times that predicted for a prolate spheroidal model of similar mass. A disproportionally high absorption occurred in the legs of the model positioned parallel to the E-polarization because of what is believed to be partial-body resonance.