Electromagnetic exposure due to wearable devices: analysis of the human tissue - smartwatch interaction

Wearable devices are used routinely today by the majority of people, since they have proved to be of immense benefit. In particular, smartwatches are regarded as the first commercialized wearable devices for consumers and represent a significant development in the domain of wearable technology. The fast expansion of the use of wearable devices and the extraordinarily growth IoT wearables market have had the unintended consequence of creating a knowledge gap in the study of interactions between the device and human tissues. The majority of studies on smartwatches have been focused on the usability, the perceived value, and the fashion perception of them. Since these devices are in close contact with the human body and continuously emit a small amount of EMF radiation, the question is if they could be harmful to the user's health. Thus, the purpose of this study is the electromagnetic characterization of the wrist, useful for the determination, through FDTD simulations, of the effects of the electromagnetic fields generated by Bluetooth antennas on the human tissues. The study of the interaction between a smartwatch and the individual’s tissues has been carried out through FDTD simulations that allow predicting SAR values. The values obtained are plausible, and so lower than the limits imposed by the regulations in force. Therefore, despite smartwatches are wearable devices, they cannot be considered harmful to the user’s health. Unfortunately, we cannot consider these SAR values as universal values, because each person could have a different sensitivity to radiation exposure.