Investigating the impact of smart antennas on SAR

We investigate the impact of smart antennas on specific absorption rates (SAR) at 1.9 GHz. We emulate the operation of the smart antennas by utilizing a mobile telephone prototype configured with two PIFA antennas and applying carriers with different signal phases to them. The SAR of this prototype is simulated using FDTD and is also experimentally determined using a MapSAR system. It is found that the operation of smart antennas on SAR has a significant impact, with SAR changing by over 50% for various signal phases. This leads to the conclusion that if smart antennas are to be utilized in handsets careful investigation of their impact on SAR is needed.