Comprehensive validation and uncertainty evaluation of new SAR measurement technologies

Novel measurement technologies for specific absorption rate (SAR) assessment of wireless devices have been developed using sensor arrays to dramatically reduce the measurement time compared to single-probe scanning systems. While single-probe scanning systems are optimized for low measurement uncertainty and source-independent accuracy, array systems are in widespread use for design testing and have made significant advances in accuracy. This has encouraged regulatory agencies and standards organization to develop procedures for their use in compliance testing of wireless devices. Central to the acceptance of array systems are comprehensive procedures for the validation of the measurement accuracy and determination of the measurement uncertainty. In this paper, a validation protocol is proposed. The protocol is applied using a popular sensor array system. The results are used to demonstrate the conservativeness of the uncertainty budget.