148

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. BME-34, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1987

Use of the Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method

Calculating EM Absorption in Human Tissues

in

DENNIS M. SULLIVAN, DAVID T. BORUP,

AND OM P. GANDHI, FELLOW, IEEE

Abstract-Although there are acceptable methods for calculating

whole body electromagnetic absorption, no completely acceptable
method for calculating the local specific absorption rate (SAR) at points
within the body has been developed. Frequency domain methods, such
as the method of moments (MoM) have achieved some success; however, MoM requires computer storage on the order of (3N)2 and computation time on the order of (3N)3 where N is the number of cells.
The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method has been employed
extensively in calculating the scattering of metallic objects, and recently is seeing some use in calculating the interaction of EM fields with
complex, lossy dielectric bodies. Since the FDTD method has storage
and time requirements proportional to N, it presents an attractive alternative to calculating SAR distribution in large bodies. This paper
describes the FDTD method and evaluates it by comparing its results
to analytic solutions in two and three dimensions. The utility of the
FDTD method is demonstrated by a 3D scan of the human torso. The
results obtained demonstrate that the FDTD method is capable of calculating internal SAR distribution with acceptable accuracy. With the
availability of supercomputers, such as the CRAY II, the calculation
of SAR distribution in a man model of 50 000 cells (1.27 cm per cell)
appears to be feasible.

computation time on the order of (3N ) 2 and (3N ) 3, respectively, where N is the number of cells. Numerically
efficient algorithms have been developed, but at best, time
requirements are reduced to N log2 N [4], which is still
very large for the needed high-resolution methods where
N'may be on the order of several thousand to tens of thousands.
Among the time domain methods are the finite-element
and the finite-difference methods. In contrast to MoM, the
finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method has storage
and time requirements proportional to a constant times N.
Even though N is considerably greater for the FDTD
method because of an overhead of free space cells surrounding the body, when bodies of 20 000 cells are contemplated, any method whose resource requirements increase linearly rather than geometrically presents an
attractive alternative. This paper describes the FDTD
method as applied to bioelectromagnetic problems and
evaluates it by comparing its results to analytic solutions.
I. INTRODUCTION
The programs used were derived from programs develTHE increasing exposure of human beings to'radio fre- oped by Taflove and his associates [5]-[7] based on a
Iquency electromagnetic fields in public as well as method first proposed by Yee [8]. Each program comfrom occupational situations has resulted in a necessity to putes the finite-difference steady-state solution using a
obtain dosimetric information for use in the evaluation of continuous sinusoidal field as the incident field, and then
possible biohazards. Also, the expanding use of electro- computes the analytic solution to the same problem by
magnetic energy for biomedical applications, e.g., dia- Bessel function expansion for comparison. Comparisons
thermy, hyperthermia for cancer therapy, and NMR im- are made for three cases: 2D cylinder with incident TM
aging, requires that internal field distributions be obtained plane wave, 2D cylinder with incident TE plane wave,
for various exposure conditions, both for the patient as and 3D sphere with incident plane wave. This paper also
gives the internal field and SAR calculations for a 3D inwell as the support personnel [1], [2].
Several methods have been described in the literature homogeneous body representing the human torso.
[3] for numerical calculations of rates of electromagnetic
II. DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD
energy absorption (specific absorption rates or SAR's).
The approaches to this problem consist of numerically A. FDTD Implementation
solving Maxwell's equations in either differential or inThe FDTD method is a direct implementation of the
tegral form. These approaches fall into two categories: time-dependent Maxwell equations
time domain and frequency domain. The most successful
a + J= V x H a = -VxE
frequency domain method is the method of moments
(1)
at
at
(MoM). However, MoM requires computer storage and
written in finite-difference form for implementation on a
computer. The finite-difference procedure was first proManuscript received April 3, 1986; revised September 8, 1986. This
8303655
posed by Yee [8], who positione,d the E and H fields at
work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant ECE
and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Grant ES 02304.
half-step intervals around a unit cell (Fig. 1). The E and
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, UniverH fields are evaluated at alternate half time steps, effecsity of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112.
tively giving centered difference expressions for both the
IEEE Log Number 861 161 1.

0018-9294/87/0200-0148$01.00 1987 IEEE

149

SULLIVAN et al.: FINITE-DIFFERENCE METHOD IN CALCULATING EM ABSORPTION

be made for implementation of the above equations

computer:

EZ(I, J, K)

on a

CAZ(I, J, K) *EZ(I, J, K)
+ CBZ(I, J, K)* [HY(I, J, K)
-HY(I - 1, J, K) + HX(I, J - 1,

K)
(5a)

-HX(I, J, K)]

HZ(I, J, K) = HZ(I, J, K) + DB*[EX(I, J + 1, K)

- EX(I, J, K) - EY(I, J, K)
- EY(I + 1, J, K)]
(5b)

where

Fig. 1. Position of the field components about a unit cell of the Yee lattice.

space and time derivatives. For example, taking one of

the three partial differential equations associated with each
of the vector equations in (1),

(aHy

aEz

at

c-ax

1-

ay

bt

at

ay

it

E+l(i, j, k +

2 *

(2)

ax

and rewriting them in finite-difference form

+ 4)

Ez(i, j, k + 4)

gives
at

En(i j k+

Hn+1/2(ij

!j,

1\

,LjnI /2K.

2)

oz(i, j, k

1 +

aEy)

1 (Ex

Ez(i,j, k + 4)

CAZ(I, J, K) -

aHz

aHl- E)

bt * oz(i, j, k + 4)

j, k

4) a6
1 j

2)

\\ j2' k +
-2i!k2)
k + 2)]
H2112(i2k!)n/2

+ +H

Ez (i, j, k

2(
1/

k) =

Ex

Hz/2
+

i +

1,1

k)

2
-

and assuming that the tissues

Exi + 2' /

k)

Ey(i j

CBZ(I, J, K)

+ En(i j k +
at
+

k)

+ 2' k) -

4)

(3a)

a]6
Ey(i

1,

2' k)]

(3b)

Ez(i,j, k + 4) +

nonmagnetic, i.e., it =
the
following simplification, due to Taflove [5], can
AO,
are

(i) +

where
e(i, j, k + 2) is the permittivity at i, j, k + I
a( i, j; k + 4) is the conductivity at the same point,
6 is the cell size, and
at is the time between successive calculations.
Making the substitution

E=i-E

IE 1(i,j, k

bt +

rz(i, j, k

4)

(6)

and
bt
DB =-*

150

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. BME-34, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1987

For nonmagnetic materials, DB is a constant. Note that

all of the other parameters Ez, r, ,6bt are reduced to two
parameters, CAZ and CBZ. Four more equations for Ex,
EY, HX, Hy are required to give the full 3D implementation
of (1). (2D implementation requires only three terms: E,
Hx, and Hy for TM illumination or Hz, Ex, and E1 for
TE illumination.) Each cell in the Yee lattice [8] (Fig. 1)
represents a position in space, and the E and H field values are represented by points in their respective arrays.
The size of the entire field used in the problem is determined by the size of the E and H field arrays. The E and
H values are evaluated at alternate time steps. The scattering body is specified by assigning the values of E and
a. from the volume-averaged tissue type for each given
cell.
In calculating E, and Ey, equations similar to (5a) and
(5b) are used. But CAX and CBX are used to calculate E,
and CAY and CBY are used to calculate Ey using E- and a,
or Ey and ay, respectively. Note that CAX, CAY, and CAZ
are not necessarily equal at a given point I, J, K because
the respective values of e and a are not necessarily equal.
The reason can best be explained by looking at Fig. 1.
The actual locations ofE Ey, and E, are (I + 2, J, K),
(I, J + 2, K), and (I, J, K + 2), and the corresponding
values of Ex, Ey, and Ez are assumed to be located at the
same respective locations. When a boundary between two
tissue types passes through a cell, the e values will vary
according to the distribution of tissues within the cell. The
same holds true for ax, ory and oz. Therefore, if a tissue
boundary passes through or near I, J, K, the values
CAX(I, J, K), CAY(I, J, K), and CAZ(I, J, K) could
all be different. Similarly, CBX(I, J, K), CBY(I, J, K),
and CBZ(I, J, K) could be different.
B. Plane Wave Illumination
Several types of plane wave illumination have been used
in FDTD programs. The most common are a Gaussianshaped pulse, an exponentially decaying sinusoid, and a
continuous sinusoid. Often, one of the first two methods
is utilized along with the Fourier transform to obtain results for a spectrum of frequencies [3], [9]. For the present time, we are interested in obtaining SAR's at single
frequencies, and therefore, a single-frequency sinusoidal
plane wave is generated in the following manner. At time
T = 0, a function of the form
Einc =sin (2r* f * bt * N)
(7)
is calculated for N = 1, and this value of Einc is assigned
along a plane (or line in 2D), simulating the generation
of a plane wave. The equations for E and H are solved as
explained in Section Il-A, and one time step has been
completed. Equation (7) is then incremented (i.e., N is
increased by one), and the process is repeated. In this
manner, the plane wave is stepped forward and interacts
with the scatterer.
C. Total Field/Scattered Field
The computed fields, i.e., the arrays containing the E
and H fields for the modeled volume, are composed of

Total Fields

Scattered Fields

Scattering Object

Lattice Truncation

Fig. 2. Division of FDTD lattice into total and scattered fields.

two parts: 1) the total field, and 2) the scattered field (Fig.
2). The incident wave is generated along one edge of the
total field, propagates through the field, and is subtracted
out the other end. Therefore, the only components of the
E and H fields to reach the scattered field volume are those
which are scattered off the scatterer. This simplifies the
implementation of the radiation condition, which is described in the next section.
D. Lattice Truncation
An important drawback to this FDTD method is the fact
that the radiation condition is not implicit, i.e., outgoing
scattered waves, if left alone, would not simply disappear
off the end of the grid defined by the E and H arrays, but
would reflect back into the scattered object as if they had
hit a "wall" defined by the edge of the arrays. This problem is, however, circumvented by applying an absorption
condition around the edge of each E field matrix which
absorbs the outgoing scattered waves.
The basis for the absorption condition is the assumption
that the scattered wave can be represented by a multipole
expansion

Fs =

Foej(wt -kr) (A(O, o)

+ B((0, o) + . .

(8)

The absorption condition for our work is second order,

i.e., the first two terms of the above expansion are used
to calculate the values of the E fields on the outer edges
of the arrays. According to Bayliss and Turkel [10], such
an absorption condition results in scattering errors of the
order
error

(kr) 2 (1/2) =

0(2

(9)

Details of the implementation of such an absorption condition in an FDTD program are given by Mur [11] and
Umashankar [6].
E. Output
As the EM field is being stepped through the scatterer,
a peak detector is constantly monitoring each point for a
new maximum amplitude. When steady state is reached
(typically after the incident wave has been generated for
approximately three periods of oscillation), these stored
values of maximum amplitude are retained, and the specific absorption rate (SAR) can be calculated at each point

by

SAR (x, y, z)

a=( 22

)FaX(X,Yz).
a

,Z

(10)

SULLIVAN et al.: FINITE-DIFFERENCE METHOD IN CALCULATING EM ABSORPTION

In order to test the accuracy of the FDTD method, we

have used available algorithms [12], [13] that give the
analytically calculated values of the E fields at the same
points. The whole body SAR's are calculated using both
the analytic and FDTD generated E fields for comparison.
But since it is desirable to evaluate the accuracy locally,
the following quantity is computed:
N

percent absolute SAR error

Z kSARerror (i, j,

= i,j,k

k)

SARtot
(11)

i-.e., the absolute value of the difference between the analytic and the FDTD SAR is sumrried at every point and
divided by the total SAR for the body, SARtOt.
F. Constraints and Limitations
Given the selection of a cell size 6, there is a restriction
on the time step bt to ensure stability [5]:
bt < 6

for 2D

for 3D

vI2co

bt c

'I co

where c0 is the velocity of electromagnetic waves in free

space. As recommended by Taflove, we have set
6
bt =
(13)
13
2c0
as a margin to ensure stability.

Given the cell size 6 and the time step bt, there is a
restriction on the frequency. Since the FDTD method can
be thought of as a "sampled" representation of the analog
E and H fields, these fields must be adequately "sampled" to ensure accuracy. We have found that a criterion
of ten points per internal wavelength Xi gives fairly accurate results. Therefore,

(14)
6 <0.1X 0=
f V Er
where c is the speed of the EM field through the scattering
body. Taking the body to be human muscle with IC* =
50, and assuming a cell size of 1 cm,
0.1I x 3 X 10'
3x10 = 4.24 x i08 = 424 MHz
0.01V0

0.1

(15)

in order to satisfy the criterion 6x ' Xi /10. Therefore,

about 424 MHz is the highest frequency that can be used
if good results are to be expected. (This is not an exact
figure, and in fact we get fairly good results at 433 MHz.)
At this frequency, the incident wave must be incremented
through a time duration of at least three periods of oscillation for the internal E fields of the scatterer to reach
steady state. Therefore, the number of iterations needed

151

is

NSTEPS

LT]

x cx
3 2

3 x 2 x 3 x 108
4.33 x 108 x 0.01

414

(16)
where T = the period of oscillation.
At 100 MHz, only about two time periods have been
found to be sufficient to reach steady state. However, this
gives

NSTEPS =

x
x 0
2[
LI X 108 X 0.01
3

1=200=, (17)
j
i.e., everything else being equal, lower frequencies take
longer to compute.
Recall now from (9) that the error of the radiation condition is proportional to c/(27rfr). Once again, low frequencies do not do as well as high frequencies. In fact,
when using 433 MHz and 1 cm cells on a 50 x 50 grid
in a 2D TM illumination problem, error due to backscattering begins to show at about 100 MHz and increases
considerably (to about 20 percent) by 27 MHz. Increasing
the grid size to 84 x 84 eliminates this scattering error,
but notice that we have increased the number of cells from
2500 to 7054.
We may conclude from the above discussion that for a
cell size of 1 cm and a grid of 50 x 50, the range of
practical illumination frequencies is between 100 and 433
MHz. The upper range can, of course, be increased by
decreasing the cell size. In order to reach 1 GHz, for instance, 6 would have to be reduced to 0.5 cm. Halving
the cell size quadruples the number of cells in 2D, and
increases it by a factor of 8 in 3D! The lower frequency
limit of 100 MHz could also be reduced by a corresponding increase of computer resources caused by both the grid
size and number of iterations, as illustrated above. An
alternative would be to increase the cell size, but this
would result in the loss of the 1 cm resolution.
x

III. RESULTS
A. Comparison to Analytic Solutions
In this section, we use the FDTD method to illuminate
canonical scatterers so we can compare their SAR distributions to those of analytic solutions for the same scatterers. In two dimensions, we use as the scatterer a layered cylinder with a 10 cm radius, using cells 1 cm on
each side. The inner layer, radius = 5 cm, will be assigned the dielectric constant and conductivity of muscle,
and the outer layer, the dielectric constant and conductivity of fat. Two types of illumination will be used, TE and
TM. In three dimensions, a layered sphere and plane wave
illumination will be used (Fig. 3), again with cells 1 cm
on each side. For each of the problems, results will be
presented for two different illumination frequencies: 100
and 433 MHz. At 100 MHz, a relative dielectric constant
Er of 71.7 and a conductivity a of 0.889 S/m is used. At

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. BME-34, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1987

152

Ez

O.)
Perpendicular Axis

H.

Fa-

MuscleP

Incident Axis

Perpendi'cular Axis

where p is the mass density of the tissue in kg / m3. (For

the calculations printed in this paper, a mean density of
103 kg /m3 has been assumed.) Then the SAR at each
point is calculated via analytic methods. In 2D, the analytic E fields are calculated by Bessel function expansion,
and in 3D, by spherical Bessel function expansion [12],
[13]. The results are presented graphically and numerically. Graphically, the SAR patterns of both the FDTD
and analytic methods are plotted together, along the principal axes for easy comparison (Figs. 4-9). In addition to
the graphs, two numbers are calculated for each scan:
percent whole body SAR error

E,

Z SARFD(i, j, k) - Z SARanalytic(i, j, k)
i,j,k

i,j,k

Axis

Hy /

Fig. 3. Diagram of configurations used to test FDTD methods with canonical scatterers.

Z SARanalytic(i, j, k)

i,J,k

(19a)
percent absolute SAR error

Z SARFD (i, j, k) - SARanalytic(i, j, k)

433 MHz, Er = 53 and a = 1.43 [14]. Given that the cell
size is 1 cm, these frequencies represent the range of pracZk SARanalytic(i, j, k)
tical frequencies as described in Section 11-F, i.e., 433
MHz is closed to the highest allowable frequency without
(19b)
violating the requirement for ten points per internal wavelength, given that muscle is the tissue with the largest di- While the whole body SAR is the more traditional method
electric constant. Similarly, as the frequency drops below of evaluation, the latter is a better indication of the suc100 MHz, the number of iterations required for conver- cess of the FDTD method for the following reason. In
gence becomes large, and the error due the truncation measuring whole body SAR, it is possible to get a low
condition increases. The layers of fat and muscle were percentage of error when, in fact, the method to be tested
chosen because they represent the types of interfaces that did not give good correlation with the analytic method.
occur in the human body.
This occurs when the SAR is low in one portion of the
The success of the FDTD method in calculating the body and high in another. The absolute SAR is "unforSAR distribution throughout the body is evaluated in the giving," and would not let positive errors "cancel" with
following way. After the incident plane wave has irradi- negative ones.
ated the body for a time sufficiently long to give converThe results given in Figs. 4-9 show good correlation
gence (typically two to three time periods of oscillation), between the points calculated by the FDTD method and
the SAR at each cell in the body is calculated in the fol- the analytic solutions indicated by the solid lines. Notice
lowing way:
in Figs. 6 and 7 that there is a substantial discrepancy
between
the FDTD point located closest to the muscle/fat
2
SAR(i,J,
SAR
(i, j, k) = zIt( ,j k)) * Ezmax(i
j,k) for 2D TM interface along the perpendicular axis and the corresponding analytic solution at that point. This is because, for TE
(18a) illumination, there is a substantial discontinuity of the E
field at the interface. There are no such points in Figs. 4
5 because there is no corresponding discontinuity for
and
SAR(i, j, k) = 2 [oy(i, j, k) * E2max(,j k)
TM illumination. Similarly, in Figs. 8 and 9, there are
discontinuities along the X axis, but not the Y axis because
+ ox(i, j, k) * E2max(j,j, k)]
Ex is the incident field.
for 2D TE
(18b) B. Torso Model
The model for the human torso was taken from A CrossSAR(i, j, k) =
[ox(i, j, k) * E2max(i,j, k)
Section Anatomy by Eycleshymer and Schoemaker [15].
This book contains cross-sectional diagrams of the human
+ ory(i, j, k) * Eymax ( i,j, k)
body which were obtained by making cross-sectional cuts
for 3D at spacings in human cadavers of about 1 in. Fig. 10 is a
+ oz(i, j, k) * EZ2max(i, j, k)]
diagram of a human torso showing the levels at which
(18c) Eycleshymer and Schoemaker displayed the cross-secI

153

SULLIVAN et al.: FINITE-DIFFERENCE METHOD IN CALCULATING EM ABSORPTION

Perpendicular Axis

Incident Axis

'I

600

600

400

400

200

200 F

0
cm

Fig. 4. 100 MHz TM scan for fat/muscle layered cylinder.

Perpendicular Axis

Incident Axis
500

'

0:

250

Fig. 5. 433 MHz TM

for fat/mu-scle layered cylinder.

scan

Perpen idicular

Incident
15

25

to

20

10

lS

35
:z

I1

10

10

20

cm

Fig. 6. 100 MHz TE

scan

for fat/muscle layered cylinder.

tional cuts (right side) and the levels which we used to

display the torso model. Our data do not correspond to
the Eycleshymer and Schoemaker levels for two reasons:
1) their levels were about 1 in apart and we wanted cells
no greater than 2 in, and 2) their levels are not spaced at
exact distances.
The process for creating the data was the following. A
4 in grid was laid over a single cross-sectional diagram
and each cell on the grid was assigned a number corresponding to one of the 14 tissue types given in Table I.
When all the 1 in cells in all 23 levels shown on the right

side of Fig. 10 had been assigned tissue values, a new set

of data was created in which every 2 in cube within the
torso was represented by the percentage of the tissue types
it contains. These percentages were obtained by spatially
averaging and interpolating from the assigned tissue values of the Eycleshymer and Schoemaker cross sections.
Finally, the appropriate values of and for each cell
were calculated by multiplying the percentage of each tissue type in the cell by respective values of e and for that
tissue type at 300 MHz and summing them.
c

The torso was illuminated with both E and H

polariza-

154

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. BME-34, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1987

Incident

Perpendicular
400

300 .

0:

inc

v)

200

00 roo,<

II

00

10

cm

Fig. 7. 433 MHz TE scan for fat/muscle layered cylinder.

X-Axis

Z-Axis

Y-Axis
2

cm

10

Fig. 8. 100 MHz 3D scan for fat/muscle layered cylinder.

Z-Axis

X-Axis

Y-Axis

120

40.

cm

Fig. 9. 433 MHz 3D

cm

scan

for fat/muscle layered cylinder.

tion plane waves. The method for calculating the internal

SAR's was the same as that used for the canonical scatterers as described in the previous section, i.e., after about
three time periods, each internal SAR point is calculated
via (18c). For simplicity, we will display the resulting
SAR distribution at only one layer, layer 22, which corresponds to the liver cross section, as shown in Fig. 10.
Figs. 11 and 12 show the resulting SAR distributions
at layer 22 for H-polarized and E-polarized illumination,
respectively. Notice that the H polarization gives the expected results, i.e., the SAR's are higher at the front, with

magnitudes tapering off around the sides. The E polarization, however, gives some surprising results: in particular, the high SAR distributions on the side and the relatively low values in front. This is not in keeping with the
types of SAR distributions usually found in 2D cylinders, which normally display a high SAR distribution in
front which trails off rapidly as it goes around the sides.
However, in comparing the torso to infinite cylinders, two
things must be kept in mind: 1) the human torso is not
round, but more ellipsoidal, and 2) the torso is finite, not
infinite. In regard to point 1), another scan of the torso

155

SULLIVAN et al.: FINITE-DIFFERENCE METHOD IN CALCULATING EM ABSORPTION

44

40 -

TABLE I
TISSUE TYPES USED IN CREATING THE TORSO MODEL, ALONG WITH THEIR
RELATIVE DIELECTRIC CONSTANTS AND CONDUCTIVITIES.

0
1

30

Layer 22
Liver cross-section

Fig. 10. Diagram of the human torso showing the levels displayed in
Eycleshymer and Schoemaker and the levels at which data were calculated for the finite-difference method.

made with an E-polarized incident wave coming from

the side. The resulting SAR distribution at layer 22 is
shown in Fig. 13. Notice the relatively large SAR distributions on the incident side and the way that the magnitudes drop off rapidly going around the edges of the body.
In other words, now the SAR distribution is concentrated
in the front instead of the sides. Comparing Fig. 12 to
Fig. 13, we see the dramatic effect that the shape of the
body has on the SAR distribution. And the large SAR's
on the sides in Fig. 12 no longer seem so unreasonable.
In regard to point 2), the effect of the length of the cylinder on SAR distribution was checked by illuminating
cylinders of various lengths with E-polarized incident
waves. It was found that both the magnitude and shape of
the SAR distribution of internal layers was heavily dependent on the length of the cylinder. In repeating the experiment for H-polarized incidence, this was not necessarily
the case. In fact, SAR distributions of the inner layers of
finite cylinders are relatively immune to the length of the
cylinder.
In conclusion, we may assume that, when using E-polarized incident illumination, truncating a cylindrical
body, like a human torso, has a significant effect on SAR
distributions at all internal points. Indeed, the fact that
our torso has no arms, legs, or head is probably responsible for substantial error in the liver scan shown in Figs.
12 and 13. We may further conclude that 2D scans of one
layer of a 3D cylindrical body will very likely give results
that are seriously in error. In contrast, when H-polarized
incident waves are used on cylindrical bodies, the SAR

was

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Type of Tissue

Er

Cartilage
Muscle
Fat/bone
Blood
Intestine
Cartilage
Liver
Kidney
Pancreas
Spleen
Lung
Heart
Nerve
Skin

1.0
54.0
5.7
65.0
27.0
5.7
53.0
59.0
59.0
90.0
35.0
58.0
74.0
17.4

(S/m)
0.00
1.30
0.07
1.22
0.65
0.07
0.83
1.14
1.14
0.90
1.10
1.02
0.62
0.42

distribution at a given layer is not substantially affected

by truncation of the body. And, therefore, the SAR distribution of the liver cross section in Fig. 11- is probably
an accurate representation. Furthermore, 2D cross sections of cylindrical objects will likely give accurate results with H polarization.
IV. COMPUTER RESOURCES
The torso model described in the previous section required 396 s of CPU time on the CRAY II supercomputer
(single processor mode). Although the torso itself was
composed of only 16 628 1.27 cm cells, the model resides
in a rectangle 36 x 24 x 44 = 38 016 cells, the other
cells being "free space." In addition, there is a scattered
field surrounding the model, as described in Section II-C.
This field is six points on each side in the X and Y directions, and seven points in the Z direction, giving a total
of
(2 x 6 + 24) x (2 x 6 + 36)
x (2 x 7 + 44) =*100 224.

(20)
In the implementation of the program, several points
are needed for each cell, so several 3D arrays are needed
to represent the entire space of the problem. They are

1) E, Ey, Ez, Hx, Hy, Hz: the field arrays

2) CAX, CAY, CAZ, CBX, CBY, CBZ: which are explained in Section Il-A
3) ENX, ENY, ENZ: which are the maximum values of
the E fields
4) ax, ay, a,: which are needed in calculating the SAR's.
So the number of words of storage required for the torso
model was about 18 x 100 000 = 1.8 million, which is
well within the capacity of a CRAY II.
V. CONCLUSIONS

The ability of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD)

method to calculate specific absorption rates (SAR's) in
human tissues has been demonstrated by comparing its

156

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, VOL. BME-34, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1987

F R 0 N T

latrtia

ildneys
Spinal Cord

Fig. 11. SAR distribution resulting from H-polarized incident wave as

computed by FDTD method.
F R 0 N T

iat
dt y

IC4d"ys
Spinal Cord

Fig. 12. SAR distribution resulting from E-polarized incident wave as

computed by FDTD method.
on canonical bodies to those obtained by
analytic methods. The internal SAR's within a human
torso have been calculated, and arguments have been
given as to the probable accuracy of a truncated torso. In
addition, it has been demonstrated that there is reason to
doubt the accuracy of 2D slices taken out of 3D bodies,
especially when E-polarized incident fields are used.

computations

In the near future, the database for an entire man model

will be completed, and the internal SAR distribution at
1.27 cm intervals within a man will be computed by the
FDTD method. Since computer time and space requirements increase only linearly with the number of cells for
the FDTD method, a man model is well within the capabilities of a CRAY II supercomputer.

157

SULLIVAN et at.: FINITE-DIFFERENCE METHOD IN CALCULATING EM ABSORPTION

F R U N T

Rarearla

- .03

-.035

11ldm,.
_ _

_-_-

_-

SpinrA Cord

Fig. 13. SAR distribution from E-polarized 300 MHz plane wave, similar
to that in Fig. Il(a), except that illumination was from the side instead
of the front.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors

are

grateful to Dr. A. Taflove for several

helpful discussions.

REFERENCES
[1]

[2]
[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]

0. P. Gandhi, "State of the knowledge for electromagnetic absorbed

dose in man and animals," Proc. IEEE, vol. 68, pp. 24-32, 1980.
C. H. Durney, "Electromagnetic dosimetry for models of humans
and animals: A review of theoretical and numerical techniques, " IEEE
Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. MTT-32, pp. 33-40, 1980.
R. J. Spiegel, "A review of numerical models for predicting the energy deposition and resultant thermal response of humans exposed to
electromagnetic fields," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol.
MTT-32, pp. 730-746, 1984.
D. T. Borup and 0. P. Gandhi, "Fast-Fourier-transform method for
calculation of SAR distributions in finely discretized inhomogeneous
models of biological bodies," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech.,
vol. MTT-32, pp. 355-360, 1984.
A. Taflove and M. E. Morris, "Computation of the electromagnetic
fields and induced temperatures within a model of the microwaveirradiated human eye," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol.
MTT-23, pp. 623-660, 1975.
K. Umashankar and A. Taflove, "A novel method to analyze electromagnetic scattering of complex objects," IEEE Trans. Electromagn.
Compat., vol. EMC-24, pp. 397-405, 1982.
A. Taflove and K. Umashankar, "Radar cross section of general threedimensional scatterers," IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat., vol.
EMC-25, pp. 433-439, 1983.
K. S. Yee, "Numerical solution of initial boundary value problems
involving Maxwell's equations in isotropic media," IEEE Trans. Antennas Propagat., vol. AP-17, pp. 585-589, 1966.
R. Holland, L. Simpsoni, and K. S. Kunz, "Finite-difference analysis
of EMP coupling to lossy dielectric stfuctures," IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat., vol. EMC-22, pp. 203-209, 1980.
A. Bayliss and E. Turkel, "Radiation boundary conditions for wavelike equations," Commun. Pure Appl. Math., vol. 33, pp. 707-725,
1980.
G. Mur, "Absorbing boundary conditions for the finite-difference approximation of the time-domain electromagnetic-field equations,"

IEEE Trans. Electromagn. Compat., vol. EMC-23, pp. 377-382,

1981.
[12] J. A. Stratton, Electromagnetic Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill,

1941.

[13] J. R. Mautz, "Mie series solution for a sphere," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. MTT-26, p. 375, 1978.
[14] C. C. Johnson and A. W. Guy, "Nonionizing electromagnetic wave
effects in biological materials and systems," P)oc. IEEE, vol. 60,
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[15] A. C. Eycleshymer and D. M. Schoemaker, A Cross-Section Anatomy. New York and London: Appleton, 1911.
_

01

X
'

Dennis M. Sullivan was born in Madison, WI,

on January 3, 1949. He received the B.S. degree
in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1973, the M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1978, and the M.E. degree
in computer science in 1980 both from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
He is now working towards the Ph.D. degree
at the University of Utah.

David T. Borup was born in Boise, ID, on October 24, 1958. He received the B.S. degree in
mathematics from the College of Idaho, Caldwill,
in 1981.
He is currently studying towards the Ph.D. degree at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City,
where he has been working on numerical methods
for microwave dosimetry.

Om P. Gandhi (S'57-M'58-SM'65-F'79), for a photograph and biography, see p. 767 of the August 1986 issue of this TRANSACTIONS.