Comparison of FDTD Computed and Measured Radiation Patterns of Commercial Mobile Telephones in Presence of the Human Head

In this letter, finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computed radiation patterns of mobile telephones are carefully compared with those measured in our laboratory. The question on the capability of the FDTD method to correctly predict the radiated electromagnetic fields of today’s structurally complex mobile telephones is addressed. Two commercially available cellular telephones equipped with two different antennas (one helix and one helix monopole) have been considered and the radiation patterns have been measured and FDTD computed with and without the human head. The FDTD computed and measured radiation patterns show good agreement. This verifies that numerical techniques are suitable for accurately modeling radiation patterns of realistic cellular telephones and, more importantly, that the FDTD method is a valid alternative to measurements in the design of new cellular telephones.