You don't need a sledgehammer to crack a nut

MapSAR delivers a simple, cost-effective solution to SAR measurement of mobile phones and other radio devices by dispensing with expensive robotic systems, which use a complex, three-dimensional approach. MapSAR uses a 2D mapping technique supplemented by 3D calculations, which give complete, volume-averaged SAR results directly.

MapSAR uses a fully-calibrated, isotropic SAR probe as its measuring device together with a broadband liquid formulated to the recipe specified by the CTIA test plan for Over The Air testing.

A sealed Perspex 200mm diameter sphere with 2mm thick wall simulates a phantom head. (Spheres are used in many analytical SAR studies and inter-laboratory comparison exercises because of ease of standardisation of the geometric shape and the applicability of calculation in modelling).


Rather than moving the probe within the sphere, the sphere is moved instead. A novel mechanism allows the sphere to be manually moved in two axes with a position encoder tracking the sphere / probe movement to a resolution +/- 0.2mm.