Estimation of the Specific Absorption Rate for a Honey bee Exposed to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields from 2.5 to 100 GHz

This paper presents a study of electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure of a honey bee at radio frequencies from 2.5 GHz to 100 GHz using numerical simulations based on the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique. The main goal of our study was to estimate the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in honey bee tissues as a dosimetric aid to predict the possible adverse effects caused by EMF energy absorption. In this study, the insect is modeled as a 3-tissue heterogeneous dielectric object, and the Sim4Life EM-FDTD solver was used for EM simulations. The whole-body and brain tissue-averaged SAR values of a honeybee were determined for all considered frequencies and normalized on 1 mW/cm ² incident plane-wave power density. The obtained SAR values were also averaged over a volume of 1 milligram of tissue. The results showed that EMF energy absorption in insects depends on E-field polarization, frequency, and the insect’s body peculiarities.