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Planck 3

The document compares the power radiated by ALMA's holography transmitter to the thermal radiation emitted by a human body at millimeter wavelengths. It finds that over ALMA's frequency range from 31-950 GHz, the 300 K human body radiates around 0.078 watts of power. This is over 7,800 times greater than the 10 microwatt power from the transmitter, even after accounting for the transmitter's 33 dBi antenna gain. Therefore, the human body's natural thermal radiation at millimeter wavelengths overwhelms the power from ALMA's narrowband transmitter.

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118 views

Planck 3

The document compares the power radiated by ALMA's holography transmitter to the thermal radiation emitted by a human body at millimeter wavelengths. It finds that over ALMA's frequency range from 31-950 GHz, the 300 K human body radiates around 0.078 watts of power. This is over 7,800 times greater than the 10 microwatt power from the transmitter, even after accounting for the transmitter's 33 dBi antenna gain. Therefore, the human body's natural thermal radiation at millimeter wavelengths overwhelms the power from ALMA's narrowband transmitter.

Uploaded by

stosicdusan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A comparison of the ALMA OTF holography transmitter power to

the power radiated at mm wavelengths by a human body


Darrel Emerson, 2006-03-18

The ALMA holography transmitter at the OTF radiates about 10 microwatts,


into an antenna with a gain of 33 dBi. This radiation is confined to a very narrow
bandwidth, of order 1 kHz or less.
This radiated power is small compared to the mm-wave thermal radiation from a
human body.

The following notes were written and calculated using Mathcad.

Some physical constants and formulae:

8
Speed of light, m/s c := 2.99792458⋅ 10

− 34
Planck constant, J.s h := 6.6260755 ⋅ 10

− 23
Boltzmann constant, J/K k := 1.380658⋅ 10

−8
Stefan's constant, W/m^2/K^4 σ := 5.67051 ⋅ 10

Assumed radiating surface area of a human body, square meters: A := 1


Assumed temperature of human body: T=300 K
Holography frequency: fh := 100 GHz

Transmitter antenna gain G := 33 dBi

Planck radiation law.


3
Watts per Hz at frequency f(Hz) and 2 ⋅ A⋅ h ⋅ f
Wp( f , T) := ⋅π
temperature T (K).
⎛ h⋅ f ⎞
2⎜ k⋅ T
c ⋅⎝e − 1⎠

Stefan's law, total power radiated integrated


over all frequencies:
4
Ws( T) := σ ⋅ A⋅ T
Check:

Total Thermal Power radiated: Example of T := 30

Comparison Planck with Stefan's law. At temperature T=30, between 0 and 10^15 Hz:
15
⌠ 10
Planck integration: ⎮ Wp( f , T) df = 0.04593 watts
⌡
0
4
Stefan's law: σ ⋅ A⋅ T = 0.04593 watts

So the integration of Planck's law is getting the right answer.


This validates the Mathcad Planck equation and integration.

Black-body radiation curves


1 .10
10

300 K
1 .10
11
Total radiation, W per Hz per area A

100 K
1 .10
12
30 K
10 K
1 .10
13
3K
1 .10
14
ALMA
1 .10
15

1 .10
16

1 .10
17

1 .10
18

1 .10
19

1 .10 1 .10 1 .10 1 .10 1 .10 1 .10


9 10 11 12 13 14

Frequency (Hz)
QUESTION:

What is the 300 K thermal mm-wave power radiated over the spectrum
covered by ALMA, from 31 GHz to 950 GHz?
9
⌠ 950⋅ 10
Pthermal := ⎮ Wp( f , 300 ) df Pthermal = 0.078 watts
⌡ 9
31⋅ 10

Compare this to the 10*10-6 watts from the transmitter.

−6 Pthermal 3
Ptx := 10⋅ 10 watts = 7.813 × 10
Ptx

If we apply the antenna gain of G= 33 dB to the transmitter power:


Pthermal
ratio := ratio = 3.916
⎛ G⎞
⎜ 10
⎝ Ptx⋅ 10 ⎠

So, even with the transmitter antenna beamed directly at,say, a fuel tank,
a person standing at the base of the tower radiates
mm-wave radiation ~4 times stronger than the holography transmitter.

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