Radio Frequency Absorption of a Western Honey Bee in the Near Field of Antennas

The wireless network evolution to smaller carrier wavelengths from (2G to 5G) could increase the RF-EMF absorption in insects. Near field RF-EMF exposure of insects to antennas’ radiation has only been studied near a single antenna element. However, nearly all realistic base station antennas are multi-element arrays. In this research, we show using FDTD that at a separation distance of 10 cm from a dipole, the RF-EMF absorbed power (Pabs), in the range of 6-120 GHz in a western honey bee, maximizes at 12 GHz. Moreover, our results show that when irradiated by a phased array operating at 60 GHz, Pabs maximizes in the separation distance range of 0.1-2 cm, at which ¼ of the input power into the array can be absorbed by the honey bee.