Millimeter-Wave Beam Control for Human MPE Mitigation

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing 5G wireless communication systems face challenges in managing maximum power exposure (MPE) to human bodies due to the highly directional beams used in millimeter wave (mmW) transmissions, which can potentially exceed safety limits.

Innovation Solution

Implementing Wi-Fi radar, lidar, and camera systems in user equipment (UE) to detect the presence and location of humans, allowing for adjustments in beamforming and power control to mitigate MPE by avoiding sensitive body parts.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If millimeter wave transmissions use highly directional beams to achieve high data rates, then communication throughput is improved, but maximum power exposure to human bodies increases and safety limits are exceeded

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication throughputVSAvoidmaximum power exposure to human bodies

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary detection of human presence and location using sensors (camera, radar, LiDAR) before transmitting millimeter wave signals. This allows the system to identify sensitive body parts and adjust beamforming or power levels in advance to prevent MPE violations while maintaining high throughput when safe

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system continuously monitors the environment using sensors and feeds this information back to the transmitter. Based on real-time detection of human presence, direction, and distance, the system dynamically adjusts transmission parameters such as beam direction and power level to comply with MPE limits while optimizing communication performance

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Object-affected harmful factors

If the system detects and avoids sensitive body parts to ensure safety compliance, then MPE exposure is reduced, but communication range and throughput are limited

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveMPE exposure to human bodiesVSAvoidcommunication range and throughput

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system dynamically adjusts transmission parameters including beam direction, power level, and spatial filtering based on real-time detection of human presence. When no humans are detected or they are positioned away from sensitive areas, the system operates at full power for maximum throughput. When humans are detected, the system adaptively modifies parameters to maintain safety while preserving communication capability

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The system applies different transmission characteristics to different spatial regions. By detecting the location of human bodies and identifying sensitive body parts, the system restricts high-power transmission to specific areas while allowing full power transmission in other regions, thereby maintaining overall communication throughput while ensuring local safety compliance

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS12362778B2Multi-sensor assisted maximum power exposure (MPE) operations for millimeter wave (MMW) communications

Publication Date: 2025.07.15 QUALCOMM INC

AI summary

Disclosed are techniques for wireless sensing. In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) detects an object and a direction to the object in an environment of the UE, determines whether the object is a human, identifies, based on the object being the human, a sensitive body part of the human, and performs, based on identification of the sensitive body part, a maximum power exposure (MPE) mitigation operation.