Dr. Rachid Jaoui

Direction Générale de l’Armement, France

Non ionizing Radiation assessment in the French Ministry of Army

For some years now, High Power Microwave (HPM) systems have emerged, characterized by high-intensity radiated fields and pulse waves. Biological studies (in vitro) have showed, under certain conditions, that there are risks to human health, making it necessary to define safe distances and safety instructions.

Current civilian and military standards have been developed to guarantee people safety towards the electromagnetic environment generated by communication systems in MF, HF, VHF, UHF and SHF frequency bands as well as various electronic warfare systems (mainly designed for radio jamming) which could operate in the same frequency bands. Their application cannot ensure the safety of civilian and military workforce when exposed to specific HPM waveforms. Indeed, HPM pulse waves can induce biological effects different from those taken into account by standards.

In order to assess potential risk precisely, to allow the deployment of such systems, the Ministry of the Armed Forces funded studies with laboratories renowned in this field.

This presentation should give you an overview of the results achieved so far by these laboratories.