34801 - Bioelectromagnetism (2nd cycle)

Learning outcomes

The student, at the end of the course, will know the main phenomena related to free and guided propagation of electromagnetic waves and their interaction with various media materials. Secondly the student will study the mechanisms of interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological systems and will develop theoretical models. The student acquires basic knowledge on:
 - the main phenomena of propagation of electromagnetic fields
- mechanisms of interaction of electromagnetic fields with different frequencies for different media materials work.
- mechanisms of interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological systems
 - basic principles of dosimetry of electromagnetic fields.

Course contents

The aim of the course is to provide students with analytical methods and technical knowledge in order to understand the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological tissues, being this a fundamental interaction principle for various biomedical engineering applications.

The first part of the course will be devoted to the study of the fundamental laws of electromagnetism, of wave concept and of propagation in unbounded and isotropic media.

Then, in the second part, a detailed analysis of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technique and machines will be undertaken; students will have the opportunity to understand a real-world application which involves DC to VHF frequencies fields.

Subsequently, the notion of radiation field, antennas and their foremost properties will be examined in order to give students an introduction to microwave dosimetry.

At the end of the course a detailed comparison between lumped-element and distributed-element circuits will be performed because of their relevance for bioelectricity phenomena modeling.

Some lab activities will be carried out during which students will practice with electromagnetic simulation and will divelope models to characterize enteractions between electromagnetic field and biological tissues.

 
Course program:

INTRODUCTION (2)
Bioelectromagnetism, bioelectricity, bioelectromagnetics.
Electromagnetic fields and interaction between fields and matter overview.
 

FUNDAMENTAL LAWS (24)
Time domain electromagnetic fields:
- Maxwell equation.
- Media and costitutive relations.
- Boundary conditions.
- Conservation laws.

Frequency domain electromagnetic fields:
- Maxwell equations.
- Poynting theorem and other fundamental theorems.
- Polarization.
- Dielectrics.
- Conductors.

Uniform plane waves:
- General equation.
- Propagation in media.
- Reflection and transmission.
- Single layer and multilayer structures.

 NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE (16) 
 Fundamental principles.
Nuclear Magnetic Imaging basic equations.
Structure of a NMR machine.
Static field B0 and main coil.
Gradient field and low-frequency electromagnetic design methods.
RF field B1: circuit analysis and method of moments analysis.
 

ANTENNAS AND DOSIMETRY (12)
Point sources.
Extended sources.
Antennas properties.
Antennas arrays.
Introduction to dosimetry.
 

CIRCUIT AND TRANSMISSION THEORY (6)
Lumped-element circuits.
Distributed-element circuits.
Transmission line theory and biological system modeling.

Readings/Bibliography

[Riz98] - Lezioni di campi elettromagnetici, Vittorio Rizzoli, Progetto Leonardo, 1998 •[Jef89] - Electricity and magnetism, OlegD. Jefimenko, Electret, 1989

Assessment methods

an oral exam is scheduled.

Teaching tools

The teacher will use slides as an outline of the lessons that will make available to students. At the end of the course an electromagnetic simulation tool will be presented and used in the lab to show numerical solutions to some of the concepts introduced during lessons.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandra Costanzo