The mobile software industry is continuing to amaze experts with its astonishing numbers of independent mobile applications and downloads. However, as a result of the increasing functionality our phones now provide, we felt that there was a need for a solution to one of the most well-known side effects of intense mobile phone usage. Mobile phone radiation is a topic we hear a lot about, but the practical solutions are far less common.

We therefore set out to become the leading software provider for a real time and accurate mobile tool that will notify users of increased radiation and offer them practical and convenient ways to reduce their exposure. We worked for over a year and a half developing tawkon for multiple mobile platforms such as iPhone, BlackBerry, and others.

While the BlackBerry version was released just last week to the public, the iPhone app has not yet been approved by Apple. With the release of the BlackBerry version, we received tremendous compliments and positive feedback from some of the industry’s leading personalities. However, we started noticing a trend, primarily in the Comments section of the various articles covering tawkon. Many people were skeptical regarding the technological side of the app, and some even went as far as to call it a scam. The premise of these claims was that modern smartphones do not have the capability to measure radiation, leaving no way for tawkon to possibly know the precise levels of radiation phones are emitting.

To be honest, we all use many different technologies in our day to day lives, and rarely do we understand the technical aspects of how these technologies work. However, when it comes to our personal health and a topic as “hot” as mobile phone radiation, people want to know how it works, and this is very much justified. We therefore decided to write this post and try to break down the technology behind tawkon, and how it all really works. We will of course try to simplify it for those that are not radiation experts, but bear with us, the information is all here.

Cellular Communication: How Does it Work?

Before we delve into what we have been working on for the past year and a half, it is important to understand how cellular technology works, at least on its most basic level. Mobile phones allow communication from any location via a network of cellular towers. Information is transmitted from the mobile phone to the cellular tower and vice versa via high-frequency electromagnetic fields.

The mobile phone is comprised of hundreds of electronic components. The heart of the system is the modem (baseband), which is responsible for the wireless communication (similar to the DSL modem most of us have at home). During the communication process, the mobile phone gets instructions from the cellular network of how much energy it should transmit in order to keep the voice or data session in good quality. The more energy the phone utilizes, the more mobile radiation it emits.

Mobile Phone Non-Ionizing Radiation, SAR and Radiation Exposure

The energy transmitted during the communication between a mobile phone and a cell tower is actually non-ionizing radiation. Its values range from 250mWatts for third generation networks (3G) to 1.8 Watts for second generation networks (2G).  (1mWatt = 1/1000 Watt)

So what does all this mean? It means our phones emit a certain amount of radiation when in normal use, but the radiation the phone emits does not equal the radiation to which we are exposed. There are many other variables to that equation.

The following are some of the factors that affect the actual levels of radiation to which we are exposed to when using mobile devices:

• Hardware: The way a mobile device is engineered, the model of the phone, factors such as the location of the device’s antenna, the materials out of which it was constructed, materials that physically shield the device from the cellular network (covers, sticker, etc) as well as the shape and size of the phone are all components that affect your levels of exposure to radiation.
• Environment: The location of the mobile phone is a crucial point. The terrain (whether the user is shielded from the cellular network e.g. in a basement, elevator or behind a concrete wall), mobility (due to frequent handover between cell towers) as well as weather conditions are all characteristics that are factored into this equation.
• Usage: While the above two factors are not in the hands of the user (besides of course selecting a device and changing location when possible), the way we use our phones very much depends on us. Many people are unaware that even the smallest adjustment in the way we operate our mobile devices can drastically reduce our exposure to mobile phone radiation. Holding the phone vertically and not horizontally, distancing the device from ones body & head via peripherals such as headsets (wired or Bluetooth) or by using the phone’s speaker, we can actively take part in lowering our exposure to radiation.

The amount of mobile phone non-ionizing radiation we are exposed to is measured in units called SAR (Specific Absorption Rate). Each mobile phone vendor has to comply with the FCC regulations of maximum SAR levels of 1.6Watt/kg. You can see what your device’s SAR level is here.

What most people do not know is that SAR levels of mobile phones are dynamic and change constantly (from zero to the max SAR values of the specific phone model) based on the factors we mentioned above.

tawkon– How Does It Work?

All the information related to the radiation emitted by the mobile phone is available / stored in the phone itself. This information is required by the phone for its normal operation as it needs to know how much power to transmit in order to keep the voice or data connection while the user is talking or on an active data session (browsing, VOIP, etc).

tawkon extracts this information in the form of different RF and network parameters such as: Network – whether the phone is connected to second (2G) or third generation (3G) network, Band – each phone model supports different bands e.g. GSM  (850, 900, 1800, 1900Mhz) or WCDMA (850, 1900, 2100Mhz, etc) and many others.

All of these parameters in addition to various other smartphone capabilities such as motion and proximity sensors, GPS and compass are inputs to tawkon’s patent pending technology that presents the user his exposure to non-ionizing radiation.

The patent-pending RF component of the tawkon technology was developed and tested by, and in collaboration with In4Tel Ltd, a tawkon strategic partner.

What does it take to distribute new phones to the market running tawkon?

Each phone model we support goes through an intense calibration process in an RF lab. This is to ensure that the application on the specific phone model is accurate and precisely reflects the actual exposure of the user to the non-ionizing radiation. The measurements and calibration of the application are conducted with the most sophisticated equipment used by leading mobile phone vendors in the industry. These tools include base station simulators, SAR measurement systems, and other equipment used in the process of certifying phones for the consumer market.

Final Words

As we said above, our goal here was to lay out some of the fundamental principles that guided us in our development of tawkon.

Now that we have covered the basics of the technology behind tawkon, we hope you can recognize that this is a unique and effective tool in our battle to benefit from mobile technology while eliminating associated risks.

We wrote this in light of some skeptical comments we received. We encourage your feedback and insights on our mobile application and know that with the help of your opinions, we will continue working hard on making tawkon as great as we know it can be. Our ultimate goal is to enable mobile users across the globe to benefit from mobile technology and utilize it as a resource that will enhance our daily lives, which is what mobile devices were intended to be in the first place.

Amit Lubovsky,

Co-Founder & VP, R&D tawkon