Double blind RF test

Lately, the news has been full of pseudo-scientific articles about health scares, ailments, disease causing technology, and plain 'ol bullshit. Recently, several news sources picked up a completely bunk story about radio frequency (RF) sensitivity in about 2% of the world's population. But RF sensitivity is a complete sham, with literally no data to back up a patient's claims- Much like chronic fatigue syndrome.

The reason for the following test scenario can be found in an article here on Ars Technica. It seems this week, several news outlets picked up a completely fabricated story and ran with it before having anyone confirm or research the subject. My opinion of journalistic integrity isn't what this post is about, though, so that's for another day.

There is a need to put certain claims to bed once and for all, and the best way to do that is a double-blind test. A test in which neither the subject nor the administrator knows anything that could give them an advantage or disadvantage in any way. For more information on double-blind tests, I suggest reading this Wikipedia article. For now, though, it's on with my concept.

Overview

This test consists of several required components- The test administrator, the test taker, an RF generator, a console with a single button, a computer to control the RF output frequency and power, and random data from http://www.random.org.

By using a single button to trigger the test condition, neither the administrator nor the subject has any influence on the other person, or the test itself. No visual or audio cues can be provided by the administrator if they don't have to adjust controls or view output from the test device.

Random data sourced from RANDOM.org has been calculated to be random to a degree far higher than a human brain can acheive. This data is collected through atmospheric noise, processed with several algorithms to assure randomness, and then provided online for the general public. Using this data will prevent a bias for or against the participants, which will provide better results in the end.

Phase 1

During phase one, the test taker will be deciding whether the RF device is on or off. The test data from RANDOM.org will simply be a stream of random binary 0 or 1, which will turn the RF device full off or full on. The test administrator will confirm the subject is ready, press the button on the test console, note the subject's answer, and release the button.

Phase 2

During phase two, the data received from RANDOM.org will be a sequence of random numbers from 0 to 250. These numbers will control the power output of the RF generator, from 0 to 250 mW. This will give an EIRP (Effective Isotropic Radiated Power) equivalent to that of most WiFi access points, and at close range should be more than enough to be detected.

The test administrator will confirm the subject is ready and press a button on the test console. The button will tell the control computer to choose the next random number in the sequence, and will command the RF generator to output a signal with the given strength. The administrator will note the participant's answer, and release the button.

Conclusion

When all tests have been concluded, the original random data will be made available on the computer console for comparison to the test taker's choices. Phase two should confirm any results seen during phase one- If phase one is passed with better-than-chance results, phase two should show a correlation between radiated power and the subject's perception.