Francis Goeminne

Assessment of RF exposures from emerging wireless communication technologies in different environments.

Abstract—In situ electromagnetic (EM) radio frequency (RF) exposure to base stations of emerging wireless technologies is assessed at 311 locations, 68 indoor and 243 outdoor, spread over 35 areas in three European countries (Belgium, The Netherlands, and Sweden) by performing narrowband spectrum analyzer measurements. The locations are selected to characterize six different environmental categories (rural, residential, urban, suburban, office, and industrial). The maximal total field value was measured in a residential environment and equal to 3.9 V m−1, mainly due to GSM900 signals. Exposure ratios for maximal electric field values, with respect to ICNIRP reference levels, range from 0.5% (WiMAX) to 9.3% (GSM900) for the 311 measurement locations. Exposure ratios for total field values vary from 3.1% for rural environments to 9.4% for residential environments. Exposures are lognormally distributed and are the lowest in rural environments and the highest in urban environments. Highest median exposures were obtained in urban environments (0.74 V m−1), followed by office (0.51 V m−1), industrial (0.49 V m−1), suburban (0.46 V m−1), residential (0.40 V m−1), and rural (0.09 V m−1) environments. The average contribution to the total electric field is more than 60% for GSM. Except for the rural environment, average contributions of UMTS-HSPA are more than 3%. Contributions of the emerging technologies LTE and WiMAX are on average less than 1%. The dominating outdoor source is GSM900 (95th percentile of 1.9 V m−1), indoor DECT dominates (95th percentile of 1.5 V m−1).

Assessment of general public exposure to LTE and RF sources present in an urban environment.

For the first time, in situ electromagnetic field exposure of the general public to fields from long term evolution (LTE) cellular base stations is assessed. Exposure contributions due to different radiofrequency (RF) sources are compared with LTE exposure at 30 locations in Stockholm, Sweden. Total exposures (0.2-2.6 V/m) satisfy the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) reference levels (from 28 V/m for frequency modulation (FM), up to 61 V/m for LTE) at all locations. LTE exposure levels up to 0.8 V/m were measured, and the average contribution of the LTE signal to the total RF exposure equals 4%.

Spatial and temporal RF electromagnetic field exposure of children and adults in indoor micro environments in Belgium and Greece.

Personal radio frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure, or exposimetry, is gaining importance in the bioelectromagnetics community but only limited data on personal exposure is available in indoor areas, namely schools, crèches, homes, and offices. Most studies are focused on adult exposure, whereas indoor microenvironments, where children are exposed, are usually not considered. A method to assess spatial and temporal indoor exposure of children and adults is proposed without involving the subjects themselves. Moreover, maximal possible daily exposure is estimated by combining instantaneous spatial and temporal exposure. In Belgium and Greece, the exposure is measured at 153 positions spread over 55 indoor microenvironments with spectral equipment. In addition, personal exposimeters (measuring EMFs of people during their daily activities) captured the temporal exposure variations during several days up to one week at 98 positions. The data were analyzed using the robust regression on order statistics (ROS) method to account for data below the detection limit. All instantaneous and maximal exposures satisfied international exposure limits and were of the same order of magnitude in Greece and Belgium. Mobile telecommunications and radio broadcasting (FM) were most present. In Belgium, digital cordless phone (DECT) exposure was present for at least 75% in the indoor microenvironments except for schools. Temporal variations of the exposure were mainly due to variations of mobile telecommunication signals. The exposure was higher during daytime than at night due to the increased voice and data traffic on the networks. Total exposure varied the most in Belgian crèches (39.3%) and Greek homes (58.2%).

Exposure assessment of mobile phone base station radiation in an outdoor environment using sequential surrogate modeling.

Human exposure to background radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) has been increasing with the introduction of new technologies. There is a definite need for the quantification of RF-EMF exposure but a robust exposure assessment is not yet possible, mainly due to the lack of a fast and efficient measurement procedure. In this article, a new procedure is proposed for accurately mapping the exposure to base station radiation in an outdoor environment based on surrogate modeling and sequential design, an entirely new approach in the domain of dosimetry for human RF exposure. We tested our procedure in an urban area of about 0.04 km(2) for Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology at 900 MHz (GSM900) using a personal exposimeter. Fifty measurement locations were sufficient to obtain a coarse street exposure map, locating regions of high and low exposure; 70 measurement locations were sufficient to characterize the electric field distribution in the area and build an accurate predictive interpolation model. Hence, accurate GSM900 downlink outdoor exposure maps (for use in, e.g., governmental risk communication and epidemiological studies) are developed by combining the proven efficiency of sequential design with the speed of exposimeter measurements and their ease of handling.

In situ LTE exposure of the general public: Characterization and extrapolation

In situ radiofrequency (RF) exposure of the different RF sources is characterized in Reading, United Kingdom, and an extrapolation method to estimate worst-case long-term evolution (LTE) exposure is proposed. All electric field levels satisfy the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) reference levels with a maximal total electric field value of 4.5 V/m. The total values are dominated by frequency modulation (FM). Exposure levels for LTE of 0.2 V/m on average and 0.5 V/m maximally are obtained. Contributions of LTE to the total exposure are limited to 0.4% on average. Exposure ratios from 0.8% (LTE) to 12.5% (FM) are obtained. An extrapolation method is proposed and validated to assess the worst-case LTE exposure. For this method, the reference signal (RS) and secondary synchronization signal (S-SYNC) are measured and extrapolated to the worst-case value using an extrapolation factor. The influence of the traffic load and output power of the base station on in situ RS and S-SYNC signals are lower than 1 dB for all power and traffic load settings, showing that these signals can be used for the extrapolation method. The maximal extrapolated field value for LTE exposure equals 1.9 V/m, which is 32 times below the ICNIRP reference levels for electric fields.

Assessment of radio frequency exposures in schools, homes, and public places in Belgium.

AbstractCharacterization of exposure from emerging radio frequency (RF) technologies in areas where children are present is important. Exposure to RF electromagnetic fields (EMF) was assessed in three “sensitive” microenvironments; namely, schools, homes, and public places located in urban environments and compared to exposure in offices. In situ assessment was conducted by performing spatial broadband and accurate narrowband measurements, providing 6-min averaged electric-field strengths. A distinction between internal (transmitters that are located indoors) and external (outdoor sources from broadcasting and telecommunication) sources was made. Ninety-four percent of the broadband measurements were below 1 V m–1. The average and maximal total electric-field values in schools, homes, and public places were 0.2 and 3.2 V m–1 (WiFi), 0.1 and 1.1 V m–1 (telecommunication), and 0.6 and 2.4 V m–1 (telecommunication), respectively, while for offices, average and maximal exposure were 0.9 and 3.3 V m–1 (telecommunication), satisfying the ICNIRP reference levels. In the schools considered, the highest maximal and average field values were due to internal signals (WiFi). In the homes, public places, and offices considered, the highest maximal and average field values originated from telecommunication signals. Lowest exposures were obtained in homes. Internal sources contributed on average more indoors (31.2%) than outdoors (2.3%), while the average contributions of external sources (broadcast and telecommunication sources) were higher outdoors (97.7%) than at indoor positions (68.8%). FM, GSM, and UMTS dominate the total downlink exposure in the outdoor measurements. In indoor measurements, FM, GSM, and WiFi dominate the total exposure. The average contribution of the emerging technology LTE was only 0.6%.

Occupational and public field exposure from communication, navigation, and radar systems used for air traffic control.

Abstract Electromagnetic exposure (occupational and general public) to 14 types of air traffic control (ATC) systems is assessed. Measurement methods are proposed for in situ exposure assessment of these ATC systems. In total, 50 sites are investigated at 1,073 locations in the frequency range of 255 kHz to 24 GHz. For all installations, typical and maximal exposure values for workers and the general public are provided. Two of the 14 types of systems, Non-Directional Beacons (NDB) (up to 881.6 V m−1) and Doppler Very High Frequency (VHF) Omni-directional Range (DVOR) (up to 92.3 V m−1), exhibited levels requiring recommended minimum distances such that the ICNIRP reference levels are not exceeded. Cumulative exposure of all present radiofrequency (RF) sources is investigated, and it is concluded that the ATC source dominates the total exposure in its neighborhood.

In situ exposure to non‐directional beacons for air traffic control

In situ electromagnetic field exposure of workers and the general public due to non-directional beacons (NDB) for air traffic control is assessed and characterized. For occupational exposure, the maximal measured electric field value is 881.6 V/m and the maximal magnetic field value is 9.1 A/m. The maximum electric fields exceed the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) reference levels at all seven NDB sites, and the magnetic fields at two of the seven NDB sites (occupational exposure). Recommendations and compliance distances for workers and the general public are provided.

Zigbee as a means to reduce the number of blind spot incidents of a truck

Every year in Europe, about 1500 people die in traffic because they are not noticed by the truck driver. This problem could be solved by developing a wireless communication system where the truck driver and the cyclist are informed about each others presence. In this paper a test setup is presented in which the position of the cyclist is determined and displayed on a screen when being in the neighborhood of a truck. The cyclist gets an indication about notification by the truck. Because of the fast changing network, the cyclist must be added quickly to the network and the position must be updated very fast. For this reason a Zigbee communication system is used. The position of the cyclist is displayed in zones around the truck. The setup is experimentally tested and it is demonstrated that the proposed setup leads to a reliable and fast method to reduce the number of blind spot incidents.

In situ occupational and general public exposure to VHF/UHF transmission for air traffic communication

Occupational and general public exposure due to very high frequency (VHF)/ultra high frequency (UHF) transmission centres for verbal communication for air traffic control is investigated in situ for the first time. These systems are used for communication with aircraft, resulting in different human exposure from that of classical broadcasting. Measurement methods are proposed for the exposure assessment, and a measurement campaign is executed in three transmission centres. By investigating the temporal behaviour of the VHF signals for 6 d, a realistic worst-case duty cycle of 29 % is determined. Periods of high exposures corresponding with high aircraft traffic are from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and in the evening. All measured electric-field values satisfy the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection guidelines. Fields vary from 0.2 to 21.1 V m(-1) for occupational exposure and from 0.007 to 8.0 V m(-1) for general public exposure. The average fields equal 5.2 V m(-1) for workers, and 0.7 V m(-1) for general public.