Assessment of RF human exposure to LTE small-and macro-cells: UL case

Mazloum, Taghrid; Fetouri, Bader; Elia, Nabil; Conil, Emmanuelle; Grangeat, Christophe; Wiart, Joe

doi:10.23919/eucap.2017.7928743

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…While RF-EMF exposure induced in either second generation (2G) or third generation (3G) SC networks was addressed in [8][9][10][11], rare works considered exposure induced in fourth generation long-term evolution (4G-LTE) HetNets, even though LTE traffic accounted for 69% of mobile traffic in 2016 [1]. Indeed, EMF exposure induced in LTE HetNets has been assessed using simulations in [12] and through a measurement campaign in an urban environment in [13], though in the latter, only the UL exposure in one specific environment was considered. However, both UL and DL need to be characterized in diverse environments to assess the real exposure burden, thus considering larger measurement campaigns.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RF-EMF exposure induced by mobile phones operating in LTE small cells in two different urban cities

et al. 2018

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With the huge growth in data traffic, the densification of the macro cell (MC) layer with low-powered small cell (SC) base stations (resulting in a heterogeneous network) will improve network performances in terms of radio coverage and capacity. However, this may influence the human exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs). Through measurement campaigns in two different urban cities (in France and the Netherlands), the authors characterized the RF-EMF exposure induced by LTE (Long Term Evolution) MC and SC networks, while considering radio emissions from both base stations (downlink or DL) and user equipment (uplink or UL). For an internet data usage and with respect to an MC connection, results showed that an SC connection may increase the DL exposure while decreasing the UL exposure (with a factor of 5 to 17), mainly due to the lower mobile phone emitted power and depending on whether the throughput is limited or not. Furthermore, the city with a dense network is characterized by low UL exposure and high DL exposure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RF-EMF exposure induced by mobile phones operating in LTE small cells in two different urban cities

et al. 2018

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“…To increase the set of data, two different drive test solutions have been used. By doing so, different antenna characteristics and efficiency of mobiles are considered [7]. Regarding the uplink emitted power from UE in active mode, the drive test hand sets have been programmed to upload 100 MBytes files on a FTP server repetitively.…”

Section: Measurement Methods and Uplink And Downlink Power Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The penetration depth is considered to be 6 m in buildings. Each building has 4 floors and the height of each floor is 3 m. The height of the UE from the ground is 1.5 m. Due to the lack of information on the architecture of indoor environment, the penetration loss has been taken into account as a random variable uniformly distributed on the interval [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] dB. Figure 9 and 10 illustrate the structure of the scenario.…”

Section: Uplink Emitted Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical model of the human RF exposure in small cell environment

et al. 2018

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Small cells are one of the solutions to face the imperative demand on increasing mobile data traffic. They are low-powered base stations installed close to the users to offer better network services and to deal with increased data traffic. In this paper, the global exposure induced in such networks as a whole from user equipment and base stations has been investigated. As the small cell is close to the user, the propagation channel becomes highly variable and strongly susceptible by environmental factors such as the road traffic. An innovative statistical path loss model is constructed based on measurements on two French commercial LTE small cells, operating at LTE 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz . This statistical path loss model is then used to assess global exposure of the adult proportion of a population in a scenario composed of a street lined with buildings, indoor and outdoor data users.Keywords RF exposure · Small cell · exposure index · drive test measurements · path loss · statistical modeling 1 Introduction Nowadays radio frequency (RF) wireless communication systems are intensively used in different aspects of daily life. Phenomenal progresses in technologies, new applications, wireless devices and networks have led to a strong growth in data traffic over the last decade [1] . To respond to such demand, research efforts have been carried out to improve the efficiency of communication protocols. Current mobile networks are essentially made up of long-range radio equipment (macro cells) deployed to ensure coverage in the different territories. To face 5G ambitious aims (even more data traffic, higher frequency bands with poorer propagation capacities), this long-range layer will be supplemented by medium-range antennas (small cells) to improve coverage and connectivity for all, as the population increasingly uses mobile networks.Small cells (SC) are low-powered base stations (BS). Deploying SCs results in offloading traffic from macro cells, hence, network performance, coverage, and capacity are increased. The coverage of a SC is less than a macro cell: it is ranged typically from a few meters to a few hundreds of meters [2]. Furthermore, SC antenna is often deployed at a low height, e.g., on top of a bus station. As a consequence, SC can be more numerous than macro cells and antennas closer to the users than macro antennas typically installed on a roof top or on top of a mast. By bringing the antennas closer to the users, it is also expecting to reduce the emitted power by user equipements (UE) and to increase the available throughput for users. UEs are therefore able to benefit from SCs, their greater quality and larger throughput than those of classical macro cells. SCs are expected to be deployed massively in order to cover the maximum number of users but such deployment can result to an important raise in public concerns. Despite the intensive use of wireless communication devices and existing international safety limits, there is still public concerns and risk perceptions about human exposure to RF electrom...

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“…Secondarily, these higher signal strengths will cause the network to reduce the power output of handsets (the uplink). Since in most cases the stronger exposure to cellphone users is from uplink signals from their own devices, the presence of small cells will generally reduce overall RF exposure to a user or a bystander ( Stephan et al 2014 ; Mazloum et al 2017 ). However, many variables determine personal exposure to RF fields, and simple generalizations of this sort do not always apply ( Lonn et al 2004 ; Boursianis et al 2012 ; Durrenberger et al 2014 ; Plets et al 2015 ; Krayni et al 2017 ; Huang 2018 ; Zeleke et al 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Exposure levels from 5G base stations are under study by several groups, mainly to improve methods to assure their compliance with health and safety guidelines. Assessments have included exposures from stations employing beamforming antennas, as well as exposures from small cells that use stationary beams ( Degirmenci et al 2016 ; IEC 2017; Mazloum et al 2017 ; Baracca et al 2018 ; Kopacz and Heberling 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

IEEE Committee on Man and Radiation—COMAR Technical Information Statement: Health and Safety Issues Concerning Exposure of the General Public to Electromagnetic Energy from 5G Wireless Communications Networks

Bushberg¹,

Chou²,

Foster³

et al. 2020

Health Physics

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This COMAR Technical Information Statement (TIS) addresses health and safety issues concerning exposure of the general public to radiofrequency (RF) fields from 5G wireless communications networks, the expansion of which started on a large scale in 2018 to 2019. 5G technology can transmit much greater amounts of data at much higher speeds for a vastly expanded array of applications compared with preceding 2-4G systems; this is due, in part, to using the greater bandwidth available at much higher frequencies than those used by most existing networks. Although the 5G engineering standard may be deployed for operating networks currently using frequencies extending from 100s to 1,000s of MHz, it can also operate in the 10s of GHz where the wavelengths are 10 mm or less, the so-called millimeter wave (MMW) band. Until now, such fields were found in a limited number of applications (e.g., airport scanners, automotive collision avoidance systems, perimeter surveillance radar), but the rapid expansion of 5G will produce a more ubiquitous presence of MMW in the environment. While some 5G signals will originate from small antennas placed on existing base stations, most will be deployed with some key differences relative to typical transmissions from 2-4G base stations. Because MMW do not penetrate foliage and building materials as well as signals at lower frequencies, the networks will require “densification,” the installation of many lower power transmitters (often called “small cells” located mainly on buildings and utility poles) to provide for effective indoor coverage. Also, “beamforming” antennas on some 5G systems will transmit one or more signals directed to individual users as they move about, thus limiting exposures to non-users. In this paper, COMAR notes the following perspectives to address concerns expressed about possible health effects of RF field exposure from 5G technology. First, unlike lower frequency fields, MMW do not penetrate beyond the outer skin layers and thus do not expose inner tissues to MMW. Second, current research indicates that overall levels of exposure to RF are unlikely to be significantly altered by 5G, and exposure will continue to originate mostly from the “uplink” signals from one’s own device (as they do now). Third, exposure levels in publicly accessible spaces will remain well below exposure limits established by international guideline and standard setting organizations, including ICNIRP and IEEE. Finally, so long as exposures remain below established guidelines, the research results to date do not support a determination that adverse health effects are associated with RF exposures, including those from 5G systems. While it is acknowledged that the scientific literature on MMW biological effect research is more limited than that for lower frequencies, we also note that it is of mixed quality and stress that future research should use appropriate precautions to enhance validity. The authorship of this paper includes a physician/biologist, epidemiologist, engineers, and physical scientists working voluntarily and collaboratively on a consensus basis.

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Assessment of RF human exposure to LTE small-and macro-cells: UL case

Cited by 7 publications

References 5 publications

RF-EMF exposure induced by mobile phones operating in LTE small cells in two different urban cities

RF-EMF exposure induced by mobile phones operating in LTE small cells in two different urban cities

Statistical model of the human RF exposure in small cell environment

IEEE Committee on Man and Radiation—COMAR Technical Information Statement: Health and Safety Issues Concerning Exposure of the General Public to Electromagnetic Energy from 5G Wireless Communications Networks

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