Six Months in the Life of a Cellular Tower: Is 5G Exposure Higher than pre-5G One?

Abstract

5G service is already available in many countries, including Italy. Currently, 5G networks are run in parallel to the already deployed pre-5G ones (including 4G). In this work, we face the problem of continuously monitoring the exposure from a vantage point over a very long period of time (i.e., several months). After designing and validating a measurement setup suitable for our aims, we extensively collected 5G and pre-5G exposure data from the considered location. Results show that, although the share of 5G exposure is in general lower than pre-5G one, both intensity and occurrence of 5G exposure peaks are rapidly increasing over the months, suggesting a growth of 5G exposure levels in the near future.