Electromagnetic field exposure boundary analysis at the near field for multi-technology cellular base station site

Abstract

Mobile networks are expanding quickly as a result of significant advancements in wireless technologies and solutions, especially with the recent introduction of the Fifth Generation New Radio. The growth in mobile networks requires the installation of massive numbers of base stations that bring concerns about increasing overall electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation exposure levels. The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has published guidelines that have been adopted by many regulators in many countries to control the overall radiation emitted from EMF transmitters. This paper studies the compliance boundary for a single site operating with multiple technologies including from the second generation (2G) to 5G colocated in the same site. The analysis is performed using a typical site configuration setup for the boundary calculations in the form of the Compliance Distance (CD). The calculation uses the power reduction factor and system load for more realistic results, and in situ measurements are conducted to validate the calculation's formula. The study also investigated the CD for four types of sites, macro, micro, small cell, and indoor sites. Additionally, the study analyzed the power densities (PDs) and total exposure ratio (TER) for the general public and occupational workers at each site. The results show that CD has shorter distances when the power factor is considered, and 5G makes the highest contribution to the TER at the CD in the main directions of the antenna.