Kenneth Deprez, Bram Stroobandt, Adriana Fernandes Veludo, Zsuzsanna Vecsei, Peter Pal Necz, Piotr Politański, Leen Verloock, Kinga Polanska, György Thuróczy, Martin Röösli, David Plets, Wout Joseph
This study assesses the exposure to 5G radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMF) across four European countries. Spot measurements were conducted indoor and outdoor in both public spaces and educational institutions, encompassing urban and rural environments. In total, 146 measurements were performed in 2023, divided over Belgium (47), Switzerland (38), Hungary (30) and Poland (31). At 34.9% of all measurement locations a 5G connection to 3.6 GHz was established. The average cumulative incident power density (Savg) and maximum cumulative incident power density (Smax) were determined, for both “background” exposure (no 5G user equipment; No UE) and worst-case exposure (maximum downlink with 5G user equipment; Max DL). Furthermore, 3.6 GHz 5G-specific average Savg,5G and maximum Smax,5G incident power density are considered as well. For the No UE scenario, the highest Smax is 17.6 mW/m2, while for the Max DL, the highest Smax is 23.3 mW/m2. Both values are well within the ICNIRP guidelines. The highest Smax,5G measured over all countries and scenarios was 10.4 mW/m2, which is 3.2% of the frequency-specific ICNIRP guidelines. Additionally, a comparison was made between big cities, secondary cities, and villages for all four countries. The ratio of power density measured in rural areas was significantly lower than in urban areas (−4.8 to −10.4 dB). Under LOS conditions, the average incident power density was 2.3 mW/m2, whereas under NLOS conditions, the average incident power density decreases to 0.9 mW/m2. Furthermore, the relative variation increases under NLOS scenarios. Lastly, an analysis was performed regarding the power density in educational institutions compared to all other measurement locations, both indoors and outdoors for the different city types. The measured incident power density is not extensively lower in or around schools compared to public places, neither in the big cities, secondary cities, or the villages.
{"title":"5G RF EMF Spectral Exposure Assessment in Four European Countries","authors":"Kenneth Deprez, Bram Stroobandt, Adriana Fernandes Veludo, Zsuzsanna Vecsei, Peter Pal Necz, Piotr Politański, Leen Verloock, Kinga Polanska, György Thuróczy, Martin Röösli, David Plets, Wout Joseph","doi":"10.1002/bem.70019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bem.70019","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study assesses the exposure to 5G radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMF) across four European countries. Spot measurements were conducted indoor and outdoor in both public spaces and educational institutions, encompassing urban and rural environments. In total, 146 measurements were performed in 2023, divided over Belgium (47), Switzerland (38), Hungary (30) and Poland (31). At 34.9% of all measurement locations a 5G connection to 3.6 GHz was established. The average cumulative incident power density (<i>S</i><sub>avg</sub>) and maximum cumulative incident power density (<i>S</i><sub>max</sub>) were determined, for both “background” exposure (no 5G user equipment; No UE) and worst-case exposure (maximum downlink with 5G user equipment; Max DL). Furthermore, 3.6 GHz 5G-specific average <i>S</i><sub>avg,5G</sub> and maximum <i>S</i><sub>max,</sub><sub>5G</sub> incident power density are considered as well. For the No UE scenario, the highest <i>S</i><sub>max</sub> is 17.6 mW/m<sup>2</sup>, while for the Max DL, the highest <i>S</i><sub>max</sub> is 23.3 mW/m<sup>2</sup>. Both values are well within the ICNIRP guidelines. The highest <i>S</i><sub>max,</sub><sub>5G</sub> measured over all countries and scenarios was 10.4 mW/m<sup>2</sup>, which is 3.2% of the frequency-specific ICNIRP guidelines. Additionally, a comparison was made between big cities, secondary cities, and villages for all four countries. The ratio of power density measured in rural areas was significantly lower than in urban areas (−4.8 to −10.4 dB). Under LOS conditions, the average incident power density was 2.3 mW/m<sup>2</sup>, whereas under NLOS conditions, the average incident power density decreases to 0.9 mW/m<sup>2</sup>. Furthermore, the relative variation increases under NLOS scenarios. Lastly, an analysis was performed regarding the power density in educational institutions compared to all other measurement locations, both indoors and outdoors for the different city types. The measured incident power density is not extensively lower in or around schools compared to public places, neither in the big cities, secondary cities, or the villages.</p>","PeriodicalId":8956,"journal":{"name":"Bioelectromagnetics","volume":"46 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/bem.70019","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144869794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ninad Chitnis, Fariba Karimi, Sven Kühn, Arya Fallahi, Andreas Christ, Niels Kuster
In this study, a comprehensive approach for the experimental assessment of the absorbed power density (APD) is developed. The method includes several novel components: (i) a specialized probe, (ii) a composite phantom, (iii) a reconstruction technique, (iv) a calibration method, and (v) a validation process. The described solution has been developed for the frequency range from 24 to 30 GHz, but can be extended to all frequency bands between 10 and 45 GHz. A novel composite phantom emulates the reflection and transmission coefficients of human skin for propagating and evanescent modes, while its increased penetration depth, in comparison to dermis tissue, enables the measurement of the induced electromagnetic fields (EMFs) with a new miniaturized dosimetric broadband probe. The implementation has a wide dynamic range and sufficient spatial resolution to use it for type approval of mobile devices. Its probe is calibrated with low uncertainty in a novel, traceable setup. A set of reference antennas with known numerical target values for the APD has been compiled to validate the measurement system. The validation demonstrates that the deviation is within the expanded uncertainty of 1.6 dB for pAPD and