Frequency-Selective Evaluation of Personal Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields of Wireless Communications and Broadcast Transmitters

Abstract

We performed a frequency-selective measurement campaign using personal exposure meters with a three-axis E-field probe to assess the electric field strength and power density of wireless communication systems and broadcast transmitters in Kosovo. Mean exposure levels were compared among different microenvironments--outdoor urban, living room, office and bedroom microenvironments--in different geographical locations and different exposure time periods. Furthermore, typical exposure levels in European countries and Kosovo were compared. Measurement post-processing results show that the highest values of the mean power density in an outdoor urban microenvironment were 0.173 mW/m2 for Wi-Fi 5G, 0.137 mW/m2 for GSM 900 uplink, 0.128 mW/m2 for GSM 1800 uplink and 0.112 mW/m2 for Wi-Fi 2G. The maximal recorded value of the total electric field strength was 10.44 V/m. The highest exposure levels per frequency band in the living room were 0.042 mW/m2 for FM, 0.023 mW/m2 for GSM 900 uplink and 0.023 mW/m2 for GSM 900 downlink and Wi-Fi 2G. In office environments, the mean power density for 14 predefined frequency bands in the range 88---5850 MHz was 0.227 mW/m2 in total. The highest total electric field strength for office microenvironments was 5.439 V/m. Residential homes were mainly dominated by the GSM bands (GSM 900 downlink, 54 %; GSM 1800 downlink, 36 %). For the frequency bands FM, TETRA and TV4&5, the exposure was much higher on upper residential floors.