Personal radiofrequency electromagnetic field measurements in the Netherlands: Exposure level and variability for everyday activities, times of day and types of area

Average levels of exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) of the general public in Europe are difficult to summarize, as exposure levels have been reported differently in those studies in which they have been measured, and a large proportion of reported measurements were very low, sometimes falling below detection limits of the equipment used. The goal of this paper is to present an overview of the scientific literature on RF EMF exposure in Europe and to characterize exposure within the European population. A comparative analysis of the results of spot or long-term RF EMF measurements in the EU indicated that mean electric field strengths were between 0.08 V/m and 1.8 V/m. The overwhelming majority of measured mean electric field strengths were <1 V/m. It is estimated that <1% were above 6 V/m and <0.1% were above 20 V/m. No exposure levels exceeding European Council recommendations were identified in these surveys. Most population exposures from signals of radio and television broadcast towers were observed to be weak because these transmitters are usually far away from exposed individuals and are spatially sparsely distributed. On the other hand, the contribution made to RF exposure from wireless telecommunications technology is continuously increasing and its contribution was above 60% of the total exposure. According to the European exposure assessment studies identified, three population exposure categories (intermittent variable partial body exposure, intermittent variable low-level whole-body (WB) exposure and continuous low-level WB exposure) were recognized by the authors as informative for possible future risk assessment.

Electromagnetic field exposure assessment in Europe radiofrequency fields (10 MHz-6 GHz).

Exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in indoor environments depends on both outdoor sources such as radio, television and mobile phone antennas and indoor sources, such as mobile phones and wireless communications applications. Establishing the levels of exposure could be challenging due to differences in the approaches used in different studies. The goal of this study is to present an overview of the last ten years research efforts about RF EMF exposure in indoor environments, considering different RF-EMF sources found to cause exposure in indoor environments, different indoor environments and different approaches used to assess the exposure. The highest maximum mean levels of the exposure considering the whole RF-EMF frequency band was found in offices (1.14 V/m) and in public transports (0.97 V/m), while the lowest levels of exposure were observed in homes and apartments, with mean values in the range 0.13–0.43 V/m. The contribution of different RF-EMF sources to the total level of exposure was found to show slightly different patterns among the indoor environments, but this finding has to be considered as a time-dependent picture of the continuous evolving exposure to RF-EMF.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/6/955/pdf

Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields Exposure Assessment in Indoor Environments: A Review

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/5682731/file/5682742.pdf

Radio-frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure levels in different European outdoor urban environments in comparison with regulatory limits.

Personal radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure measurements in Swiss adolescents

A framework for the combination of near-field (NF) and far-field (FF) radio frequency electromagnetic exposure sources to the average organ and whole-body specific absorption rates (SARs) is presented. As a reference case, values based on numerically derived SARs for whole-body and individual organs and tissues are combined with realistic exposure data, which have been collected using personal exposure meters during the Swiss Qualifex study. The framework presented can be applied to any study region where exposure data is collected by appropriate measurement equipment. Based on results derived from the data for the region of Basel, Switzerland, the relative importance of NF and FF sources to the personal exposure is examined for three different study groups. The results show that a 24-h whole-body averaged exposure of a typical mobile phone user is dominated by the use of his or her own mobile phone when a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) 900 or GSM 1800 phone is used. If only Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) phones are used, the user would experience a lower exposure level on average caused by the lower average output power of UMTS phones. Data presented clearly indicate the necessity of collecting band-selective exposure data in epidemiological studies related to electromagnetic fields. Bioelectromagnetics 34:366-374, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Combining near- and far-field exposure for an organ-specific and whole-body RF-EMF proxy for epidemiological research: a reference case.

Body-worn radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) personal exposure meters (PEMs) have been increasingly used for exposure assessment in epidemiological research However, little research on the measurement accuracy of these devices is available In this article a novel measurement setup and a measurement protocol are presented for characterizing and testing PEMs The whole setup and procedure is tested using two EME SPY 120 devices The performance of the PEM was analyzed for absolute measurements in an anechoic chamber Modulated signals representing the different services as real signals generated by appropriate testers were used Measurement results were evaluated with respect to a root mean square detector We found that measurement accuracy depends strongly on the carrier frequency and also on the number of occupied time slots for Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)-based services Thus, correction factors can only be derived if the distribution of the network configuration over the measurement time for all measurement points is available As a result of the simplicity of the measurement setup and the straightforward measurement protocol, the possibility of fast validation leads to a higher accuracy in the characterization and testing of PEMs Bioelectromagnetics (c) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Measurement setup and protocol for characterizing and testing radio frequency personal exposure meters

This paper investigates and describes the pro- cedure to prepare and analyze the measurements necessary to describe and characterize the electromagnetic environ- ment in a hospital in order to evaluate the conditions for failsafe operation for future Wireless Patient Monitoring. Measurement results are evaluated with respect to given immunity levels and in-band interferences. Results show that the UWB band features equal dynamic ranges as the ISM band but allows operation at a significantly lower power level, which is crucial for Wireless Patient Monitor- ing where low power consumption is highly required." Introduction monitoring patients in a hospital by elec-

/pdf/characterization-of-the-electromagnetic-environment-in-a-52zzf1iwjg.pdf

Characterization of the Electromagnetic Environment in a Hospital: Measurement Procedures and Results

The electromagnetic environment in a hospital is characterized in order to evaluate the conditions for failsafe operation of critical electronic equipment. Field strengths within the University Hospital Zurich were measured at more than 60 different locations in the frequency range from 9 kHz up to 10 GHz. To account for variations in both, time and location, dasiastationary short termpsila and dasiastationary long termpsila measurements over 24 h were carried out. The measurement uncertainty of the measurement equipment, calibration and measurement procedure is assessed. Measurement results are evaluated with respect to given immunity levels (EMC) and in-band interferences (EMI). The ISM band features a noise power density of -32 dBm/MHz while for ultra wide band (UWB) there are different sub-bands with a maximum noise power density of less than -81 dBm/MHz. This suggests that communication in the UWB band requires significantly lower power levels than communication in the ISM band for equal dynamic ranges of the radio links.

/pdf/characterization-of-the-electromagnetic-environment-in-a-3m6pa26btn.pdf

Characterization of the electromagnetic environment in a hospital

The electromagnetic environment in a hospital is characterized by means of a measurement campaign. This serves as a basis for the evaluation of best-suited future technologies to be used for wireless patient monitoring, where highest quality of service is required for sensors recording vital data. Results show that the UWB band features equal dynamic ranges as the ISM band but allows operation at a significantly lower power level, which is crucial for Body Area Networks where low power consumption is highly required. Furthermore UWB channel measurements are done in order to specify main propagation paths for scenarios with a volunteer in a bed. Multi-path propagation with reflections at the ceiling and the bedside monitor could be identified as main propagation paths beside the Line-of-Sight link. The impact of these propagation paths on the system performance were evaluated in system simulations using a non-coherent UWB system.

Oliver Lauer

Papers

Combining near- and far-field exposure for an organ-specific and whole-body RF-EMF proxy for epidemiological research: a reference case.

Measurement setup and protocol for characterizing and testing radio frequency personal exposure meters

Characterization of the Electromagnetic Environment in a Hospital: Measurement Procedures and Results

Characterization of the electromagnetic environment in a hospital

Interference characterization and UWB channel measurements for wireless intensive care patient monitoring