Maximum electric field estimation in the vicinity of 5G base stations before their start-up

Keywords: 5G electric field estimation, base station, Synchronization Signal Block, traffic beam, frequency subcarriers

Abstract


Introduction/purpose: This paper presents initial development of the procedure for electric field estimation in the vicinity of 5G base stations.

Methods: The procedure allows determination of future radiation levels before traffic is established over applied antenna systems on the basis of measured values of electric field levels caused by the signal forming Synchronization Signal Block. It is possible to perform necessary calculations for a very accurate estimation even if some important parameters of the radiation characteristics (such as the frequency span between the frequency carriers on the radio interface) are not a priori known. In this way, communication with mobile system operators before measurement is significantly simplified because operators do not need to know system technical details.

Results: The developed formula for electric field estimation is verified comparing the calculated values by its implementation to the practical results obtained by intensive measurements on a great number of 5G base stations in a highly developed country. The formula gives a pessimistic result, i.e. a higher electric field level than it is obtained by all such performed measurements.

Conclusion: This estimation allows mobile system operators to predict whether the electromagnetic field around base stations could be dangerous for human health when systems come to full operation while considering national and international recommendations dealing with radiation levels.

 

References

Adda, S., Aureli, T., D’Elia, S., Franci, D., Grillo, E., Migliore, M.D., Pavoncello, S., Schettino, F. & Suman, R. 2020. A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation on the Measurement of the Electromagnetic Field Level Radiated by 5G Base Station. IEEE Access, 8, pp.101448-101463. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2998448.

-Agence nationale des fréquences (ANFR). 2020. Assessment of the exposure of the general public to 5G electromagnetic waves, Part 2: first measurement results on 5G pilots in the 3,400-3,800 MHz band, First exposure measurement results on 5G 3.4 GHz – 3.8 GHz pilots [online]. Available at: https://www.anfr.fr/fileadmin/mediatheque/documents/5G/20200410-ANFR-rapport-mesures-pilotes-5G-EN.pdf [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

Bieńkowski, P.P., Cała, P.M. & Zubrzak, B. 2015. Optimization of measurement methods for a multi-freque electromagnetic field from mobile phone base station using broadband EMF meter. Medycyna Pracy, 66(5), pp.701-712. Available at:  https://doi.org/10.13075/mp.5893.00206.

Biscontini, B. 2021. Recommendation on Base Station Active Antenna System Standards, version 2.0. NGMN Alliance  [online]. Available at: https://www.ngmn.org/publications/recommendation-on-base-station-active-antenna-system-standards.html [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

Conil, E. & Agnani, J.-B. 2020. Evaluation of exposure induced by a 5G antenna in the 3,4-3,8 GHz band, Future Networks: 5G and beyond. U.R.S.I. France [online]. Available at: https://ursifr-2020.sciencesconf.org/306820/document [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

-European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. 2014. European Standard EN 50492: 2008/A1:2014: Basic standard for the in-situ measurement of electromagnetic field strength related to human exposure in the vicinity of base stations, CENELEC. European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization.

Franci, D., Coltellaci, S., Grillo, E., Pavoncello, S., Aureli, T., Cintoli, R. & Migliore, M.D. 2020a. Experimental Procedure for Fifth Generation (5G) Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Measurement and Maximum Power Extrapolation for Human Exposure Assessment. Environments, 7(3), art.number:22, pp.1-15, Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7030022.

Franci, D., Coltellaci, S., Grillo, E., Pavoncello, S., Aureli, T., Cintoli, R. & Migliore, M.D. 2020b. An Experimental Investigation on the Impact of Duplexing and Beamforming Techniques in Field Measurements of 5G Signals. Electronics, 9(2), art.number:223, pp.1-22. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9020223.

González, F.G. & Infante Moreira, P.S. 2018.   Assessment of the real public exposure to base stations over a day from instantaneous measurement. RIELAC Revista de Ingeniería Electrónica, Automática y Comunicaciones, 39(2), pp.1-9 [online]. Available at: https://rielac.cujae.edu.cu/index.php/rieac/article/view/594 [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

Hamid, R., Çetintaş, M., Karacadağ, H., Gedik, A., Yoğun, M., Çelik, M. & Fırlarer, A. 2003. Measurement of Electromagnetic Radiation from GSM Base Stations. In: 2003 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, 2003. EMC '03, Istanbul, Turkey, pp.1211-1214, May 11-16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSMC2.2003.1429136.

Huang, W., Hu, Y., Zhu, J., Cen, Z. & Bao, J. 2022. The Measurement and Evaluation of the Electromagnetic Environment from 5G Base Station. Detection, 9(1), pp.1-11. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4236/detection.2022.91001.

Ilić, S., Nešković, A. & Simić, M. 2002. System for automatic electric field level, level and power measurements based on field analyzer PROTEK 3201. In: 10th Telecommunication Forum TELFOR 2002, Belgrade, November 26-28.

Koprivica, M.T. 2016. Improving the efficiency of methods for measurement of electric field strength in the vicinity of public mobile system base stations. Ph.D. thesis. Belgrade, Serbia: University of Belgrade, School of Electrical Engineering (in Serbian) [online]. Available at: https://nardus.mpn.gov.rs/handle/123456789/6140 [Accessed: 20 January 2022].

Kurmaz, C., Yildiz, D. & Karagol, S. 2018. Assessment of short/long term electric field strength measurements for pilot district. Open Physics, 16(1), pp.69-74. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/phys-2018-0013.

Lebl, A.V., Mileusnić, M., Mitić, D., Matić, V., Pavić, B. & Markov, Ž. 2017. Influence of traffic process characteristics on the electric field in GSM base station cell. In: International Scientific Conference „Unitech 2017“, Gabrovo, Bulgaria, pp.II-62-67, November 17-18  [online]. Available at: https://unitech-selectedpapers.tugab.bg/images/papers/2017/s3/s3_p24.pdf [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

Lehmann, H., Eicher, B. & Fritschi, P. 2002. Indoor Measurements of the Electric Field Close to Mobile Phone Base Station. In: Proceedings of 27th triennial General Assembly of the International Union of Radio Science, Maastricht, The Netherlands, URSI: paper 2112, pp.1-4 [online]. Available at: http://old.ursi.org/proceedings/procGA02/papers/p2112.pdf [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

-Malaysian Technical Standards Forum Bhd. (MTSFB) 2021. Technical code: Prediction and measurement of RF EMF exposure from base station, MCMC MTSFB TC G032: 2021. Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia: Malaysian Technical Standards Forum [online]. Available at: https://www.mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/registers/MCMC-MTSFB-TC-G032_2021-Prediction-and-Measurement-of-RF-EMF-Exposure-from-Base-Station.pdf [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

Matić, V. & Paunović, Ð. 1995. A choice of the suitable field strength prediction method in Belgrade urban area at 950MHz. In: 39th Conference Etran, Zlatibor, Serbia, pp.36-39, June 6-9 (in Serbian). 

Matić, V. & Paunović, Ð. 1997. A comparison of prediction methods for 900 MHz urban mobile radio propagation. In: Proceedings of ICICS, 1997 International Conference on Information, Communications and Signal Processing. Theme: Trends in Information Systems Engineering and Wireless Multimedia Communications, Singapore, 3, pp.1696-1700, September 12. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICICS.1997.652284.

Matić, V., Pavić, B. & Tadić, V. 2000. The implementation of digital signal processing for automatic recognition of radio emission type and spectrum occupancy analysis. In: Proceedings of the 2000 Third IEEE International Caracas Conference on Devices, Circuits and Systems (Cat. No.00TH8474), Cancun, Mexico, pp.T55/1-6, March 17. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCDCS.2000.869877.

Migliore, M.D. 2022. 5G Field level measurement for human exposure assessment: A lesson for 6G. IOP Conference Series: Material Science and Engineering ICEMS-BIOMED-2022, 1254, art.number:012001. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/1254/1/012001.

-Ofcom. 2020. Electromagnetic Field (EMF) measurements near 5G mobile phone base stations - Summary of results, Technical Report,  pp.1-10. London, UK: Ofcom [online]. Available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/190005/emf-test-summary.pdf [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

-OnlineMSchool. 2023. calcu. Angle between vectors. OnlineMSchool [online]. Available at: https://onlinemschool.com/math/assistance/vector/angl/ [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

-RATEL-The Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services of the Republic of Serbia. 2018. An Overview of the Telecom and Postal Services Market in the Republic of Serbia in 2017, Section 6: Public Mobile Telecommunications Networks and Services. Belgrade: RATEL [online]. Available at: https://www.ratel.rs/uploads/documents/empire_plugin/pregled%20trzista%20eng%20s%20koricama_manji.pdf [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

Şahín, M.E., As, N. & Karan, Y. 2013. Selective Radiation Measurement for Safety Evaluation on Base Station. Gazi University Journal of Science, 26(1), pp.73-83 [online]. Available at: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/gujs/issue/7426/97576 [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

-Telecommunication Engineering Centre, New Delhi. 2021. Test Procedure for Electromagnetic fields from Base Station Antenna No: TEC 13019:2021. New Delhi, India: Telecommunication Engineering Centre, Division: Radio [online]. Available at: https://dot.gov.in/sites/default/files/Annexure%20to%20letter%20dated%2027-08-2021.pdf?download=1 [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

Tušup, C., Matić, V. & Lebl, A. 2022. Postupak merenja elektromagnetnog polja u okolini stanica mobilne telefonije. In: Šesti dani elektroinženjera Inženjerske komore Crne Gore, Podgorica, Montenegro, October 18-19 (in Serbian).

-W-Line Laboratorija. 2021. Stručna ocena opterećenja životne sredine u lokalnoj zoni bazne stanice mobilne telefonije “Ovča 2” - BG142/BGU142/BGL142/BGO142 (in Serbian). Belgrade: W-Line Laboratorija [online]. Available at: https://www.beograd.rs/images/file/0bd5f6fe767f54448fb252c5885eb514_6007050804.pdf> [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

Watanabe, S. & Hamada, L. 2017. Measurements of the Electromagnetic Field from a Mobile Phone Base Station. Journal of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (Special Issue on Calibration and Testing Technologies for Radio Equipment), 63(1), pp.213-231 [online]. Available at: https://www.nict.go.jp/publication/shuppan/kihou-journal/journal-vol63no1/journal-vol63no1-03-04.pdf [Accessed: 20 January 2023].

 

Published
2023/03/27
Section
Original Scientific Papers