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In situ LTE exposure of the general public: Characterization and extrapolation
Author(s) -
Joseph Wout,
Verloock Leen,
Goeminne Francis,
Vermeeren Günter,
Martens Luc
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
bioelectromagnetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.435
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-186X
pISSN - 0197-8462
DOI - 10.1002/bem.21707
Subject(s) - extrapolation , sync , electric field , bioelectromagnetics , non ionizing radiation , environmental science , signal (programming language) , physics , mathematics , statistics , telecommunications , electromagnetic field , computer science , optics , channel (broadcasting) , quantum mechanics , programming language
In situ radiofrequency (RF) exposure of the different RF sources is characterized in Reading, United Kingdom, and an extrapolation method to estimate worst‐case long‐term evolution (LTE) exposure is proposed. All electric field levels satisfy the International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) reference levels with a maximal total electric field value of 4.5 V/m. The total values are dominated by frequency modulation (FM). Exposure levels for LTE of 0.2 V/m on average and 0.5 V/m maximally are obtained. Contributions of LTE to the total exposure are limited to 0.4% on average. Exposure ratios from 0.8% (LTE) to 12.5% (FM) are obtained. An extrapolation method is proposed and validated to assess the worst‐case LTE exposure. For this method, the reference signal (RS) and secondary synchronization signal (S‐SYNC) are measured and extrapolated to the worst‐case value using an extrapolation factor. The influence of the traffic load and output power of the base station on in situ RS and S‐SYNC signals are lower than 1 dB for all power and traffic load settings, showing that these signals can be used for the extrapolation method. The maximal extrapolated field value for LTE exposure equals 1.9 V/m, which is 32 times below the ICNIRP reference levels for electric fields. Bioelectromagnetics 33:466–475, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.