A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation on the Measurement of the Electromagnetic Field Level Radiated by 5G Base Stations

Adda, Sara; Aureli, Tommaso; D’Elia, Stefano; Franci, D.; Grillo, Enrico; Migliore, Marco Donald; Pavoncello, Settimio; Schettino, Fulvio; Suman, Riccardo

doi:10.1109/access.2020.2998448

Cited by 64 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Several studies on the experimental assessment of the exposure due to NR base stations have been published in the past few years [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Furthermore, in [16], drive-test measurements in three NR networks operating in the 3.6 GHz band were performed, collecting samples of the transmit power (Tx) and of the synchronization signal reference signal received power (SS-RSRP) received by a mobile device, while millions of Tx power samples from user equipment were also recorded in two commercial NR networks in [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Situ Assessment of 5G NR Massive MIMO Base Station Exposure in a Commercial Network in Bern, Switzerland

et al. 2021

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This paper describes the assessment of radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure from fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) base stations in a commercial NR network in Bern, Switzerland. During the measurement campaign, four base station sites were investigated and the exposure induced by the NR massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MaMIMO) antennas was assessed at 22 positions, at distances from the base station between 30 m and 410 m. The NR base stations operated at 3.6 GHz and used codebook-based beamforming. While the actual field levels without inducing downlink traffic were very low (<0.05 V/m) due to a low traffic load and low antenna input powers of up to 8 W, setting up a maximum downlink traffic stream towards user equipment resulted in a time-averaged exposure level of up to 0.4 V/m, whereas the maximum extrapolated exposure level reached 0.6 V/m. Extrapolated to an antenna input power of 200 W, values of 4.3 V/m and 4.9 V/m, respectively, were obtained, which amount to 0.5–0.6% of the reference level recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). In Bern, it was found that the impact of the NR network on the total environmental RF exposure was very limited; with maximum downlink, it contributed 2% on average. Finally, it was also concluded that extrapolation to the maximum exposure level can be done without prior knowledge of the radiation patterns, directly based on the measurement of the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) resource elements.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Situ Assessment of 5G NR Massive MIMO Base Station Exposure in a Commercial Network in Bern, Switzerland

et al. 2021

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“…As a matter of fact, as explained above, EMF strength measurements only come into play to verify the effectiveness of the PL's action. For that specific task, we used the procedure detailed in [32], although we are aware that the issues and challenges related to EMF measurements in 5G technology are wide and still open, as testified by the increasing number of papers focusing on them (see [21,32]- [36] as an example).…”

Section: Proposed Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To ensure the correct demodulation, it is necessary to set the VSA according to the specific configuration of the 5G signal (namely, SSB numerology, frequency offset with respect to the signal center frequency, pattern, periodicity) transmitted by the MaMIMO. Details about the measurement procedure can be found in [32]. The traffic (i.e., the RBs) and the instantaneous transmitted power P t were sampled at the MaMIMO antenna input every 1 s and 2 s, respectively, through a software provided by Huawei.…”

Section: Measurement Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Methodology to Characterize Power Control Systems for Limiting Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields Generated by Massive MIMO Antennas

Adda¹,

Aureli

Coltellacci

et al. 2020

IEEE Access

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The fifth-generation (5G) New Radio (NR) cellular network has been launched recently. The assignment of new spectrum bands and the widespread use of Massive MIMO (MaMIMO) and beamforming techniques for better radio coverage are two major features of the new architecture. They imply both opportunities and challenges, one of the most daring one among the latter ones is the research for methods to assess human exposure to electromagnetic fields radiated by the base stations. The longterm time-varying behavior and spatial multiplexing feature of the MaMIMO antennas, along with the radio resource utilization and adoption of Time-Division Duplexing (TDD), requires that the assessment of exposure to electromagnetic fields radiated by 5G systems is based on a statistical approach that relies on the space and time distribution of the radiated power. That, in turn, is determined through simulations based on the actual maximum transmitted power-defined as the 95 th percentile of the empirical distribution obtained from historical data of radiated power-rather than on the nominal one. To ensure that exposure limits are never exceeded, a monitoring and control system (usually referred to as Power Lock (PL)) that limits the transmitted power can be used. In this paper we propose a methodology, independent from the specific technical solution implemented by the manufacturer, to characterize such control systems and determine their capability to limit the average power transmitted over a given time interval to a value that keeps the corresponding average exposure to electromagnetic fields below a specified value. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the methodology and that it can also be used to identify when the PL interacts with the higher levels of the MaMIMO system architecture. INDEX TERMS radio frequency electromagnetic fields, exposure assessment, Massive MIMO, 5G, New Radio, measurements, mobile telecommunications, channel power.

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“…In this part, we consider the works that evaluate the EMF exposure of beamforming [13]- [18]. More specifically, Thors et al [13] evaluate realistic maximum power levels of a 5G gNB employing beams focused on users.…”

Section: Emf Assessment Of Beamformingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Xu et al [17] show that simple models can be employed to determine the exclusion zones from gNBs operating with Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and beamforming features. Adda et al [18] observe that only a fraction of the total gNB power is radiated towards each single user, thus leading to a decrease of the EMF levels. In contrast to [13]- [18], we introduce the following key novelties: i) we design a framework that is able to synthesize the pencil beams in accordance with the UE localization uncertainty level (a feature not exploited at all by previous works), and ii) we demonstrate that the decrease of UE localization uncertainty level can further reduce the EMF generated by pencil beamforming.…”

Section: Emf Assessment Of Beamformingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Pencil Beamforming Increases Human Exposure to ElectroMagnetic Fields”: True or False?

et al. 2021

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According to a very popular belief -very widespread among non-scientific communitiesthe exploitation of narrow beams, a.k.a. ''pencil beamforming'', results in a prompt increase of exposure levels radiated by 5G Base Stations (BSs). To face such concern with a scientific approach, in this work we propose a novel localization-enhanced pencil beamforming technique, in which the traffic beams are tuned in accordance with the uncertainty localization levels of User Equipment (UE). Compared to currently deployed beamforming techniques, which generally employ beams of fixed width, we exploit the localization functionality made available by the 5G architecture to synthesize the direction and the width of each pencil beam towards each served UE. We then evaluate the effectiveness of pencil beamforming in terms of ElectroMagnetic Field (EMF) exposure and UE throughput levels over different realistic casestudies. Results, obtained from a publicly released open-source simulator, dispel the myth: the adoption of localization-enhanced pencil beamforming triggers a prompt reduction of exposure w.r.t. other alternative techniques, which include e.g., beams of fixed width and cellular coverage not exploiting beamforming. The EMF reduction is achieved not only for the UE that are served by the pencil beams, but also over the whole territory (including the locations in proximity to the 5G BS). In addition, large throughput levels -adequate for most of 5G services -can be guaranteed when each UE is individually served by one dedicated beam.INDEX TERMS 5G cellular networks, 5G localization service, pencil beam management, EMF analysis, throughput analysis.

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A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation on the Measurement of the Electromagnetic Field Level Radiated by 5G Base Stations

Cited by 64 publications

References 16 publications

In Situ Assessment of 5G NR Massive MIMO Base Station Exposure in a Commercial Network in Bern, Switzerland

In Situ Assessment of 5G NR Massive MIMO Base Station Exposure in a Commercial Network in Bern, Switzerland

A Methodology to Characterize Power Control Systems for Limiting Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields Generated by Massive MIMO Antennas

“Pencil Beamforming Increases Human Exposure to ElectroMagnetic Fields”: True or False?

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