Assessment of Children’s Exposure to Intelligent Transport System 5.9 GHz Vehicular Connectivity Using Numerical Dosimetry

Abstract

This study investigates the radio-frequency electromagnetic field exposure (RF-EMF) levels in pedestrians generated by vehicular communication technology. We specifically investigated exposure levels in children of different ages and both genders. This study also compares the children’s exposure levels generated by such technology with those of an adult investigated in our previous study. The exposure scenario consisted of a 3D-CAD model of a vehicle equipped with two vehicular antennas operating at 5.9 GHz, each fed with 1 W power. Four child models were analyzed near the front and back of the car. The RF-EMF exposure levels were expressed as the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) calculated over the whole body and 10 g mass (SAR10g) of the skin and 1 g mass (SAR1g) of the eyes. The maximum SAR10g value of 9 mW/kg was found in the skin of the head of the tallest child. The maximum whole-body SAR was 0.18 mW/kg and was found in the tallest child. As a general result, it was found that children’s exposure levels are lower than those of adults. All the SAR values are well below the limits recommended by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) in the general population.

Assessment of the Variability of Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields Arising from 5.9 GHz Vehicular Communication in Urban Environments

“…To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the variability of the exposure to RF arising from V2V communication in realistic urban settings. A recent survey conducted in [ 28 ] indicates that there is a limited amount of research (see, e.g., [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]) available on the assessment of RF human exposure in vehicular communication scenarios. The authors in [ 11 ] investigated the dose of exposure for a passenger (an adult human model) within a car equipped with four V2V antennas operated at 5.9 GHz.…”

“…Furthermore, the authors in [ 8 , 9 ] investigated the exposure from 5.9 GHz V2V communication in human models placed outdoor, in close proximity of the transmitting car. The method applied in these two latter studies was again a deterministic approach, based on numerical dosimetry, as in [ 11 ].…”

“…In contrast to the previous studies that used simplistic scenarios to assess RF human exposure in vehicular communication [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ], the current research takes a more thorough approach. It considers additional factors that reflect real-world conditions of V2V communication, acknowledging the complexity of such environments.…”

“…In the previous studies [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ], the exposure dose was determined in an exposure scenario that comprised a 3D model of a transmitting car equipped with V2V antennas and a human model which was placed either close to the transmitting car to simulate a pedestrian [ 8 , 9 , 10 ] or inside the car to simulate a passenger [ 11 ]. Additionally, in these latter studies, the transmitting car and the human model were placed in the air and the dose absorbed by the human model was obtained by considering only one transmitting car in the scenario with no obstacles or scatterers along the optical path between the transmitter (the car) and the receiver (the road user).…”

“…To incorporate this variability, we introduced the height of cars as a random variable in our analysis. On the other hand, the results in [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] were obtained for one model of a car with fixed dimensions. Finally, apart from modeling the effects of different urban layouts and field propagation conditions as described earlier, we also sought to account for the variations in exposure resulting from diverse operational conditions of V2V communication and the anatomical characteristics of road users.…”