User body loss study for popular smartphones

The presence of smartphones in everyday life has revolutionized the field of communication. However, one must investigate if there is a hidden cost to the increased data rate offered by these devices. Spurred on by the danish public, the Danish Business Authority has initiated two studies on the radio performance of popular new smartphones in order to respond to claims of poor signal coverage. In the work presented here, these initial campaigns have been extended with a comprehensive study of 24 popular new smartphones designed to evaluate their performance in typical use scenarios. The phones are measured using standardized noninvasive procedures. The measurement results indicate that the loss due to the user's presence is of up to 17 dB. This is higher compared to previous generations of mobile phones reported in literature. Furthermore, there is a big spread in performance for the measured devices. Even in free space with no user present, there is a 8 dB spread. These figures have to be taken into account in the network planning to ensure at least outdoor coverage for all users.