Trade-off between Data Rate and EMF Exposure Level for 5G Non-Standalone Networks in Urban Areas

Daily increase in the number of mobile users and the demand for better services on the rise have obliged network and service operators to implement 5G networks. However, concerns have been raised regarding the exposure to electromagnetic field radiated by advanced communication technology. This issue is especially evident in countries where 5G will operate simultaneously with previous technologies, for a considerable time period. Because of this, network operators must carefully plan the implementation of such networks under EMF constrains while still satisfying users demands in terms of quality-of-service. In this work we have presented the trade-off analysis between EMF values and user data rate from 5G non-standalone networks, by analyzing around 50 thousand real-world samples, measured for a period of one month. Our analysis shows that most cellular users achieve satisfactory data rate under acceptable EMF levels below 1V/m, however there are situations in which we observe spikes of EMF values. Our analysis shows that a trade-off between EMF levels and data rates of individual users can be achieved with careful planning of future 5G infrastructure.