Health and penetration issues in buildings with GSM base station antennas on top

A GSM indoor measurement campaign is described. Measurements were performed in two neighbouring buildings, one of which has base station antennas mounted on top. The average power values reached a maximum of -41 dBm in this building and -28 dBm in the other one. Experimental data are compared with theoretical results obtained with a software tool that implements the Motley-Keenan model. This model does not show a good performance in the base station building, due to reflection and diffraction phenomena outside the building. However, the model does work well for the other building. Comparisons with safety standards regarding exposure to radiation are presented along with some topics on health issues. The instantaneous peak value is 34 and 35 dB below the standards defined by CENELEC and the IEEE (respectively), showing that there should be no health concerns regarding base station antennas in urban areas.