Actual Output Power Levels of User Equipment in 5G Commercial Networks and Implications on Realistic RF EMF Exposure Assessment

Here, the results on actual output power levels of the fifth generation (5G) user equipment (UE) operating in commercial 5G networks are presented. Using a network management platform, output power data for several UE were collected over fifteen days. Out of about 545 million power samples obtained from UE operating in two 5G commercial networks, the time-averaged output power, of relevance for electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure assessment, was found to be always less than 43% of the maximum time-averaged UE output power considering time division duplexing. In addition, 95% of the time-averaged power samples were found to be less than 8% of the maximum while the mean value was less than 2%. Despite very conservative assumptions in the applied method, the time-averaged 5G UE output power levels were found to be well below the maximum. These results are in line with the output power levels observed for 3G and 4G UE in previous studies and is of importance to characterize the actual EMF exposure of 5G devices during operation.