Determination of Instantaneous and Maximal Human Exposure to 5G Massive-MIMO Base Stations

The roll-out of the 5G standard with novel functionalities brings with it the urgent need to evaluate the human exposure to massive-MIMO base stations. This paper discusses concepts for the measurement of instantaneous and maximal exposure in the sub-6 GHz frequency range (FR1). The concepts have been implemented with the NARDA SRM-3006 selective radiation meter. For instantaneous exposure, the Safety Evaluation mode with an averaging over multiple frequency sweeps has been identified appropriate. First results with provoked data traffic revealed exposures below 0.25 % of the ICNIRP 1998 power density reference levels. For maximal possible exposures, the exposure to the synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) should be measured in the Level Recorder mode and extrapolated to the signal bandwidth considering a measurement point-specific gain difference between traffic and broadcast beams. As another outcome of our studies, we argue that code-selective devices for SSB measurements are urgently needed.