Indirect characterisation of indoor RF EMF exposure to nearby mobile phone base stations

This article assesses the RF EMF exposure to nearby mobile phone base stations inside an educational facility (indoor scenario, 900/1800/1900/2100 bands). Indirect characterisation is implemented experimentally, i.e. the received power levels are compared to each other, the main scope of this research being that of identifying whether distinct locations inside the chosen building would demonstrate different received power levels (hence different EMF exposure). Our experiments proved significant exposure to EGSM-900 of all locations under consideration and also a difference of several dB for a distance of about 3 meters between two close locations. A maximum instantaneous power of - 18.15 dBm has been measured and identified in a location that seems to be most exposed to base stations RF emissions. These experimental results illustrate the importance of conducting preliminary indoor EMF exposure tests before choosing the placement of mobile phone base station antenna as long as some spots have different EMF exposure compared with others from the same building.