Simulations on Drive Test Electric Field Measurements

This paper presents a case study that illustrates the effect of positioning an isotropic broadband electric field probe in the vicinity of a metallic structure. The probe positioned on the vehicle's top is used on drive test for the evaluation of the radio frequency electromagnetic field in mobile mode. The drive test mode allows to increase the measurement capacity in a vast territorial extension, which has been adopted by the National Telecommunications Agency in Brazil. The simulation results demonstrate that there is an overestimation of the measured levels when close to the vehicle's metallic structure. This indicates that the mobile measurement method is conservative in the assessment of human exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields.