Empirical Analysis of Time Variability of Electromagnetic Exposure due to Mobile Communications

In the last decades, the demand for wireless services has increased worldwide. The most widespread technologies to provide these services are mobile communications, from 2G to 5G. However, there is social concern about the potential harmful effects on human health that could stem from the exposure to the electromagnetic fields on which the physical wireless layer is based on. For this reason, radiocommunication systems are increasingly being tested in order to verify their compliance to regulated exposure limits. The comparison with these limits can be carried out by means of measurements of signal strength, which should not be limited to mere maximum values, given the high variability of these signals. This paper presents an analysis of the time variability of each currently active mobile technology, based on on-the-field measurements in static reception. A simple statistical processing has been applied to the measured data in order to obtain significant values to be compared with exposure limits. Prior to the results, a detailed description of the equipment, measurement scenarios and data processing procedures is provided. The subsequent analysis can provide useful information to assess the potential risks caused by electromagnetic exposure due to mobile communications.