Reduction of Averaging Time for Evaluation of Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields from Cellular Base Stations

Abstract

In order to determine exposure compliance with the electromagnetic fields from a base station's antenna in the far-field region, we should calculate the spatially averaged field value in a defined space. This value is calculated based on the measured value obtained at several points within the restricted space. According to the ICNIRP guidelines, at each point in the space, the reference levels are averaged over any 6 min (from 100 kHz to 10 GHz) for the general public. Therefore, the more points we use, the longer the measurement time becomes. For practical application, it is very advantageous to spend less time for measurement. In this paper, we analyzed the difference of average values between 6 min and lesser periods and compared it with the standard uncertainty for measurement drift. Based on the standard deviation from the 6 min averaging value, the proposed minimum averaging time is 1 min.