Multisensor Network for Urban Electromagnetic Field Monitoring

A distributed system of sensors for surveying the electromagnetic (EM) field exposure is presented, and its main design characteristics and performance are discussed. The system overcomes the coverage restrictions of commercial measurement systems by adopting fully mobile sensors that communicate with a central unit through the cellular network, so that the widest area can be monitored with the smallest possible number of probes by mounting them onto transportation means. The system also benefits from the low cost per unit area served and for maintenance, which make it of great interest both for administrations that need to deploy field measurement activities and for researchers involved in statistical characterization of an EM urban environment. Communication between sensors has been planned according to such specifications that could allow integration of sensors built by different manufacturers, and it largely relies on the use of open transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP). The sensor network has been used in a broadband measurement campaign over a typical urban environment, and results obtained are shown together with specific statistical analysis of both sampled and root-mean-square values.