Practical procedure for verification of compliance of digital mobile radio base stations to limitations of exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields

In the last few years, society has witnessed the installation of an ever increasing number of radio base stations as a necessity for handling new capabilities and services to the large number of users. This rapid development of wireless networks, however, has induced a marked mistrustful attitude in people, who fear possible biological effects of electromagnetic emissions from mobile communications base stations. While there are guidelines on the limitation of human exposure to electromagnetic fields (emf), there is no harmonised standard measurement procedure to evaluate compliance with the limits on exposure in the vicinity of a base station. The measurement procedure has to be practical, in view of the large number of base stations that have to be assessed, and rigorous, to guarantee that the limits on exposure are not exceeded in any accessible location within the coverage area of a base station. A rigorous but practical assessment procedure is presented and illustrated through several examples, where the important parameters and their influence on assessment accuracy are clearly identified. This method is also appropriate in a multiple frequency sources scenario.