The fifth-generation wireless (5G) has already started showing its capability to achieve extremely fast data transfer, which makes itself considered to be a promising mobile technology. However, concerns have been raised on adverse health impacts that human users can experience in a 5G system by being exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMFs). This article investigates the human EMF exposure in a 5G system and compare to those measured in the previous-generation cellular systems. It suggests a minimum separation distance between a transmitter and a human user for keeping the EMF exposure below the safety regulation level, which provides consumers with a general understanding on the safe use of 5G communications.
While research on communications at frequencies above 6 gigahertz (GHz) has been primarily confined to performance improvement, their potentially harmful impacts on human health are not studied as significantly. Most of the existing studies that paid attention to the health impacts above 6 GHz focused only on the uplink due to closer contact with a transmitter to a human body. In this letter, we present the human electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure in the downlink of Fifth-Generation Wireless Systems (5G). Moreover, we propose a downlink protocol that guarantees the EMF exposure under a thres…
Numerous antenna design approaches for wearable applications have been investigated in the literature. As on-body wearable communications become more ingrained in our daily activities, the necessity to investigate the impacts of these networks burgeons as a major requirement. In this study, we investigate the human electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure effect from on-body wearable devices at 2.4 GHz and 60 GHz, and compare the results to illustrate how the technology evolution to higher frequencies from wearable communications can impact our health. Our results suggest the average specific abso…
We present a dynamic resource allocation strategy for energy-efficient and Electromagnetic Field (EMF) exposure aware computation offloading at the wireless network edge. The goal is to maximize the overall system sum-rate of offloaded data, under stability (i.e. finite end-to-end delay), EMF exposure and system power constraints. The latter comprises end devices for uplink transmission and a Mobile Edge Host (MEH) for computation. Our proposed method, based on Lyapunov stochastic optimization, is able to achieve this goal with theoretical guarantees on asymptotic optimality, without any prior…
Without any radiation control measures, a large-scale mmWave antenna array at close range may lead to a large amount of electromagnetic exposure of human. In this paper, with the aid of pose detection in computer vision, a beamforming scheme using a novel exposure avoidance method is proposed in outdoor line of sight scenarios. Instead of reducing transmitted power, the proposed method can protect the vulnerable parts of human body from electromagnetic exposure during transmission by deviating the transmission beams from vulnerable parts. Besides, a finer beam management granularity is adopted…
Mobile network operators must provide a target quality of service within a target coverage area. Each generation of networks from the 2nd to the 5th has reached higher quality-of-service (QoS) targets and coverage area sizes. However, the deployment of new networks is sometimes challenged by Electromagnetic Field (EMF) exposure constraints. In this paper, to take into account these constraints, we assess the novel and recent concept of Reduced EMF Exposure Area. Such an area would be created and operated by a mobile network operator upon the request of its customers. In such an area, customers…
Concern has been widely acknowledged about human health---e.g., heating of the eyes and skin--from exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) produced by wireless transmitters. Mobile telecommunications rely on an extensive network of base stations (BSs) and handheld devices that transmit signals via EMF. There is chance of aggravation due to two important changes that will be seen in future cellular networks. First, the number of BSs will remarkably grow with the proliferation of small-cell networks, which will expose humans to EMF more often. Second, highly concentrated EMF beams will be gener…
Holographic MIMO-assisted Multiuser Transmission with Electromagnetic Exposure Constraints
National Mobile Communications Research Laboratory, Southeast University（东南大学移动通信国家重点实验室）；Purple Mountain Laboratories（紫金山实验室）；GIC & 6GIC, Institute for Communication Systems (ICS), University of Surrey（萨里大学通信系统研究所5GIC与6GIC）
User electromagnetic (EM) exposure is continuously being exacerbated by the evolution of multi-antenna portable devices. To mitigate the effects of EM radiation, portable devices must satisfy tight regulations on user exposure level, generally measured by specific absorption rate (SAR). To this end, we investigate the SAR-aware uplink precoder design for the energy efficiency (EE) maximization in multiuser multiple-input multiple-output transmission exploiting statistical channel state information (CSI). As the objective function of the design problem is computationally demanding in the absenc…
Current radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure limits have become a critical concern for fifth-generation (5G) mobile network deployment. Regulation is not harmonized and in certain countries and regions it goes beyond the guidelines set out by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Using a massive multiple-input-multiple-output (mMIMO) testbed with beamforming capabilities that is capable of mimicking realistic 5G base station (BS) performance, this paper presents an experimental and statistical assessment of its associated RF-EMF exposure …
The concern on human health is often overseen while wearable technologies attract exploding interests. Mainly due to the extreme proximity or a direct physical contact to the human skin, wearable communications devices are acknowledged to cause higher levels of specific absorption rate (SAR) at the skin surface. Unfortunately, so far, we have found no study encompassing all the aspects that the general public needs to understand about wearable technologies--i.e., the analytical and experimental backgrounds, and report of SAR levels generated from commercial wearable devices. In this context, t…
In the fifth-generation and beyond era, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) and dynamic metasurface antennas (DMAs) are emerging metamaterials keeping up with the demand for high-quality wireless communication services, which promote the diversification of portable wireless terminals. However, along with the rapid expansion of wireless devices, the electromagnetic (EM) radiation increases unceasingly and inevitably affects public health, which requires a limited exposure level in the transmission design. To reduce the EM radiation and preserve the quality of communication service, we inve…
On the one hand, there is a growing demand for high throughput which can be satisfied thanks to the deployment of new networks using massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and beamforming. On the other hand, in some countries or cities, there is a demand for arbitrarily low electromagnetic field exposure (EMFE) of people not concerned by the ongoing communication, which slows down the deployment of new networks. Recently, it has been proposed to take the opportunity, when designing the future 6th generation (6G), to offer, in addition to higher throughput, a new type of service: arbitra…
The objective of this study is to jointly analyze the data rate and electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure in urban environments. Capitalizing on stochastic geometry (SG), a network level analysis is performed by modelling these environments via Manhattan Poisson line processes (MPLP). Using this framework, a number of performance metrics are derived: first moments, marginal distributions and joint distributions of the data rate and exposure. In addition, the original Manhattan model is generalized to include advanced features: corner diffraction, presence of potential blockages in streets, and …
Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output systems with beamforming are key components of the 5th and the future 6th generation of networks. However, in some cases, where the BS serves the same user for a long period, and in some propagation conditions, such systems reduce their transmit power to avoid creating unwanted regions of electromagnetic field exposure exceeding the regulatory threshold, beyond the circle around the BS that limits the distance between people and the BS antenna. Such power reduction strongly degrades the received power at the target user. Recently, exposition aware beamfor…
A major concern regarding wearable communications is human biological safety under exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation generated by wearable devices. The biggest challenge in the implementation of wearable devices is to reduce the usage of energy to minimize the harmful impacts of exposure to RF on human health. Power management is one of the key energy-saving strategies used in wearable networks. Signals enter the receiver (Rx) from a transmitter (Tx) through the human body in the form of electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation produced during the transmission of the packet. It may have …
The deployment of 5G networks is sometimes questioned due to the impact of ElectroMagnetic Field (EMF) generated by Radio Base Station (RBS) on users. The goal of this work is to analyze such issue from a novel perspective, by comparing RBS EMF against exposure generated by 5G smartphones in commercial deployments. The measurement of exposure from 5G is hampered by several implementation aspects, such as dual connectivity between 4G and 5G, spectrum fragmentation, and carrier aggregation. To face such issues, we deploy a novel framework, called 5G-EA, tailored to the assessment of smartphone a…
ExposNet: A Deep Learning Framework for EMF Exposure Prediction in Complex Urban Environments
Chaire C2M, Information Processing and Communications Laboratory (LTCI), Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris（Chaire C2M，信息处理与通信实验室（LTCI），巴黎电信学院，巴黎理工学院）
This paper proposes a three-dimensional (3D) communication channel model for an indoor environment considering the effect of the Hypersurface. The Hypersurface is a software controlled intelligent metasurface, which can be used to manipulate electromagnetic waves, as for example for non-specular reflection and full absorption. Thus it can control the impinging rays from a transmitter towards a receiver location in both LOS and NLOS paths, e.g. to combat distance and improve wireless connectivity. We focus on the 60 GHz mmWave frequency band due to its increasing significance in 5G/6G networks …
We focus on the ElectroMagnetic Field (EMF) exposure safety for people living in the vicinity of cellular towers. To this aim, we analyze a large dataset of long-term EMF measurements collected over almost 20 years in more than 2000 measurement points spread over an Italian region. We evaluate the relationship between EMF exposure and the following factors: (i) distance from the closest installation(s), (ii) type of EMF sources in the vicinity, (iii) Base Station (BS) technology, and (iv) EMF regulation updates. Overall, the exposure levels from BSs in the vicinity are below the Italian EMF li…
A prevalent theory circulating among the non-scientific community is that the intensive deployment of base stations over the territory significantly increases the level of electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure and affects population health. To alleviate this concern, in this work, we propose a network architecture that introduces tethered unmanned aerial vehicles (TUAVs) carrying green antennas to minimize the EMF exposure while guaranteeing a high data rate for users. In particular, each TUAV can attach itself to one of the possible ground stations at the top of some buildings. The location of…
