Measurement of the environmental broadband electromagnetic waves in a mid-size European city

2017 · No effect · Insufficient evidence

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No effectInsufficient evidencePaper 2373

Broadband RF-EMF levels were measured at 271 locations in Terrassa (Spain) across 300 kHz to 18 GHz. Reported measurements across the city were much lower than the safety levels specified by international regulations (ICNIRP 1998) for both public and occupati…

Study snapshot

Publicationmanual · 2017

Study typeexposure_assessment

Reported directionNo effect

Evidence ratingInsufficient

Abstract

Measurement of the environmental broadband electromagnetic waves in a mid-size European city Fernández-García R, Gil I. Measurement of the environmental broadband electromagnetic waves in a mid-size European city. Environ Res. 2017 Jul 26;158:768-772. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2017.07.040. Abstract In this paper, the level of exposure to broadband radiofrequency electromagnetic field in a mid-size European city was evaluated in accordance with the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection guidelines from 1998. With the aim to analyse all the potential electromagnetic waves present in the city up to 18GHz, a total of 271 locations distributed along Terrassa (Spain) have been measured. To show the results in an easy-to-interpret way by the citizen, the results have been represented in a set of raster maps. The measurement results obtained showed that the electromagnetic wave measured in all broadband frequency range along the city is much lower than the safety level according to the international regulations for both public and occupational sectors. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov Excerpts ... according to the World Health Organization, due to the ubiquitous source of RF radiation the percentage of all people being exposed to RF electromagnetic radiation is rapidly approaching the percentage exposed to polluted air (Lin, 2016) and therefore, more research must be devoted to this crucial issue. In addition, it is necessary to extend the RF-EMF exposure assessment to broadband frequency measurements including fields beyond 6 GHz. This fact will be mandatory in the future because of the deployment of new wireless standards such as the fifth-generation mobile communication systems (5G) (Colombi et al., 2015; Zhao et al., 2015). The electric field measurements have been carried out by means of the electromagnetic field meter Wavecontrol SMP2 and a WPF18 broadband isotropic probe to assess the radioelectric environment and all the potential hand-made radiofrequency sources. The probe has a broadband frequency range from 300 kHz to 18 GHz with a measurement range from 0.5 V/m to 250 V/m. The electromagnetic sensor is based on a diode technology and it presents a sensitivity of 0.5 V/m with a resolution lower than 5%, a dynamic range of 54 dB and a linearity of ± 0.5 dB. The measurement equipment has been calibrated according to the ISO 17025 standard. The equipment is able to cover all the potential non-ionizing electromagnetic emissions in the environment from 300 kHz to 18 GHz....

Machine Enhanced Logic

AI evidence extraction

Structured fields below were generated from the paper’s abstract and metadata to make the evidence easier to inspect. Automated extraction may be incomplete or incorrect; verify important details against the original paper.

Study typeexposure_assessment

Effect directionno_effect

PopulationNot supplied

Sample size271

ExposureRF

Evidence strengthInsufficientConfidence: 74% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

Outcomes measured

Broadband RF-EMF exposure levels (electric field) across a city (300 kHz to 18 GHz)
Comparison to ICNIRP 1998 guideline limits for public and occupational exposure

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "exposure_assessment",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "RF",
    "source": "environmental (urban) broadband RF sources",
    "frequency_mhz": null,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": null
  },
  "population": null,
  "sample_size": 271,
  "outcomes": [
    "Broadband RF-EMF exposure levels (electric field) across a city (300 kHz to 18 GHz)",
    "Comparison to ICNIRP 1998 guideline limits for public and occupational exposure"
  ],
  "main_findings": "Broadband RF-EMF levels were measured at 271 locations in Terrassa (Spain) across 300 kHz to 18 GHz. Reported measurements across the city were much lower than the safety levels specified by international regulations (ICNIRP 1998) for both public and occupational sectors.",
  "effect_direction": "no_effect",
  "limitations": [],
  "evidence_strength": "insufficient",
  "confidence": 0.74,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "radiofrequency",
    "RF-EMF",
    "broadband measurements",
    "environmental exposure",
    "urban exposure mapping",
    "ICNIRP 1998",
    "Terrassa",
    "Spain",
    "300 kHz to 18 GHz",
    "electric field",
    "raster maps"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "who-icnirp",
      "weight": 0.62,
      "reason": "Exposure evaluation explicitly referenced ICNIRP (1998) guidelines and mentions WHO in excerpts."
    },
    {
      "slug": "5g-policy",
      "weight": 0.28,
      "reason": "Excerpts discuss the need to extend measurements beyond 6 GHz in view of future 5G deployment, though this study measured up to 18 GHz without focusing on 5G specifically."
    }
  ]
}

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AI-extracted fields are generated from the abstract and metadata and may be incomplete or incorrect. This material is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.

Identifiers and source

DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2017.07.040
PubMed: Not supplied

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