CHARACTERIZATION OF EXPOSURE TO ELECTROMAGNETIC EMISSIONS FROM PUBLIC MOBILE SYSTEMS USING THE TIME-AVERAGED AND INTEGRAL-BASED MEASURE

Abstract Since radio frequency (RF) signals from public mobile systems are stochastic and exhibit large temporal variations, the results of measurements, typically E field measurements, are time dependent and highly variable. Therefore, any 6-min measurements and 6-min averaged results to obtain the mean level strength at a given place may not be so reliable when it comes to determine long-term exposure levels. Specifically, the results of such short-term exposure assessments can be both under- or overestimated depending on whether the extreme value is caught during the measurement time. Because the RF range is active 24 h a day, the authors suggest that the monitoring process should cover the same time period. To evaluate the variability of measurement results, the analysis in this paper was conducted through descriptive statistics of the 24-h instantaneous, time-averaged and integral-based values. By applying the 24-h time-averaged and integral-based measure on a 24-h data set of measurements, the variability of daily exposure could be reduced to ±20% of the mean week value obtained either with the time-averaged or integral-based measure.