Speaker
Description
This study investigated how population density affects personal far-field radio-frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF, 88 MHz - 6 GHz) exposure in environments. We present results from 8 micro-environments in Gold Coast, Australia, that are part of a larger international measurement program. The RF-EMF exposures were measured using an ExpoM-RF4™ carried in a waist bag while undertaking a 20-minute walk along pre-defined paths in each of the micro-environments. The 8 micro-environments included here were grouped into low-and high-density areas and the exposure sources were classified as: mobile downlink (DL), mobile uplink (UL) and total. Quantile regression analysis was undertaken to evaluate the effect of population density on total RF-EMF exposure levels across its distribution. Correlation analysis evaluated the relationship between mobile DL and mobile UL (far-field) exposures. High density areas had significantly higher exposure (total and mobile DL) levels compared to low density areas. The differences between the median RF-EMF exposures (in V/m) measured in the high-density area compared to the low-density area were 0.25 (total), 0.26 (mobile DL) and 0.03 (mobile UL). Mobile DL and mobile UL exposures showed a strong positive correlation (Spearman's correlation r = 0.88, p<0.0001). Population density was observed to affect the total RF-EMF exposure levels in public micro-environments. The total exposure in high density areas increased with the increase in quantile number. The magnitude of increase was generally much higher in the higher quantiles than the lower quantiles. These findings indicate that population density could be used to characterize far-field RF-EMF exposures in various public micro-environments.
