Impact of a Small Cell on the RF-EMF Exposure in a Train

Sam Aerts, David Plets, Arno Thielens, Luc Martens and Wout Joseph
Additional contact information
Sam Aerts: Department of Information Technology, Ghent University/iMinds, Gaston Crommenlaan 8 box 201, B-9050 Ghent, Belgium
David Plets: Department of Information Technology, Ghent University/iMinds, Gaston Crommenlaan 8 box 201, B-9050 Ghent, Belgium
Arno Thielens: Department of Information Technology, Ghent University/iMinds, Gaston Crommenlaan 8 box 201, B-9050 Ghent, Belgium
Luc Martens: Department of Information Technology, Ghent University/iMinds, Gaston Crommenlaan 8 box 201, B-9050 Ghent, Belgium
Wout Joseph: Department of Information Technology, Ghent University/iMinds, Gaston Crommenlaan 8 box 201, B-9050 Ghent, Belgium

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: The deployment of a miniature mobile-phone base station or small cell in a train car significantly improves the coverage and the capacity of a mobile network service on the train. However, the impact of the small cell on the passengers’ exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) is unknown. In this study, we assessed experimentally the RF-EMF exposure of a mobile-phone user who is either connected to the outdoor macrocell network or to an in-train small cell, while traveling on the train, by means of the absorbed-dose concept, which combines the base station downlink exposure with the mobile-phone uplink exposure. For Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology at 1800 MHz, we found that by connecting to a small cell, the brain exposure of the user could realistically be reduced by a factor 35 and the whole-body exposure by a factor 11.

Keywords: radio frequency electromagnetic fields; RF-EMF exposure assessment; base station; small cell; measurement; dose; train; emerging technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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