Measurement and Evaluation of Exposure to Non-Ionizing Radiation in Indoor Environments
Non-Ionizing Radiation; NIR; Electric Field; Indoor Measurements; Shopping mall measurements; measurements in homes.
It is crucial to monitor the levels of Non-Ionizing Radiation (NIR) to which the general population may be exposed and compare them to the limits defined in the current standards, in view of the rapid rise of communication services and the prospects of a connected society. Indoor environments, such as homes and shopping malls, are places that meet the interests of measurements, mainly due to the presence of different NIR sources and the location of these sources in relation to end users. Thus, this work presents and discusses measurements of the electric field in homes and in a shopping center located in Natal, RN, Brazil. In the residential scenario, NIR from microwave ovens and Wi-Fi signals are monitored, totaling 40 measurements for each purpose until now. We proposed a set of six measurement points, following two criteria: places with great people flow and the presence of one or more Distributed Antenna System (DAS), co-sited or not with Wi-Fi access points. Results are presented and discussed in terms of the distance to DAS (conditions: near and far) and flow density of people in the mall (scenarios: low and high number of people). The highest peaks of electric field measured were 1.96 and 3.26~V/m, respectively, corresponding to 5\% and 8\% of the limits defined by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the Brazilian National Telecommunication Agency (ANATEL).