Joint Minimization of Uplink and Downlink Whole-Body Exposure Dose in Indoor Wireless Networks

The total whole-body exposure dose in indoor wireless networks is minimized. For the first time, indoor wireless networks are designed and simulated for a minimal exposure dose, where both uplink and downlink are considered. The impact of the minimization is numerically assessed for four scenarios: two WiFi configurations with different throughputs, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) configuration for phone call traffic, and a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) configuration with a high data rate. Also, the influence of the uplink usage on the total absorbed dose is characterized. Downlink dose reductions of at least 75% are observed when adding more base stations with a lower transmit power. Total dose reductions decrease with increasing uplink usage for WiFi due to the lack of uplink power control but are maintained for LTE and UMTS. Uplink doses become dominant over downlink doses for usages of only a few seconds for WiFi. For UMTS and LTE, an almost continuous uplink usage is required to have a significant effect on the total dose, thanks to the power control mechanism.

[1]  Georg Neubauer,et al.  A prediction model for personal radio frequency electromagnetic field exposure. , 2009, The Science of the total environment.

[2]  Luc Martens,et al.  Between‐country comparison of whole‐body SAR from personal exposure data in Urban areas , 2012, Bioelectromagnetics.

[3]  Niels Kuster,et al.  The Virtual Family—development of surface-based anatomical models of two adults and two children for dosimetric simulations , 2010, Physics in medicine and biology.

[4]  Supachai Phaiboon,et al.  An empirically based path loss model for indoor wireless channels in laboratory building , 2002, 2002 IEEE Region 10 Conference on Computers, Communications, Control and Power Engineering. TENCOM '02. Proceedings..

[5]  Luc Martens,et al.  Assessment of RF Exposures from Emerging Wireless Communication Technologies in Different Environments , 2012, Health physics.

[6]  Kris Vanhecke,et al.  Coverage prediction and optimization algorithms for indoor environments , 2012, EURASIP J. Wirel. Commun. Netw..

[7]  Joe Wiart,et al.  Duality Between Uplink Local and Downlink Whole-Body Exposures in Operating Networks , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[8]  G. Thuróczy,et al.  Comparison of personal radio frequency electromagnetic field exposure in different urban areas across Europe. , 2010, Environmental research.

[9]  Kris Vanhecke,et al.  Exposure optimization in indoor wireless networks by heuristic network planning , 2013 .

[10]  Guidelines Icnirp.  Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields (up to 300 GHz) , 1998 .

[11]  L. Martens,et al.  Calculation tool for optimal wireless design and minimal installation cost of indoor wireless LANs , 2014, 2014 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium (APSURSI).

[12]  Tapan K. Sarkar,et al.  Efficient ray-tracing methods for propagation prediction for indoor wireless communications , 2001 .

[13]  Rafael P. Torres,et al.  CINDOOR: an engineering tool for planning and design of wireless systems in enclosed spaces , 1999 .

[14]  A. J. Motley,et al.  Radio coverage in buildings , 1990 .

[15]  Antonis G. Dimitriou,et al.  An efficient propagation model for automatic planning of indoor wireless networks , 2010, Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Antennas and Propagation.

[16]  Ieee Standards Board.  IEEE standard for safety levels with respect to human exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields, 3kHz to 300 GHz , 1992 .

[17]  Wout Joseph,et al.  Combining near‐ and far‐field exposure for an organ‐specific and whole‐body RF‐EMF proxy for epidemiological research: A reference case , 2013, Bioelectromagnetics.

[18]  Luc Martens,et al.  Assessment and comparison of total RF-EMF exposure in femtocell and macrocell base station scenarios. , 2014, Radiation protection dosimetry.

[19]  P. Wertz,et al.  Dominant Path Prediction Model for Indoor Scenarios , 2005 .

[20]  A. Ahlbom.  Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields (up to 300 GHz) , 1998 .

[21]  Kenneth R Foster,et al.  RADIOFREQUENCY EXPOSURE FROM WIRELESS LANS UTILIZING WI-FI TECHNOLOGY , 2007, Health physics.

[22]  Kris Vanhecke,et al.  Prediction and comparison of downlink electric-field and uplink localised SAR values for realistic indoor wireless planning. , 2014, Radiation protection dosimetry.

[23]  Achilles Boursianis,et al.  Measurements for assessing the exposure from 3G femtocells. , 2012, Radiation protection dosimetry.

[24]  Dries Naudts,et al.  Determination of the duty cycle of WLAN for realistic radio frequency electromagnetic field exposure assessment. , 2013, Progress in biophysics and molecular biology.