How Much Exposure from 5G Towers is Radiated over Children, Teenagers, Schools and Hospitals?

TL;DR

This study develops a methodology to assess 5G exposure levels over vulnerable populations and sensitive buildings, finding that current and future exposure remains below international safety limits.

Contribution

It introduces a new numerical approach for evaluating 5G downlink exposure over children, schools, and hospitals, applied to real scenarios.

Findings

Exposure levels increase with 5G adoption but stay below safety limits.

Children and teenagers experience similar exposure to the general population.

Exposure over sensitive buildings can be lower than over other structures.

Abstract

The rolling-out of 5G antennas over the territory is a fundamental step to provide 5G connectivity. However, little efforts have been done so far on the exposure assessment from 5G cellular towers over young people and "sensitive" buildings, like schools and medical centers. To face such issues, we provide a sound methodology for the numerical evaluation of 5G (and pre-5G) downlink exposure over children, teenagers, schools and medical centers. We then apply the proposed methodology over two real scenarios. Results reveal that the exposure from 5G cellular towers will increase in the forthcoming years, in parallel with the growth of the 5G adoption levels. However, the exposure levels are well below the maximum ones defined by international regulations. Moreover, the exposure over children and teenagers is similar to the one of the whole population, while the exposure over schools and medical centers can be lower than the one of the whole set of buildings. Finally, the exposure from 5G is strongly lower than the pre-5G one when the building attenuation is introduced and a maturity adoption level for 5G is assumed.