Influence of Transmission Rank on EMF Exposure Measured With Provoked Data Traffic Around 5G Massive MIMO Base Stations
Lisa-Marie Schilling, Christian Bornkessel, Anna-Malin Schiffarth, Thanh Tam Julian Ta, Dirk Heberling, and Matthias Hein

TL;DR
This study examines how the transmission rank in 5G massive MIMO base stations influences electromagnetic field exposure levels, revealing that higher ranks can significantly increase measured exposure, which is crucial for accurate radiation assessments.
Contribution
It provides empirical data on the effect of transmission rank on EMF exposure in 5G networks, emphasizing the importance of considering rank variations in exposure evaluations.
Findings
Exposure differences ranged from 1.7 dB to 5.4 dB.
Median exposure difference was 4.3 dB.
Transmission rank significantly impacts measured EMF levels.
Abstract
The introduction of 5G New Radio networks with massive MIMO technology has complicated electromagnetic field exposure assessments for radiation protection. Massive MIMO transmission enables beamforming, beam steering, and spatial multiplexing across multiple transmission layers, with the number of simultaneous transmission paths depending on the rank of the radio channel, further named 'transmission rank'. Since the total transmission power of a base station is shared among these layers, rank variations affect the measured exposure levels, e.g., when assessments use provoked traffic via user equipment. This study investigates the impact of the transmission rank on the measured maximum exposure in the 3.6 GHz (n78) band of a German 5G network employing massive MIMO technology. Field measurements were performed using a spectrum analyzer with isotropic probe, to capture maximum field…
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Taxonomy
TopicsElectromagnetic Fields and Biological Effects · Electromagnetic Compatibility and Measurements · Millimeter-Wave Propagation and Modeling
