Personal exposimeter coupled to a drone as a system for measuring environmental electromagnetic fields.

Personal exposimeters are currently used in studies assessing human exposure to electromagnetic fields. These devices are usually carried by an individual, but vehicles such as bicycle or car are also used. The aim of the present study was to propose a personal exposimeter attached to a drone to perform environmental radio-frequency measurements. Trials were carried out to determine whether: (i) the wireless communication between the remote controller and the drone affects the downlink mobile telephony bands by a cross-talk effect, and (ii) the structure of the drone alters the measurements of the exposimeter compared to when the meter is on a tripod. To apply this system to a real scenario, a 3D representation of the electric field in a building was obtained, and the attenuation due to the building of radiation from outside was estimated. Measurements of the electromagnetic field with this system will make it possible to monitor without risk the emissions of antennas in their close vicinity, and to validate propagation models experimentally.

Large-area mobile measurement of outdoor exposure to radio frequencies.

A rapid outdoor sampling technique was tested to measure human exposure to radio frequencies in a city of 96,000 inhabitants. The technique consisted of taking measurements with a personal exposure meter inside a moving vehicle. Tests were carried out to quantify the alteration produced by the vehicle's structure and obtain correction factors in order to minimize this alteration. Data were collected at 3065 points where signals in the FM radio and mobile phone wavebands were detected. The coefficients of exposure to sources with multiple frequencies due to thermal effects were calculated from the measured values of the electric field. Kriging was used to generate maps of these coefficients, and these maps were then merged with aerial photographs of the city to readily identify the areas with greater or lesser exposure. The results indicated that the vehicle increased the FM broadcasting radiation readings by a factor of 1.66, but attenuated those of mobile telephony by factors of 0.54-0.66. The mean electric field levels detected throughout the city were 0.231, 0.057, 0.140, 0.124, and 0.110 V/m for the frequency bands FM, LTE 800 (DL), GSM + UMTS 900(DL), GSM 1800(DL), and UMTS 2100(DL), respectively. The mean coefficient of exposure to sources with multiple frequencies was 2.05 × 10-4, and the maximum was 9.81 × 10-3. It can be concluded from the study that it is possible to assess radio frequency exposure using this method, and that the technique is scalable to different sized cities. It also allows measurement at different times so as to analyse the temporal variation of radio frequency levels.