# RF-EMF Exposure near 5G NR Small Cells
## 3 Results
Scaled to the respective small-cell powers, the maximum time-averaged electric-field levels (\(E_{avg,max}\)) measured during maximum traffic load were 27.5 V/m (at a distance of 0.8 m from the center of the antenna) and 50.2 V/m (at 1.3 m) for the AAS and microcell base stations, respectively (Figure 4). Both levels are below the MPE limits set by ICNIRP, which are 61.4 V/m for general public exposure and 137.3 V/m for occupational exposure for frequencies in the n78 band [17]. Considering a cut-off of 1 m separation distance between the base station and humans, the highest exposure ratios were 0.15 for occupational exposure and 0.68 for exposure of the general public, both of which were found for site #2 (with an EIRP of 50 dBm). Furthermore, Table 4 lists the minimum (\(E_{avg,min}\)) and worst-case exposure levels (\(E_{max}\) and \(E_{avg,max}\)) for workers and members of the general public, as well as the interpolated exposure levels by considering typical usage (video call, Equation (3)) and the exposure levels for non-using bystanders, using the spatiotemporal DCs of [19] for the case with numerous randomly distributed users in a mature network (Equation (5)). The values in Table 4 offer a range of the highest exposure levels that can be expected at small-cell sites, both for workers at a distance of minimum 0.5 m from an operational base station (data at <0.5 m are not available) and for members of the general public at a distance of ~1.3 m (data at 1-1.3 m are not available). At positions further away than those at which these maxima were observed, the exposure levels in all categories of Table 4 were lower (see also Figures 3 and 4). In any case, all values were below the MPE limits of [17]. In general, the theoretical worst-case exposures are higher than the maxima observed in situ by maximizing the downlink traffic load [13; 18]. Both worst-case exposures are much higher than the exposures of a typical (solitarily connected) user, which are in their turn much higher than the exposures without any users. The exposure of a non-user \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Electric-Field Level \(E\) (V/m) and Exposure Ratio \(R\) (-)**} \\ \cline{2-5}
**User Type** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Workers**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**General Public**} \\ \cline{2-5}  & _AAS_ & _E100_  & _AAS_ & _E100_ \\ \hline
**Worst-case user** & & & & \\ _(maximum exposure, with base station at maximized downlink traffic capacity)_ & & & & \\ _Maximized downlink traffic capacity_ & & & & \\ \hline
**Worst-case user** & & & & \\ _(worst-case exposure, extrapolated \(E_{max}\))_ & & & & \\ \hline
**Typical user** & & & & \\ _(performing a video call)_ & & & & \\ \hline
**Non-user without other users** & & & & \\ _(no induced downlink traffic, \(E_{avg,min}\))_ & & & & \\ \hline
**Non-user in mature network** & & & & \\ _(based on maximum exposure, with base station at maximized downlink traffic capacity, and a 95 th percentile spatiotemporal duty cycle to account for spatiotemporal dispersion of power)_ & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Summary of maximum worst-case and maximum typical exposure levels (\(E\), in V/m) and corresponding exposure ratios \(R\) (Equation (2)) for an Advanced Antenna System (AAS) small-cell base station (at site #1) and a E100 small-cell base station (site #2), found for workers (at a distance between 0.5 m and 1 m from an operational base station) and members of the general public (at a distance of >1.3 m). to other users depends on the distribution of the other users, their usage, and the AAS capabilities of the base station radio. Even though NR signaling is much leaner than its predecessors', \(E_{mag\_min}\) was not negligible close to the base station (fourth row in Table 4). Furthermore, the exposure levels quickly increased when using a device connected to the base station, even for a video-calling user (in that case by a factor of 4 to 9), although it remains a fraction of the worst-case exposure levels (in that case \(\sim\)6%).