# Electromagnetic Field-Aware Radio Resource Management for 5G and Beyond: A Survey
## 4 EMF Exposure Level and 5G Technologies
### EMF Exposure and 5G Radio Access Technologies  
The 5 th generation (5G) mobile network is key to meeting the needs resulting from the constantly growing demands of mobile users in terms of high quality-of-service (QoS) with high data rates and highly reliable massive communication between devices with low latency [22]. However, several previous studies have highlighted the issues of RF-EMF exposure in 5G networks. Concerns regarding EMF exposure in 5G mobile networks are mainly due to the three major technical technologies adopted for 5G networks. Firstly, high operating frequencies, such as the mmWave frequency, may lead to an increase in radiation exposure for users [23]. Secondly, the employment of small cells with a massive number of transmitters (e.g., gNodeB BSs) to cover smaller geographical areas leads to the gNodeBs being deployed closer to users, thus increasing EMF exposure [13]. Lastly, narrow beams are employed in 5G networks utilizing a massive number of antenna arrays. Such a multiple-antenna system can generate a very large antenna gain. This higher concentration of electromagnetic energy increases the potential for the EMF to penetrate into the human \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Paper** & **Year** & **Pre-5G** & **5G** & **RA** & **RIS** & **Metrics** & **Evaluation Framework** \\ \hline \hline [12] & 2015 & \(\surd\) & & & & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) \\ \hline \hline [13] & 2016 & & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) & & & \\ \hline \hline [15] & 2018 & & \(\surd\) & & & \(\surd\) & \\ \hline \hline [2] & 2018 & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) & & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) \\ \hline \hline [16] & 2019 & & \(\surd\) & & & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) \\ \hline \hline [14] & 2020 & & \(\surd\) & & & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) \\ \hline \hline [18] & 2021 & & \(\surd\) & & \(\surd\) & & \\ \hline \hline [17] & 2021 & & & & \(\surd\) & & \\ \hline \hline [20] & 2021 & & & \(\surd\) & & & \\ \hline \hline [21] & 2021 & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) & & & \(\surd\) & \\ \hline \hline [11] & 2022 & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) & & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) \\ \hline \hline
\begin{tabular}{c} This \\ work \\ \end{tabular} & 2023 & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) & \(\surd\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \(\surd\) indicates that the specific criterion is met for the corresponding study.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Comparison of existing survey papers on EMF exposure and related topics. body more deeply [24; 25; 26]. However, not many studies in the literature have provided conclusive evidence that EMFs generated by 5G networks pose a significant threat to human health. Figure 3 summarizes concerns about EMF exposure in 5G networks. Moreover, research is still in progress to find any gaps in knowledge regarding the effects of EMFs on human health. Several previous studies have even stressed that major concerns regarding EMF exposure are not based on scientific evidence or experiments. In [16], the authors investigated major health risk allegations against 5G technology. The authors stressed that there was no scientific evidence supporting the allegations that EMF exposure due to 5G mobile networks was hazardous. The authors investigated the impacts of mmWave radiation from a 5G BS and concluded that the power levels were below the levels required to produce any heat effect. However, the effect of other 5G technologies, such as ultra-dense mobile networks and beamforming, was not discussed. Moreover, the authors did not consider the impacts of EMFs generated by devices close to the users, such as 5G smartphones. The authors in [27] analyzed the risks associated with EMF exposure in 5G networks and investigated the latest metrics, regulations, and compliance assessment procedures for evaluating 5G EMF exposure. The authors noted that beamforming technology enables power from each antenna element to be directly concentrated towards specific users in need of service.