Measuring the impact of ICNIRP vs. stricter-than-ICNIRP exposure limits on QoS and EMF from cellular networks
Introduction
The evolution of cellular networks, from 2G to forthcoming 5G, has been driven by the evolving requirements of the applications, whose features are being continuously modified to satisfy customers’ demands. The migration from an already-deployed network to a new one must face several challenges (i) planning when and how to introduce novel hardware equipment; (ii) handling the deployment of network services that are currently working towards the new technology; (iii) adapting the network operator policies to the novel technology.
In this paper we study the first challenge, i.e., the installation of new equipment (Base Stations, BS) during the planning phase in the migration from 4G to 5G networks. The installation of new BSs must be performed according to several regulations in terms of the ElectroMagnetic Field (EMF) levels, while at the same time ensuring a (possibly) adequate Quality of Service (QoS) to the user. The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) imposes a set of limits on the EMF generated by the BSs that are adopted in many countries of the world [1], including e.g., Spain. On the other hand, other countries, e.g., Italy impose EMF limits stricter than ICNIRP [2], [3], [4], [5]. In Italy, for example, a maximum EMF limit of 6 [V/m] is imposed for the radiation from BSs in residential zones. Moreover, a minimum distance of 100 meters between a BS and a sensitive place is enforced in many cities of the country, such as Rome [3]. On the contrary, no national or local regulations in terms of minimum distance to sensitive places are adopted (e.g., a BS can be installed on top of a hospital or educational center) in Spain. Moreover, a debate on the risks derived by the exposure of people living in vicinity to BSs is gaining momentum in these days [6].
Planning a cellular network under restrictive EMF constraints is not optimal from the point of view of the QoS perceived by the user, as clearly shown by previous works [7], [8], [9]. However, different questions emerge are still not answered by previous works, including: (i) Which is the impact of applying different EMF regulations on the QoS perceived by the user? (ii) Which is the impact in terms of EMF generated by the User Equipment (UE) in such cases? The goal of this paper is to shed light on these issues. In particular, a comparison of the cellular network planning carried out in two countries with different EMF restrictions (Spain - ICNIRP, and Italy, Stricter-than-ICNIRP) is performed. To this aim, we perform a thorough analysis from a purely technical perspective to compare the network planning of already-deployed 4G cellular networks in two scenarios which are comparable in terms of terrain dimensions and population density, but very different in terms EMF regulations.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the background, focusing on the ICNIRP vs. Non-ICNIRP regulations. Section 3 reports a quantitative analysis of QoS metrics experienced at the user side, whilst a qualitative one of the EMF generated by both the BS and the UE is reported in Section 4. A set of multivariate analyses are carried out and described in Section 5 to show the effectiveness of the measurement campaigns performed. Finally, Section 6 concludes our work and introduces future research lines.
Section snippets
Background: Regulations on EMF emissions
It is well known that a high exposure to high levels of EMF is dangerous for human health. The debate on the health implications of EMF levels close to the ICNIRP limits is still ongoing within the research community [10], [11], [12], [13]. Moreover, the implications of future 5G BSs deployment on the potential risks of the EMF emissions on human health have recently become a concern for society [14]. As conclusion of this work, the authors state that there are no scientific evidences that
Quantitative analysis of QoS metrics at UE
In this section, a quantitative analysis of the results obtained during a measurement campaign in each scenario is described. The first analysis that is proposed compares the impact of the cellular planning on ICNIRP and Non-ICNIRP-based countries, with regard to different QoS metrics. Such considered metrics are the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), the number of different BSs and cell IDs2 the UE is receiving signal from, and the
Qualitative analysis of EMF generated by UE and perceived QoS
In the previous section, a quantitative analysis based on the RSRP values obtained by the CellMapper app [19] has been presented as a function of the coverage overlap and the distance to the serving BS. In the following, a qualitative one is carried out to evaluate the impact of the generated EMF when LTE uplink connectivity is used. In particular, we evaluate both the EMF generated by the serving BS and the one produced by the UE. At first, the setting of the tests is described. Then, the
Multivariate analysis
In order to analyze the relationship among the considered BS-related metrics (RSRP, sight condition, distance from serving BS), QoS-related metrics (time to transfer a given file), and exposure levels (EMF from the BS and from the UE), as well as their impact, a set of multivariate analyses have been performed. Multivariate analysis is the statistical study of data where multiple measurements are made on each experimental unit and where the relationships among multivariate measurements and
Conclusions and future work
In this paper, a comparison of the cellular network planning that is deployed in two countries with different EMF restrictions (Spain - ICNIRP, Italy, stricter-than-ICNIRP) is performed. In particular, two analyses have been carried out from a technical point of view to compare the network planning of already-deployed 4G cellular networks in two similar districts in terms of terrain dimensions and population density: (i) a quantitative analysis of QoS metrics perceived by the user; and (ii) a
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Jaime Galán-Jiménez: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Luca Chiaraviglio: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration,
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work has been partially funded by the project RTI2018-094591-B-I00 (MCI/AEI/FEDER,UE, Spain), the 4IE+ Project (0499-4IE-PLUS-4-E) funded by the Interreg V-A España-Portugal, Spain (POCTEP) 2014–2020 program, and by the Department of Economy, Science and Digital Agenda of the Government of Extremadura, Spain (GR18112, IB18030). The authors would also thank all the people involved in the measurement campaign over the CC scenario.
Jaime Galán-Jiménez received his Ph.D in Computer Science and Communications from the University of Extremadura (Spain) in 2014. He is currently working at the Department of Computer Systems and Telematics Engineering, University of Extremadura, as an assistant professor. In 2018, he was awarded with the Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Extremadura. During the past years, he has spent several research and teaching periods at University of Rome Tor Vergata, and at University of
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Jaime Galán-Jiménez received his Ph.D in Computer Science and Communications from the University of Extremadura (Spain) in 2014. He is currently working at the Department of Computer Systems and Telematics Engineering, University of Extremadura, as an assistant professor. In 2018, he was awarded with the Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Extremadura. During the past years, he has spent several research and teaching periods at University of Rome Tor Vergata, and at University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy. His main research interests are Software-Defined Networks, Traffic Matrix estimation, 5G networks planning and design, 5G provisioning in rural and low-income areas and Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks.
Luca Chiaraviglio (M’09–SM’16) received the Ph.D. degree in telecommunication and electronics engineering from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy. During the past years, he has spent research periods with Boston University, Boston, MA, USA; INRIA Sophia Antipolis, France; Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand; and ETECSA S.A., Cuba. He is currently a Tenure Track Assistant Professor with the Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy. He has coauthored over 130 papers published in international journals, books, and conferences, and has collaborated with over 150 coauthors, which are affiliated with more than 40 national and international institutions. His current research interests include 5G networks, cloud computing, optimization applied to telecommunication networks, new architectures to reduce the digital divide in rural and low-income areas, and electromagnetic fields. He is currently the coordinator of the national project BRIGHT: Bringing 5G Connectivity in Rural and Low-Income Areas. During the last years, he has been involved in different European projects, such as the H2020 5G-EVE, H2020 Superfluidity, FP7 Trend, FP7 EcoNet, and FP7 Bone. He is a founding member of the IEEE Communications Society Technical Subcommittee on Green Communications and Computing. According to Google Scholar, his H-Index is 30. He participates in the TPC of top-leading conferences, including the IEEE INFOCOM, the IEEE GLOBECOM, the IEEE ICC, the IEEE VTC, and the IEEE GlobalSIP. He is a member of the organizing committee of several conferences, such as ECOC, LANMAN, and 5G-Italy. He is in the Editorial Board of the IEEE Communications Magazine, IEEE ACCESS, and the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GREEN COMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKING. He has received the Best Paper Award in different conferences, including the IEEE VTC and ICIN. Some of his papers are listed as Best Readings on Green Communications by IEEE. Moreover, he has been recognized as an author in the top 1 most highly cited papers in the ICT field worldwide. His papers “Optimal Energy Savings in Cellular Access Networks” and “Reducing Power Consumption in Backbone Networks” are the most cited papers from all the IEEE ICC conferences and the IEEE ICC workshops, from 2009 to 2018 (Source: Scopus).