{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,8]],"date-time":"2026-05-08T06:40:28Z","timestamp":1778222428140,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,15]],"date-time":"2023-03-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1678838400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100008421","name":"Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["10013613"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10013613"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100008421","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Of particular interest within fifth generation (5G) cellular networks are the typical levels of radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMFs) emitted by \u2018small cells\u2019, low-power base stations, which are installed such that both workers and members of the general public can come in close proximity with them. In this study, RF-EMF measurements were performed near two 5G New Radio (NR) base stations, one with an Advanced Antenna System (AAS) capable of beamforming and the other a traditional microcell. At various positions near the base stations, with distances ranging between 0.5 m and 100 m, both the worst-case and time-averaged field levels under maximized downlink traffic load were assessed. Moreover, from these measurements, estimates were made of the typical exposures for various cases involving users and non-users. Comparison to the maximum permissible exposure limits issued by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) resulted in maximum exposure ratios of 0.15 (occupational, at 0.5 m) and 0.68 (general public, at 1.3 m). The exposure of non-users was potentially much lower, depending on the activity of other users serviced by the base station and its beamforming capabilities: 5 to 30 times lower in the case of an AAS base station compared to barely lower to 30 times lower for a traditional antenna.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s23063145","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,16]],"date-time":"2023-03-16T03:14:35Z","timestamp":1678936475000},"page":"3145","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["RF-EMF Exposure near 5G NR Small Cells"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7444-4312","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sam","family":"Aerts","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"WAVES, Department of Information Technology, Ghent University\/imec, 9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1954-6738","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kenneth","family":"Deprez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"WAVES, Department of Information Technology, Ghent University\/imec, 9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Leen","family":"Verloock","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"WAVES, Department of Information Technology, Ghent University\/imec, 9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2582-9953","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert G.","family":"Olsen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Luc","family":"Martens","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"WAVES, Department of Information Technology, Ghent University\/imec, 9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Phung","family":"Tran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8807-0673","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wout","family":"Joseph","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"WAVES, Department of Information Technology, Ghent University\/imec, 9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2022, November 30). 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). 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