Sensors (Feb 2016)

A Personal, Distributed Exposimeter: Procedure for Design, Calibration, Validation, and Application

  • Arno Thielens,
  • Peter Vanveerdeghem,
  • Patrick Van Torre,
  • Stephanie Gängler,
  • Martin Röösli,
  • Hendrik Rogier,
  • Luc Martens,
  • Wout Joseph

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s16020180
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 2
p. 180

Abstract

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This paper describes, for the first time, the procedure for the full design, calibration, uncertainty analysis, and practical application of a personal, distributed exposimeter (PDE) for the detection of personal exposure in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) downlink (DL) band around 900 MHz (GSM 900 DL). The PDE is a sensor that consists of several body-worn antennas. The on-body location of these antennas is investigated using numerical simulations and calibration measurements in an anechoic chamber. The calibration measurements and the simulations result in a design (or on-body setup) of the PDE. This is used for validation measurements and indoor radio frequency (RF) exposure measurements in Ghent, Belgium. The main achievements of this paper are: first, the demonstration, using both measurements and simulations, that a PDE consisting of multiple on-body textile antennas will have a lower measurement uncertainty for personal RF exposure than existing on-body sensors; second, a validation of the PDE, which proves that the device correctly estimates the incident power densities; and third, a demonstration of the usability of the PDE for real exposure assessment measurements. To this aim, the validated PDE is used for indoor measurements in a residential building in Ghent, Belgium, which yield an average incident power density of 0.018 mW/m².

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