Project

Human RF-EMF exposure in future 6G wireless access networks: numerical and experimental study

Code
01P08022
Duration
27 October 2022 → 26 October 2025
Funding
Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund
Promotor
Research disciplines
  • Engineering and technology
    • Antennas and propagation
    • Microwave and millimeter wave technology
    • Telecommunication and remote sensing
    • Electromagnetism and antenna technology
    • Microwaves, millimeter waves and THz components and circuits and systems
Keywords
EMF Exposure 6G Wireless Networks
 
Project description

Future wireless access networks will employ massive base station (BS) antenna arrays to dynamically focus the downlink transmission at users, creating the EMF hot-spots. To this day, our understanding of the user exposure to such hot-spots remains limited. There is a timely need for development of novel techniques to numerically study the interaction of human bodies and the hot-spot EMF in realistic exposure conditions, as well as experimental techniques to confirm the numerical predictions. This project tackles both computational and experimental aspects via three work packages (WPs). WP1 is focused on the development of a complete numerical methodology for numerical modelling of the EMF absorption in a realistic human model. This consists of the EMF propagation modelling in a realistic environment using Ray-Tracing and (or) state-of-the-art stochastic channel models, coupled with the Finite-Difference Time-Domain simulation with a human phantom and the Huygens box as an interface to the realistic incident EMF. In WP2, a direct experimental measurement of the hot-spot EMF distribution with a real massive array test-bed is performed. A frequency-selective scan of the hot-spot EMF is performed with the EMF probe attached to a 3-axial robotic positioning system. In WP3, network-level effects, such as inter-cell interference for cellular architectures and optimal joint power management strategies for novel cell-free architectures, are incorporated into the model of the WP1.