MEASUREMENTS OF GROUND-LEVEL EMISSIONS FROM MOBILE PHONE BASE STATIONS IN BANGKOK USING A LOW-COST RF FIELD MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

Abstract

The Thai Ministry of Public Health, in collaboration with Product Safety Programme, Health Canada, performed a radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic field survey of mobile phone base stations in Bangkok and surrounding areas. The survey carried out measurements of ground-level RF power density originating from base stations using an instrumentation system developed by and made available from Health Canada. The system is referred to as "GLOBE" which stands for Geographically Located Observations of Base-Station Emissions. The system measures and records the total power density at a location from all frequency bands used by cellular/digital service providers, simultaneously recording the location using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver. The GLOBE system is battery-powered and designed to be operated from the roof of a car. Ten series of measurements were made in the urban and suburban areas of Bangkok. Measured data were compared with the limits specified in Health Canada's RF exposure guidelines for the general public. The maximum level of exposure measured for any of the locations in this study was found to be at least 1000 times lower than the guideline.