It is crucial to monitor the levels of Non-Ionizing Radiation (NIR) to which the general population may be exposed and compare them to the limits defined in the current standards, in view of the rapid rise of communication services and the prospects of a connected society. A high number of people visits shopping malls and since these locations usually have several indoor antennas close to the public, it is therefore a kind of place that must be evaluated. Thus, this work presents measurements of the electric field in a shopping mall located in Natal, Brazil. We proposed a set of six measurement points, following two criteria: places with great the flow of people and the presence of one or more Distributed Antenna System (DAS), co-sited or not with WiFi access points. Results are presented and discussed in terms of the distance to DAS (conditions: near and far) and flow density of people in the mall (scenarios: low and high number of people). The highest peaks of electric field measured were 1.96 and 3.26 V/m, respectively corresponding to 5% and 8% of the limits defined by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the Brazilian National Telecommunication Agency (ANATEL).

While the amount of telecommunications services grows rapidly in the whole world, humans get potentially more exposed to Non-Ionizing Radiation (NIR) from a number of different sources. Measurements of NIR levels are relevant in order to compare the results with national and international standards, aiming at the preservation of human health. Thus, it is of great interest to explore a variety of topics regarding this subject. Based on this need, this paper has a number of goals, including monitoring radiation levels in an everyday situation, an investigation of how national and international regulations organs address NIR levels and a demonstration of scientific production trends regarding this topic. The work also presents a bibliometric study about the main scientific productions and trends related to NIR measurements, with focus on the field of Telecommunications. The analysis is based on the databases of Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus, computing publications in the last 10 and 3 years, showing a trend evaluation. Among the main results from this exploratory investigation, there is an exponential growth in the number of publications about NIR, ranging from research in physics to medicine. The way research contribution in different countries is also shown, in order to support the relevance of the topic in defining new tendencies for new investigations. Furthermore, the NIR exposure limits and measurement criteria are presented both in Brazilian and in international norms, demonstrating how different national regulations can be when compared to international guidelines. Another contribution is a case study in Natal, Brazil, where NIR levels were monitored in four distinct locations over a period of 24 hours each and compared to the current regulations. The result is a quantitative analysis of the amount of radiation that some populations might be exposed to in distinct moments of the day. Measurements were carried out in the proximity of an antenna spot, since it could represent a source of high NIR levels (a worst case of human exposure). This campaign differs from older studies by including a more intense usage of microwaves frequencies due to operating 4G and pre-5G systems in Brazil. Finally, a statistical study involving the measurements is conducted, concluding the analysis of how some population groups might be affected by NIR.

This paper extends a previously published proposed approach for estimating worst-case exposure scenarios in buildings using publicly available Base Station (BS) parameters, applying it to a critical case involving a multi-operator shared site. Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields (RF-EMF) exposure was assessed on every floor of a 20-story building facing the site, revealing significantly higher levels near the center of the antennas’ estimated vertical zone of interest, with a peak of 31.86 V/m, 23.95 times higher than the street-level peak value. However, due to uncertainties in the input parameters, measurements across all locations within the zone of interest are required to accurately identify the floor of maximum exposure. The results demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed estimation approach and highlight the need for improved methods that consider BS antenna configurations and current technical information to ensure accurate assessments of exposure to RF-EMF.

Non-ionizing radiation is the subject of several applications, such as the microwave oven, which is very popular. Its use is characterized by direct user operation and reduced distances between users and the NIR source. Therefore, the level of human exposure in this scenario deserves attention as it is a potential cause of biological effects. In this sense, this paper presents the measurement of a microwave oven with a high level of NIR (above the limit defined by the standard) before and after two types of suggested repairs: the use of epoxy putty (Repair 1) and the replacement of the external surface of the oven (Repair 2). The definitions of measurement methodology, based on FDA and INMETRO standards, are presented and discussed. Finally, we describe an analysis of the efficiency of these repair methods aiming at the safety operation.