P&S Our daily exposure to electromagnetic radiation

P&S Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Fields in our daily Life

FS 2025

Day and Time: Every Thursday, 09:15 - 11:00 Room ETZ K71

First Meeting: 27. FEB 2025, 09:15, ETZ K71

Contact: Marco Zahner (marco.zahner@fieldsatwork.ch)

Supporting Material: Download Area

Introduction

Wireless technologies have become an integral part of our daily Life. Besides the good old TV and radio broadcasting services, Phones, laptops, tablets and many other devices are exchanging increasing amounts of data by means of radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields. The vast number of wireless devices in our proximity as well as the base stations required for the data uplink are constantly generating high frequency electromagnetic radiation that is virtually impossible to avoid being exposed to.

Although low-power RF radiation has not been found to cause any negative health effects on humans so far, it is not possible to exclude a priory the existence of cumulative and long-term effects. Because of this uncertainties, regulatory bodies have defined precautionary exposure limits to avoid any unnecessary exposure of the population.

In order to find out more about possible connections between exposure to RF radiation and adverse health effects, it is necessary to carry out regular exposure assessments of the population, gathering information about the trends of the main sources of exposure.

Project Description

How strong is the electromagnetic radiation generated by base stations, mobile phones and TV towers? What can you do in order to minimize your daily exposure to electromagnetic fields? In this project you will learn the basic know-how required to deal and work with radio frequency electromagnetic fields. You will see our microwave laboratory and get familiar with the RF and microwave measurement equipment. Using ExpoM-RF, a personal exposure meter originally developed at the Institute of Electromagnetic Fields, you will be able to track your daily exposure to electromagnetic fields in the frequency range from 87.5 MHz to 5.8 GHz.

Figure 2: RF exposure measurement in real life; Laboratory setup in the anechoic chamber

Design your own study and investigate a topic of your choice in order to verify your hypotheses about RF radiation and answer the questions you always wanted to know. A few examples:

• Mobile phones, WLAN hotspots, base stations, microwave oven etc… Which are the strongest and most relevant sources of RF radiation in your daily life?

• How can RF exposure in everyday life be minimized? Look for correlations between your behavior and the resulting RF exposure.

• Where are the spots with strongest/weakest radiation located in the city and which are the dominant sources? Create frequency/field strength maps.

• Design, build and test your own RF detector

• How does every day RF exposure vary over different times of the day? And over a week?

• Are you electro sensitive? Test your ability to detect electromagnetic radiation at different frequencies, strength and modulations in our anechoic chamber.

Depending on the complexity of the project you choose, groups of one to four people are possible. After the introductory session, regular meetings will take place to discuss your ideas, project status as well as occurring problems and questions. At the end of the project you will present your findings in a short presentation.