5G EMF safety assessments 2
When selecting a 5G measurement method always consider the purpose of the measurement and the audience for your results. The simplest method is to use a ‘broadband’ meter and probe. The problem is that in most public areas a broadband probe doesn’t really have the sensitivity to identify telecoms signals i.e. they’re lost in the noise floor of the instrument.
In some ways that’s fine, if the noise floor of the instrument is many times lower than the permissible exposure level it’s demonstrating compliance. However if the purpose of the measurement is to specifically identify a 5G signal, possibly to a sceptical concerned audience it’s necessary to move to a frequency selective approach.
For various reasons measuring 5G signals is a little more complicated than other telecoms services. Wide bandwidths ask a lot of the measurement device and beam forming means that without the right information (generally from the relevant network operator) it’s not possible to extrapolate to a maximum value i.e. the highest possible value for the measurement location.
That’s changed with the introduction of the Sk5G package from Narda STS. The SignalShark is a powerful real time spectrum analyser. Add an isotropic probe from the Narda SRM-3006 range and some smart software and it’s possible to obtain maximum values without getting information from a network operator.
The downside is increased cost but the time saving and a transparent, easily measured in any location, measurement method maybe outweigh that. Whatever in addition to probably overly simple broadband measurements, probably over complicated ‘code selective’ measurements we now have a measurement method that quickly provides detailed robust results.
For further information on the Signalshark 5G analyser click here