Near-field level emitted by professional radio communication devices: Preliminary measurements and simulations for an occupational exposure assessment approach

During the occupational use of radio communication equipment, personnel is expected to be exposed to electromagnetic field levels that could exceed the safety limits in some cases. In order to identify the possible situations when such cases exist, an analysis of the near-field level must be carefully done. Due to the complexity of the near-field measurement technique, a valuable complementary tool is represented by electromagnetic propagation simulation. This paper presents the preliminary results obtained during a preparatory procedure for a dual approach of high and very high frequency field level assessment in the immediate vicinity of portable radio communication devices usually used by professionals. Measurements are made by a broadband exposimeter configured with both electric and magnetic field probes destined to occupational assessment, while simulations are made in FEKO software based on solving Maxwell equations by a hybrid technique between method of moments and finite elements method.