Investigation Of Electromagnetic Radiations By Global System For Mobile Communications Base Stations In The University Of Nigeria, Nsukka Campus

ABSTRACT

Thousands of Base Station Antennas (BSA) have been installed in Nigeria to support the development of mobile telephony. At the same time there is a public concern about the electromagnetic fields radiated by these antennas, particularly there is a great fear by those living in the vicinity of these antennas, of being exposed to the harmful effects of this radiation. This fear has created the need to investigate and establish the level of radiation and also determine whether this level is harmful or not based on the International Committee on Non-Ionization Radio Protection (ICNIRP) Standards. In this study efforts were geared towards the development of a mathematical model necessary for simulation process that could be used to investigate the impact and compare the result with a field measurement values. The analysis of the result provided information on the radiation level in the university of Nigeria environment. The results showed that Odim Street recorded the maximum power density of 0.4699 mW/m2 , while Staff Club recorded the minimum power density of 0.2056 mW/m2 . The maximum power density value obtained occurred at 45 m away from the foot of base station antenna. When this power density level was compared with the international safety level standard of about 4.5W/m2 , the result showed indicate a low radiation, which is 0.024 percent of the safety level. Simulation result produced 8% value higher than the measured (field) result. Finally, the low level of radiation obtained from the study shows that the Operators complied with the established guidelines.