Electromagnetic radiation emitted by cellphone towers is a new form of environmental pollution and is a new health hazard. This radiofrequency radiation pollution is an issue of world wide concern due to its undesirable effects on human health, flora and fauna. It is known that radiation levels are higher at a lower distance from the cell-phone tower than at far distances, but only distance measurement from tower cannot be said to be a reliable method to grade a place as safe or unsafe unless the direction is specified as well. The present studies were taken to estimate the radio frequency (RF) pollution by measuring power densities as a function of direction and distance of a cell-phone mast. The measurements were done in 8 different orientations of the cell-phone base station at an interval of angular separation of 45° between two directions The cell phone radiations as power densities were measured using a handheld portable power density meter TES 593 in maximum average mode and specific absorption rates (SAR) were estimated at 835 MHz, 915 MHz, 1900 MHZ and 2450 MHZ from the measured values. The findings identified the maximum and minimum exposure zones around a cell-phone mast. The studies show how power densities change with distance for a combination of directional and dish antennas. The peak in power density values was observed at a distance of 40 meters for most of the antenna orientations.
SAR = Specific Absorption Rate
PA = σ|E2|= Absorbed power density by the human brain tissue
|E2|= Magnitude of electric field vector
σ = Conductivity of the human brain tissue
□□m = Mass density of the human brain tissue
cell phone radiation, antenna orientation, power density, dirty electricity, electromagnetic pollution
