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Article in Radiation Protection Dosimetry February 2015
DOI: 10.1093/rpd/ncv008 Source: PubMed

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Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access published February 17, 2015


Radiation Protection Dosimetry (2015), pp. 114

doi:10.1093/rpd/ncv008

A LARGE-SCALE MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS AND MODELLING


OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION LEVELS IN THE VICINITY
OF GSM/UMTS BASE STATIONS IN AN URBAN AREA
Teoman Karadag1, *, Mehmet Yuceer2 and Teymuraz Abbasov1
1
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Inonu University, Malatya,
Turkey
2
Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey
*Corresponding author: teoman@inonu.edu.tr

The present study analyses the electric field radiating from the GSM/UMTS base stations located in central Malatya, a densely
populated urban area in Turkey. The authors have conducted both instant and continuous measurements of high-frequency
electromagnetic fields throughout their research by using non-ionising radiation-monitoring networks. Over 15 000 instant and
13 000 000 continuous measurements were taken throughout the process. The authors have found that the normal electric field radiation can increase 25 % during daytime, depending on mobile communication traffic. The authors research work has also
demonstrated the fact that the electric field intensity values can be modelled for each hour, day or week with the results obtained
from continuous measurements. The authors have developed an estimation model based on these values, including mobile communication traffic (Erlang) values obtained from mobile phone base stations and the temperature and humidity values in the environment. The authors believe that their proposed artificial neural network model and multivariable least-squares regression
analysis will help predict the electric field intensity in an environment in advance.

INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the effects of electromagnetic field pollution and electromagnetic radiation exposure on the
living environment have grown increasingly in parallel
with the rise in the number of base stations that
operate using ultra-high-frequency electromagnetic
waves(1). A non-ionising energy by nature, electromagnetic radiation spreads through waves or particle
shapes. Today, it has been made clear that a great
proportion of electromagnetic pollution is caused by
ultra-high-frequency electromagnetic waves emitted by
base stations. For this reason, scientific researches conducted in this field of study tend to focus on the effects
of mobile phones and base stations on the living environment(2 5). As shown by Joseph et al. and Genc
et al., most of the researches on human exposure have
been conducted on a short-term basis up to now(6, 7).
The number of studies with continuous and long-term
measurements is very few in the literature(8, 9). Today,
many researches are carried out to evaluate the effects
of the electromagnetic pollution on the biological
systems.(10 19) Most of these researches are about the
carcinogenic effects of base stations and mobile
phones. Some epidemiological studies have shown the
relationship between certain types of cancer and the
rise in the number of base stations and mobile telephone use. There is, however, a significant body of research to prove otherwise(10 13). In most studies, the
effects of the electromagnetic pollution on the wildlife

have also been reported(20). An analysis of the results


presented in the above-mentioned literatures indicates
the fact that there is no or insufficient continuous
measurement conducted for the evaluation of the longterm effects of electromagnetic fields both on living
organisms and the environment. Hence, there appears
to be a considerable disparity in the data and results
presented in these studies, which, by and large, results
from the differences in the methods used for the longterm measurement and monitoring of the effects of
electromagnetic radiation on the living environment.
Mobile communication systems, in particular, require
base stations with different output powers and frequencies. These base stations have different cell distributions, depending on the geographical features of their
locations. These systems aim to provide fast and continuous communication (data and voice) for mobile
phone users. Therefore, the number and output power
of base stations operating with ultra-high frequency
are constantly increasing. Day by day our world is
changing with the new generation wireless communication technologies, and the levels of electromagnetic
pollution also changes in parallel with the speed of this
transformation. Communication traffic, particularly in
big cities, varies stochastically in time and due to settlement features, which makes it difficult to detect and
monitor the level of electromagnetic pollution with a
small number of instant measurements. In other words,
instant measurements conducted to analyse the effects

# The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

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Received 11 April 2014; revised 22 September 2014; accepted 21 January 2015

ET AL.
T. KARADAG

changes have been evaluated to develop a mathematical prediction model. To this end, .13 000 000 continuous measurements have been carried out in the
city centre, and the obtained results were modelled by
statistical methods. This study aims to develop artificial neural network (ANN) and MLRS models with
a feed-forward back-propagation learning algorithm
for the estimation of the electric field in the environment, computing the following parameters: month, day,
time, mean temperature, mean humidity and mobile
phone communication traffic. The results and the measurements were found to be compatible.

MEASUREMENT SYSTEM AND


METHODOLOGY
Measurement methodology
In the measurements conducted for the present study,
two Wavecontrol MoniteM continuous electromagnetic field monitoring and measurement stations were
used. One of these stations was equipped with a probe
measuring the intensity of electric field in the range of
GSM frequencies of 900 and 1800 MHz and UMTS
frequency of 2100 MHz. It is an isotropic field measurement probe with highly sensitive technical features
(0.06 V m21) and is consistent with the international
standards of measurement. The measurement range is
0.06 61 V m21 [root mean square (RMS)], and the
dynamic range is .60 dB. The other station was
equipped with an electric field measurement probe
capable of measuring the frequency range from 100
kHz to 8 GHz. It is an isotropic field measurement
probe with highly sensitive technical features (0.2 V
m21) and is consistent with international standards of
measurement. The measurement range is 0.2130 V
m21 (CW) and 0.2 20 V m21 (RMS), and the
dynamic range is .56 dB. This probe was also used
with Wavecontrol SMP Meter for the instant measurements of the high-frequency electric field in the
pilot urban area. The SMP Meter is an electromagnetic field measurement device that allows the measurement of electromagnetic fields generated by any
source falling within the frequency range of the probe
attached to the device. Thus, fields generated by
sources such as mobile telephone base stations, radio
and television broadcasting towers/repeaters, DECT
systems, WiFi systems, etc. can be measured.
A Wavecontrol SMP Meter with a probe of 100
kHz 8 GHz-frequency range was used in the instant
measurements. Wavecontrol SMP Meter takes measurements every each second with GPS coordinates.
In this study, .15 000 measurements were taken in
every each second with GPS coordinates. The 2-D
and 3-D maps drawn according to these measurement
values are given in Results and Discussion Section.
All measurements were taken in the pilot urban area.

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of the electromagnetic pollution on the environment


do not always provide accurate results. It is, therefore,
vital to carry out long-term measurements to monitor
electromagnetic pollution continuously and observe
the changes taking place with the ambient parameters. It is particularly important to define the levels of
electromagnetic pollution in the city centres and highdensity residential areas with continuous measurements and to evaluate the results in the light of the
existing literature(21 23).
The notion of continuous measurement of electromagnetic radiation levels is also more appealing to
the concerned public as the measurement values can
be directly compared with the public exposure safety
values, called reference levels, set by the relevant
organisations, such as the European Community(24),
the International Commission on Non-Ionizing
Radiation Protection (ICNIRP)(25) and local governmental authorities(26). A network designed for the continuous measurement and recording of non-ionising
electromagnetic radiation levels in various sites and
local regions may help provide an optimal solution.
Another positive aspect of this network is the ability to
present the measurement results to the public via a
user-friendly website.
Turkey is one of the leading countries in the implementation of new generation communication technologies owing to its predominantly young population.
According to the data collected in the third quarter of
2013, Turkey has the longest talking time on mobile
phone in Europe with 340 min of use per capita each
month(27). The number of 3G subscriber numbers was
40.3 million in the third quarter of 2012. It reached to
47.5 million in the third quarter of 2013, and the data
traffic increased by 9 % when compared with the same
period of the previous year(27). For this reason, it is
important to measure and evaluate the values of the
high-frequency electromagnetic fields in the living
environment and evaluate its possible effects. It is also
necessary to determine the rate of change in electromagnetic pollution in different environments, city
centre and high-density settlement zones, to carry out
continuous monitoring and measurements for electromagnetic pollution and radiation levels and finally
share the results with the public via the internet if
needed.
In this study, long-term electromagnetic field values
have been measured and evaluated by instant and
continuous measurements in a city centre (Malatya,
Turkey) and high-density settlement zones with a population of .500 000 inhabitants. In this context, two
Wavecontrol MonitEM (Monitoring Electromagnetic)
continuous electromagnetic field measuring and monitoring networks have been used in the frequency range
from 100 kHz to 8 GHz and GSM and UMTS frequencies. The long-term electric field measurement values, the mean temperature and humidity values of the
environment and the values of the electric field intensity

CONTINUOUS ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS

Electric field 2-D and 3-D maps


The mapping program MapInfo (version 9.5) was
used to generate the electric field 2-D and 3-D maps
with the instant electric field measurement values in
the frequency range from 100 kHz to 8 GHz in the
pilot urban area. Natural Neighbor Interpolation
Method on the Vertical Mapper tab was used to generate grids in the drawing process. The lowest values
on the maps were shown in blue tones, and the
highest values were shown in red tones. All of these
instant electric field values were measured using a
Wavecontrol SMP Meter with a 100 kHz8 GHz-frequency range probe.
Statistical modelling methods
Artificial neural network model
An ANN is an information processing system that imitates the behaviour of a human brain by emulating the
operations and connectivity of biological neurones(28) It
performs a human-like reasoning, learns the attitude
and stores the relationship of the processes based on

a representative data set. In general, the neural networks do not need much of a detailed description
or formulation of the underlying process and thus
appeal to practising engineers who tend to rely on
their own data(29). Recently, neural networks have
been successfully applied to process modelling and
control(30 35). By using the experimental observations
as the input data set to identify the effects of operating parameters on the electromagnetic field intensity
values, an ANN model was created. A three-layered
feed-forward and a back-propagation algorithm with
6 neurones in the first layer, 20 neurones in the interim
layer and 1 neurone in the last layer were chosen.
The network had one input layer, one hidden layer
and one output layer as shown in Figure 1. The first
layer has six logarithmic sigmoid (logsig) neurones,
the second layer has four logarithmic sigmoid neurones and last layer has one linear neurone. In the
course of training, which was based on Levenberg
Marquardt method, the number of hidden layers, the
number of neurones in the hidden layer, training accuracy and number of iterations were determined by using
trial and error method. The input data and the output
data were normalised and de-normalised before and
after the actual application in the network. Thus, the
model was trained for inputoutput behaviour of the
system.
For the development of the neural network model,
the Neural Network Toolbox and MATLAB 7.0 were
used. A MATLAB script was written, loaded the data
file, trained and validated the network and saved the
model architecture.
The transfer function logsig used in this study is
given in the following equation:
yi

1
;
1 ezi

where zi is the input of the neurone in hidden layer


and yi is the output of neurone; while calculating zi,
logsig transfer function was calculated a layers
output from its net input.
The ANN model consists of six input nodes corresponding to:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)

Month,
Day,
Time,
Mean temperature (8C),
Humidity (%),
The number of connected subscriber.

The output was the electric field intensity (V m21) in


the environment.
To develop an ANN model for estimating electric
field intensity, the data set was partitioned into a
training set and a test set. A total of 573 data sets
were used for training from a total of 819 data sets
available, and the remaining 246 data sets were used

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Two Wavecontrol MonitEM continuous electromagnetic field monitoring and measurement stations
were used to monitor the existing electric field level
differences in the city centre every half-hour in a day.
While one of these stations took measurements at
GSM and UMTS frequencies, the other one took
measurements in the frequency range of 100 kHz
8 GHz continuously for 24 h. The stations measured
the instant electric field values every half second in
half-hour periods and calculated the average electric
field value in a half-hour by using Sliding Window
method. It recorded the measured average electric
field values on a mini SD storage card and sent the
average value to the server via an internal GPRS
modem. The two MonitEM stations were placed in
the city centre to measure the electric field simultaneously, and half-hour measurement results were evaluated together. The MonitEM for GSM and UMTS
frequencies was placed in the high-density settlement
zone to take continuous measurements throughout
the study period. The continuous electric field measurement values were observed along with the temperature and humidity values of the environment
parameters and mobile communication traffic values.
The environment temperature and humidity values
were taken from Inonu University Observatory and
Meteorology Station (Malatya, Turkey) during the
measurement period. The mobile communication
traffic values were taken from mobile communication
companies. The obtained results were compared with
the national and international standards and modelled by multivariable least-squares regression
(MLSR) and ANN statistical methods.

ET AL.
T. KARADAG

for testing. The performance function was the sum of


the squares of the difference between output of ANN
and analysis. MATLAB 7.0(36) software was used for
all computations.
Multivariable least-squares regression
Multivariable regression by the method of least squares
is an extension of the least-squares simple linear regression model. The multivariate regression methods allow
the interrelationship between the response and several
independent variables to be evaluated simultaneously.
It also allows nonlinear relationship between the response variable and the independent variables to be
evaluated. The general form of a Multiple Regression
model is shown in the following equation (2):
yi b0 b1  xi;1 . . . bn1  xi;n1 1i ;

where yi is the ith response; b0, b1 and bn 2 1 are the regression parameters; xi,1, . . . xi,n 2 1 are the ith predictor variables; 1i is the independent random error
associated with the ith response, typically assumed to
be distributed N(0,s). After being built on the available
data, the model will probably be used for predicting the
values taken by the response variable for new data
points fxg that are not in original data set.

minimise the effects of the high-frequency electromagnetic radiation exposure on human health and
living organisms. The standards for GSM (Global
System for Mobile Communication) base stations
were defined for European countries by ETSI (The
European Telecommunication Standardization Institute, 1997) and for the USA by FCC (The Federal
Communications Commission)(37). The limits defined
by ICNIRP are widely accepted in the international
arena as well. The following standards were used in the
evaluation of the measurements taken in the course of
this study: ICNIRP(25), IEEE Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers(38) and International Electro
technical Commission (IEC)(39).
Information and Communication Technologies
Authority (ICTA) is responsible for determining the
electromagnetic limit values in Turkey. The limit
values for GSM Networks and the standards implemented in Turkey have been defined as sublimit
values in the above-mentioned standards. The limit
values are determined not only for overall environment but also for a single device. In this way, people
in the vicinity of an electromagnetic field emitting
source (e.g. base station) are better protected against
the health hazards of electromagnetic radiation(26).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION


Limit standard values

Instant measurement results

The obtained results were compared with national


(Turkey) and international standards defined to

The instant measurements were carried out using a


Wavecontrol SMP Meter with a probe designed for

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Figure 1. Schematic diagram of ANN model.

CONTINUOUS ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS

The peak values of electric field were detected in the


residential area and city centre. The maximum electric field value measured in the residential area is 6.1
and 5.7 V m21 in the city centre. A three-dimensional
map in Figure 4 shows the peak zones of the electric
field measured in the frequency range of 100 kHz
8 GHz. All these values are taken from the instant
measurements.
As can be seen from the results of the instant measurements, the highest electric field values were
detected in the residential area and city centre. In the
second stage of the study, long-term and continuous
measurements were performed in order to analyse the
changes in the high-level electric field values in the
residential area and city centre during days, weeks
and months.
Long-term and continuous measurement results
With the results obtained from the instant measurements conducted in the pilot area, the authors confirmed the existence of high levels of electric field

Figure 2. Two-dimensional impression of measured electric field values in the pilot urban area in the frequency range from
100 kHz to 8 GHz.

Figure 3. The geographical map of the pilot urban area with the electric field values measured in the frequency range of
100 kHz8 GHz.

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the frequency range of 100 kHz 8 GHz. Wavecontrol


SMP Meter takes measurements per second with
GPS coordinates. In this study, .15 000 instant measurements with GPS coordinates were taken per
second. The 2-D map drawn according to these
measurement values is given in Figure 2. All of the
instant measurements were taken in the pilot urban
area, including the university campus, city centre,
residential area and industrial zones. The measurement sites can be seen in Figure 3. The lowest electric
field values on the map were shown in blue tones, and
the highest electric field values were shown in red
tones.
The geographical map in Figure 3 shows the points
where the measurements were conducted in the pilot
urban area. The red points in Figure 3 show the
highest electric field values. As is seen, the highest
electric field values are concentrated in the residential
area and city centre.
Numerous instant measurements were carried out
in all parts of the urban area to determine the electric
field values in the frequency range of 100 kHz8 GHz.

ET AL.
T. KARADAG

Figure 5. Electric field intensity graphic based on the continuous measurements conducted between 2 and 20 January 2014
in the frequency range of 100 kHz 8 GHz.

intensity values in the residential area and city centre.


For further analysis, the authors started to carry out
continuous measurements of electric field intensity in
both places. In the city centre, the electric filed intensity changes were measured every moment during the
measurements by continuous electromagnetic field
monitoring and measurement stations. The continuous measurements were performed in the frequency
range of 100 kHz 8 GHz and GSM and UMTS frequencies. The continuous monitoring and measurement stations were set in the same place in the city
centre. Over 6 000 000 measurements were taken in
each half second with continuous measurements, and
all these measurements were evaluated with sliding
window method every half-hour between 2 and 20
January 2014. Half-hour average values of these measurements were obtained, and all these average values
were sent to the server by the MonitEM via an internal
GPRS modem. At the end of the study period, the
highest electric field intensity value measured in the frequency range of 100 kHz8 GHz was 4.22 V m21 and
the average of the electric field value was 3.24 V m21.
The highest electric field measured value in GSM and
UMTS frequencies was 3.31 V m21, and the average of

electric field value was 2.508 V m21. The graphics, including the continuous measurement results, are given
in Figures 5 and 6.
Given the significant changes in the measured
values, the necessity to develop a mathematic model
for evaluating the radiation of electromagnetic pollution became more evident. To analyse the results
better, the authors drew two graphics with the electric
field intensity values measured each half-hour periods
between 2 and 20 January 2014. The electric field
intensity values in the frequency range of 100 kHz
8 GHz (Broadband) and GSM and UMTS frequencies were measured everyday throughout this period,
and grouped on a half-hour basis. The graphics in
Figure 7 demonstrate the fact that there are parallels
and characteristic similarities between the broadband
measurements in the frequency range of 100 kHz
8 GHz and GSM and UMTS frequencies.
According to these results, 77 % of the electric field
intensity values radiate to the environment at the
range of GSM and UMTS frequencies, the rate of
23 % was measured at the range of 100 kHz 8 GHz
frequency from the radio and television broadcasting and high-frequency telecommunication devices.

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Figure 4. Three-dimensional impression of measured electric field values in the pilot urban area in the frequency range from
100 kHz to 8 GHz.

CONTINUOUS ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS

Figure 7. The graphics of the electric field intensity change in half-hour periods between 2 and 20 January 2014 as measured
by the continuous electric field monitoring and measurement stations in the frequency range of 100 kHz 8 GHz and GSM
and UMTS frequencies.

However, the electric field intensity levels were measured as spectrum at the frequencies of 900, 1800 and
2100 MHz was calculated as 65 and 35 % of the electric field level by the TV, FM radio, Wi-Fi, etc. frequencies in city centre in a year ago.
The electromagnetic field intensity in the environment resulted from GSM and UMTS signals emitted
from cell phone base stations. The changes in the values
depend on the number of calls, duration of the calls on
the base stations and the physical parameters of the environment (temperature and humidity). Therefore, the
principal parameters affecting the distribution of electromagnetic pollution should be determined.
In the light of the instant measurements, high electric field values were detected in the residential area
where the study was conducted. The point with the
highest mobile communication traffic was detected in
the pilot area, and a continuous monitoring and
measurement station was set there. The continuous
measurements were carried out in GSM and UMTS

frequencies. Over 7 000 000 measurements were taken


in the residential area during the study period.
Hourly electric field measurements were compiled
during the measurement period. Since electric field waves
radiate in the environment, physical parameters, such as
temperature and humidity changes, can affect the radiation. When the electric field intensity measurements are
examined, it will be seen that the electric field intensity
values in this region begin to increase at about 07:00
08:00 a.m. and reach the highest level at about 18:00
19:00 p.m. and then start to decrease. A time-varying
graphic of electromagnetic field is given in Figure 8.
For this reason, hourly environmental physical parameters, namely temperature and humidity changes,
were included in the study. The mobile communication
traffic (Erlang) values used in the statistical model were
taken from mobile communication companies. Finally,
hourly communication traffic values were taken from
the mobile phone base stations where the measurements were performed.

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Figure 6. Electric field intensity graphic of GSM and UMTS frequencies based on the continuous measurements conducted
between 2 and 20 January 2014.

ET AL.
T. KARADAG

Figure 9. Graphic of hourly mobile phone communication traffic on the base station in the residential area.

Mobile phone users activate base stations when they


make a call, send a text or multimedia message or
when they connect the Internet. Each attempt creates
its own traffic. The graphic, including the communication traffic on the four directional antennas of the
mobile phone base station, is given in Figure 9. The
vertical domain represents mobile communication
traffic values for each directional antenna of the base
station whereas the horizontal domain indicates the
time. The directional antennas are shown in grey, blue,
green and pink squares.
It is clearly seen that attempts vary hourly in a day.
This variation is quite similar to the electric field intensity measurements conducted with continuous
electric field monitoring and measurement station in
the frequency range of GSM and UMTS frequencies
(Figures 8 and 10).
The electromagnetic field intensity values were
measured for 5 weeks during the study period. Hourly
time-varying electric field intensity values are given in
the chart. Weeks are ordered consecutively in the
chart with Monday as the first and Sunday as the last
day of the week. It can be seen from the chart in
Figure 10 that there are similar patterns of change in
the electric field intensity values repeated on certain
days of the week.

The results obtained from the measurements show


that the anticipated changes in the electromagnetic
field intensity values take place in line with the
changes in communication traffic, temperature and
humidity in the environment. A statistical model was
formed as a result of the evaluation of the temperature, humidity and mobile communication traffic
values (Erlang) in the environment, and continuously
measured electric field intensity values were evaluated. The mathematical modelling results in view of
the changes in these parameters are given below.
Figure 11 shows the graphics of hourly temperature
and humidity changes measured during the study
period. These values were taken from Inonu University
Observatory and Meteorology Station in Malatya,
Turkey.
Model computation
Based on the set of statistical data temperature, humidity, mobile communication traffic (Erlang) values
and electromagnetic field intensity in the environment, ANN and MLSR methods were implemented.
The values measured hourly for 24 h to form the
mathematical database for these methods are given in
Table 1.

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Figure 8. Time-varying graphic of electric field intensity values measured in GSM and UMTS frequencies in the residential
area.

CONTINUOUS ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS

Downloaded from http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/ at Inonu Universitesi on January 25, 2016

Figure 10. Hourly time-varying chart of electric field intensity values measured for 5 weeks during the study period.

Figure 11. Graphics of hourly temperature and humidity changes during the study period.

Three parameters, namely correlation coefficient


(R), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE, %) and
root-mean-square error (RMSE) values were used in
the performance evaluation of the models. The statistical values were determined as follows:
PN
yi  y
i1 xi  x

q ;
q
R P
N
2 PN

y2
i1 xi  x
i1 yi  
s
PN
2
i1 yi  xi
;
RMSE
N


N 
1X
yi  xi 

 100;
MAPE %
N i1  xi 

where xi is an observed value at the ith time step, yi is


a simulated value at the same moment of time, N is
 is the mean value of obserthe number of time steps, x
vations and y is the mean value of simulations
(Equations 35).
The Neural Network Toolbox and MATLAB 7.0
were used for the development of the ANN model.
A MATLAB script was written, loaded the data file,
trained and validated the network and saved the
model architecture.

Page 9 of 14

ET AL.
T. KARADAG
Table 1. The electric field measured hourly for 24 h, the number of subscriber attempts using the base station, hourly average
temperature and humidity values in the environment.
Date and time

Number of subscriber (Erlang)

Temperature 8C

Humidity %

1.695
1.48
1.24
1.185
1.02
1.02
1.055
1.205
1.185
1.305
1.54
1.615
1.73
1.71
1.66
1.64
1.71
1.845
1.87
2.02
2.07
2.04
2
1.935

1260
574
265
218
122
218
855
2467
3556
6092
8354
10 235
10 726
9833
8742
9165
10 053
11 517
12 418
12 713
11 311
7807
5301
3292

16.94167
16.80833
16.475
16.05833
15.95
15.56667
16.05833
17.225
17.875
18.65833
19.33333
20.23333
20.925
21.9
22.11667
22.41667
22.2
20.375
19.30833
18.9
19.03333
18.68333
18.39167
17.95

34833.00
35333.00
36.5
38583.00
40.25
41917.00
41833.00
39167.00
37.75
36.25
33583.00
31667.00
30.75
29417.00
29.25
28.5
28833.00
32.75
34083.00
36
36.25
37083.00
37917.00
39167.00

Table 2. The regression parameters of the MLSR model (Equation 1).


i

bi

1.2889

3.565`  1024

20.0118

0.0273

2.99`  1025

20.0043

6.17`  1024

The input and output data were normalised and denormalised before and after the actual application in
the network. Thus, the model was trained for input
output behaviour of the system.
The MLSR analysis was performed on the training
set, which is used to develop the neural networks. The
regression parameters of the MLSR model are given
in Table 2.
The test data set was used to assess the performances of the MLSR equations. The result of MLSR
model is shown in Figure 12.
The ANN model results are shown in Figure 13.
The behaviour of the network for the test data is shown
in Figure 14. As detected from Figure 14, the network
model results are compatible with the observations.
A higher value of the correlation coefficient and
the smaller values of MAPE and RMSE mean a
better performance of the model. The correlation
coefficients calculated for training and testing of the
network were 0.9913 and 0.9849, respectively. The

MAPE values were found as 2.2230 and 3.0353 %.


The results showed that ANN model is more accurate
than MLSR model in predicting the electric field intensity in the environment. The results are depicted in
Table 3.
CONCLUSION
As a result of the experimental study to determine the
levels of electric field radiating from a base station in
an urban area, it has been found that instant measurement results could be misleading since electric field
varies instantly depending on the mobile communication traffic in the environment. It is necessary to
perform long-term and continuous measurements in
order to achieve accurate results. Communication
traffic changes instantaneously, affecting the electric
field radiating from base stations in the environment.
When the measurement results are analysed, it will be
seen that electric field reaches the effective level

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E [V m21]

CONTINUOUS ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS

Figure 13. ANN training results: predicted electric fields (V m21) versus measured values.

Figure 14. ANN testing results: predicted electric fields (V m21) versus measured values.

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Figure 12. MLSR results for testing data: predicted electric fields (V m21) versus measured values.

ET AL.
T. KARADAG
Table 3. Performance indexes achieved using ANN and MLSR during training and validation periods.
Training data

Test data

Model

MAPE (%)

RMSE

MAPE (%)

RMSE

ANN
MLSR

0.9913
0.8213

2.2230
10.2869

0.0451
0.1961

0.9849
0.8073

3.0353
11.2745

0.0636
0.2152

The results obtained from continuous measurements can be shared with the national and international public in order to prevent the health hazards
caused by the electromagnetic pollution.
It is possible to form a statistical model of the electromagnetic pollution changes in the city centre, commercial and residential areas based on the results
obtained from continuous measurements. ANN and
MLSR methods can be used for this purpose.
The proposed ANN model predicts the electric
field in the environment, when the month, day, time,
mean temperature, humidity and the number of connected users are provided. The maximum errors for
the MLSR and ANN models for validation were
found to be 0.7789 and 0.2787, respectively. The estimation capability of ANN is better than MLSR in
predicting electric field of complex and non-linear
systems. These results showed that the ANN model is
useful in electric field predictions.
The optimum control systems can be feasible to
monitor the electromagnetic pollution changes caused
by the base stations in the city centre and residential
areas by using mathematical modelling during any
time of the day with the mobile communication traffic
and physical parameters of the environment. Future
electric field predictions could be performed using
these data items and 2-D, 3-D maps.
FUNDING
This work was supported by the Inonu University
.B.A.P. 2012-28
Research Fund [Project Numbers I.U
and 2013-45].
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