Precautionary limits for human exposure to radar systems

In 1999, the citizens of Elmenhorst, a small municipality in northern Germany, expressed concern about the installation of a new cell phone base station in their community. Their citizens' association hired Wolfgang Kessel, a building biology professional, to measure ambient radio frequency (RF) radiation levels within 100 to 400 m (330 to 1,300 ft) of the base station site before it was activated. The primary goal was to document how much the base station contributed to a resident's total RF exposure. Unexpectedly, the first measurement taken in a resident’s bedroom registered at 8,900 µW/m². To everyone’s surprise, the measured radar signal originated from an air traffic control radar system located about 30 km (19 mi) away. At the third EMC Conference of the German Association of Building Biology Professionals (VDB) in 2004, Kessel presented his findings and evaluation guidelines for radar signals, which were based on 106 measurements. Since then, he has conducted many more radar exposure assessments, and these guidelines have not changed.

The full paper is available for download on the author’s website: umweltanalytik.de.

You can order the complete conference proceedings in German from the German Association of Building Biology Professionals (VDB).