Building Wireless Community Networks, Second Edition

Human Exposure to RadioFrequency Radiation

I am not going to cover the pseudoscientific arguments of human exposure to radio frequency radiation; I address only the current ANSI limits as related to human exposure to radio frequency fields. However, keep in mind that cellular telephone companies have run into groups that are using this pseudoscience to delay or stop deployment of cell phone installations via city and county governments.

Once 802.11 deployment gets more popular, these groups may have an impact on your deployment. After all, they know what “microwave ovens can do” and 802.11b runs at the same frequency.

The FCC’s concern is:

At the present time there is no federally-mandated radio frequency (RF) exposure standard. However, several non-government organizations, such as the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE), and the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) have issued recommendations for human exposure to RF electromagnetic fields.

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On August 1, 1996, the Commission adopted the NCRP’s recommended Maximum Permissible Exposure limits for field strength and power density for the transmitters operating at frequencies of 300 KHz to 100 GHz. In addition, the Commission adopted the specific absorption rate (SAR) limits for devices operating within close proximity to the body as specified within the ANSI/IEEE C95.1-1992 guidelines.(See Report and Order, FCC 96-326.) The Commission’s ...