The highest exposure occurs when the user is uploading large amounts of data

The highest levels among the different countries were recorded in the Netherlands and the lowest in the UK

Exposure to RF-EMF is generally higher in villages than in cities due to poorer network coverage

The new low cost add-on sensor can easily be attached to smartphones to measure RF-EMF.

A new study from Project GOLIAT published in Environment International has presented the results of a large-scale campaign to measure radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure across seven European countries. The research, led by a team from Ghent University, introduces a novel, low-complexity, and low-cost add-on sensor designed to assess RF-EMF exposure in real-world environments. 

​The seven countries included in the study were: Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The add-on sensor, which was designed to be attached to smartphones, was used to measure exposure in three scenarios: non-user (environmental exposure), maximum downlink (data download), and maximum uplink (data upload) and in different urban and rural settings (microenvironments): public spaces, public transport and outdoor areas. 

The results show that the lowest levels of RF-EMF exposure occurred when the phone was in flight mode (or non-user mode), meaning only background radiation was present. When a large data file was downloaded continuously during the full measurement (dowlink mode), exposure levels increased slightly (5 dB), although the biggest increase happened for data uploads. Overall, the power increase in maximum uplink mode compared to the flight mode was 14.15 dB.

Lower levels in cities compared to villages

Among the seven countries, the highest exposure was recorded in the Netherlands (median uplink power of 18.68 dBm) and the lowest was in the UK (4.77 dBm). As in previous studies, higher levels of exposure were measured in villages than in cities. “This is because in villages there is usually less dense network coverage compared to cities and in those conditions phones require more power to upload the data”, explains Han van Bladel, researcher at Ghent University and first author of the study. 

The comparison between the different microenvironments revealed that exposure to RF-EMF was generally lower in outdoor areas, while the levels in public transport and crowded places were slightly higher levels. “In crowded places there are more people using their devices and that leads to higher exposure for everyone. In addition to that, in public transport are other factors that contribute to a higher exposure, such as the frequent handover in telecommunication cells because the user is moving across the urban space, or the presence of signal-blocking infrastructure like metal walls”, says Han van Bladel.

A simple and affordable tool to track RF-EMF exposure

The add-on sensor, developed with off-the-shelf components, is compact, cost-efficient, and capable of measuring RF-EMF exposure for a broad frequency range (600–6000 MHz). ​It provides a simple and affordable way to measure the total RF-EMF exposure over time, including the legacy telecommunication technologies as well as the newer 5G. 

Project GOLIAT researchers plan to repeat the measurement campaign in two years to assess the impact of further 5G deployment in the same countries. 

Reference

Han Van Bladel, Bram Stroobandt, Adriana Fernandes Veludo, Kenneth Deprez, Martin Röösli, Gabriella Tognola, Marta Parazzini, György Thuróczy, Kinga Polańska, Piotr Politański, Joe Wiart, Monica Guxens, Wout Joseph, RF-EMF exposure assessment with add-on uplink exposure sensor in different microenvironments in seven European countries, Environment International, Volume 197, 2025, 109368, ISSN 0160-4120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2025.109368