By Don Scansen  11.10.2020

The 5G era is well underway, though the rollout is still relatively new, and with only a few handsets capable of all the available spectrum, there are still questions that consume column space.

The upper portion of the spectrum offers opportunities to investigate since the mmWave band at 28 GHz currently available is new to the consumer market. Higher frequencies are coming later. Extra high frequency, or EHF, is the moniker for 30 to 300 GHz which may provide a clue as to why there are people who want to understand potential health impacts before they embrace this new technology.

Although the upper reaches of the 5G spectrum offer both higher potential bandwidths and open frequency allocations now given to cellular service, this range of frequencies suffers from very high atmospheric attenuation. That raises the potential for higher power outputs required at antennas in order to reliably connect a user to a base station cell.

But the open air attenuation is just part of the issue. The use of mmWave frequencies is new, but another issue is not. The flesh and blood and bone of the user will also absorb the RF energy. I will not address the potential biological reaction to the mmWave energy. Whether or not the user will experience physical effects, the hand or head (or any body part) will definitely reduce if not outright eliminate RF signal propagation for 5G (at least you hope the output power is in the range that makes this true).

Read more at: https://www.eetimes.com/5g-antennas-stay-out-of-the-way/

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