Dominance of Smartphone Exposure in 5G Mobile Networks

The deployment of 5G networks is sometimes questioned due to the impact of ElectroMagnetic Field (EMF) generated by Radio Base Station (RBS) on users. The goal of this work is to analyze such issue from a novel perspective, by comparing RBS EMF against exposure generated by 5G smartphones in commercial deployments. The measurement of exposure from 5G is hampered by several implementation aspects, such as dual connectivity between 4G and 5G, spectrum fragmentation, and carrier aggregation. To face such issues, we deploy a novel framework, called 5G-EA, tailored to the assessment of smartphone and RBS exposure through an innovative measurement algorithm, able to remotely control a programmable spectrum analyzer. Results, obtained in both outdoor and indoor locations, reveal that smartphone exposure (upon generation of uplink traffic) dominates over the RBS one. Moreover, Line-of-Sight locations experience a reduction of around one order of magnitude on the overall exposure compared to Non-Line-of-Sight ones. In addition, 5G exposure always represents a small share (up to 28%) compared to 4G EMF

Performance Analysis of Hybrid Optical–Acoustic AUV Swarms for Marine Monitoring

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are assuming an important role in the monitoring and mapping of marine ecosystems, especially for their ability to explore harsh environments. AUV swarm can collect data operating autonomously for long periods enabling new applications in this field. However, the mission duration is usually limited also by the high power consumption required for acoustic transmissions. A new generation of devices complements the acoustic modem with an optical modem that can provide a communication channel with higher capacity and lower power consumption with respect to the acoustic channel. However, the optical link that uses the visible light is very sensitive to the water turbidity that can strongly limit the link coverage. In this paper, we evaluate the networking performances of the Venus vessel, a real AUV prototype equipped with an acoustical modem and an optical modem. The presented analysis aims to evaluate key system parameters allowing to select the best way to set up network communications according to the surrounding conditions (e.g., quality of water) and to the application requirements. Simulation results account for the case of ports or basins, where the water quality is poor and the use of the optical modem is strongly limited by distance. We evaluate system performance in terms of transmission delay in the network and we also provide a power–capacity trade-off