ASSESSMENT OF SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL MAPPING OF RADIO FREQUENCY FIELDS AROUND MOBILE BASE STATIONS IN KUJE AREA COUNCIL, FCT, ABUJA

The rapid development and increased used of wireless telecommunication technologies led to a substantial change of radio – frequency electromagnetic field (RF – EMF) exposure in the general population but little is known about spatial and temporal of RF field in our everyday environment. The aim of the study was to assess the spatial and temporal distribution of Radio frequency (RF) field in the areas of maximum exposure in Kuje Area Council, FCT Abuja. Broad band of RF field at various distances from selected mobile stations were assessed using radiation metre, to account for the percentage contribution due to RF field power density (S) of each selected MBS in the study area. MBS with highest percentage contribution was subjected to further investigation using selective radiation spectral analyzer. Radio frequency fields were measured along busy areas, road and streets. Power density of cell phone frequency bands (900MHz and 1800MHz) and Wi Fi frequency bands (2.4GHz) were measured. Time – varying elements of radio frequency fields were accounted for by selecting 10 hours (five – two-hour block) per day from 24hours and coordinates from a Global positioning system (GPS) were displayed on Arc GIS maps for each time – block sampled, which help to determined area of maximum exposure to human (Hotspot). Temporal variation was found to be statically significant. Aggregated power density from each cell phone and Wi Fi RF bands was calculated. The result was 154.74μW/m2 (0.240V/m) for 900MHz frequency band 126.97μW/m2 (0.213V/m) for 1800MHz frequency band 94.25μW/m2 (0.190V/m) for Wi fi frequency band respectively, which were far below ICNIRP (1998) recommendation