Halgamuge Malka N
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015 May 19;12(5):5338-54. doi: 10.3390/ijerph120505338.
We investigated the levels of radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMFs) emitted from marine ship transmitters. In this study, we recorded the radio frequency (RF) electric field (EF) levels emitted from transmitters from a marine vessel focusing on the areas normally occupied by crew members and passengers. Previous studies considered radiation hazard safety assessment for marine vessels with a limited number of transmitters, such as very high-frequency (VHF) transceivers, radar and communication transmitters. In our investigation, EF levels from seven radio transmitters were measured, including: VHF, medium frequency/high frequency (MF/HF), satellite communication (Sat-Com C), AISnavigation, radar X-band and radar S-band. Measurements were carried out in a 40 m-long, three-level ship (upper deck, bridge deck and bridge roof) at 12 different locations. We developed a new data-collection protocol and performed it under 11 different scenarios to observe and measure the radiation emissions from all of the transmitters. In total, 528 EF field measurements were collected and averaged over all three levels of the marine ship with RF transmitters: the measured electric fields were the lowest on the upper deck (0.82-0.86 V/m), the highest on the bridge roof (2.15-3.70 V/m) and in between on the bridge deck (0.47-1.15 V/m). The measured EF levels were then assessed for compliance with the occupational and general public reference levels of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) standards. The ICNIRP and the ARPANSA limits for the general public were exceeded on the bridge roof; nevertheless, the occupational limits were respected everywhere. The measured EF levels, hence, complied with the ICNIRP guidelines and the ARPANSA standards. In this paper, we provide a new data collection model for future surveys, which could be conducted with larger samples to verify our observations. Furthermore, this new method could be useful as a reference for researchers and industry professionals without direct access to the necessary equipment.
我们调查了船舶发射机发出的射频电磁场（RF EMFs）水平。在本研究中，我们记录了一艘海船发射机发出的射频（RF）电场（EF）水平，重点关注船员和乘客通常占据的区域。以往的研究考虑了诸如甚高频（VHF）收发信机、雷达和通信发射机等数量有限的发射机的船舶辐射危害安全评估。在我们的调查中，测量了七个无线电发射机的电场水平，包括：甚高频、中频/高频（MF/HF）、卫星通信（Sat-Com C）、自动识别系统导航、X波段雷达和S波段雷达。测量在一艘40米长、三层的船上进行（上层甲板、驾驶台甲板和驾驶台顶部），共12个不同位置。我们制定了一种新的数据收集方案，并在11种不同场景下实施，以观察和测量所有发射机的辐射发射。总共收集了528次电场测量数据，并对装有射频发射机的海船的所有三层进行了平均：测量到的电场在上层甲板最低（0.82 - 0.86 V/m），在驾驶台顶部最高（2.15 - 3.70 V/m），在驾驶台甲板中间（0.47 - 1.15 V/m）。然后将测量到的电场水平评估是否符合国际非电离辐射防护委员会（ICNIRP）指南的职业和公众参考水平以及澳大利亚辐射防护与核安全局（ARPANSA）标准。驾驶台顶部超过了ICNIRP和ARPANSA对公众的限制；然而，在所有地方都符合职业限制。因此，测量到的电场水平符合ICNIRP指南和ARPANSA标准。在本文中，我们为未来的调查提供了一种新的数据收集模型，未来可以用更大的样本进行调查以验证我们的观察结果。此外，这种新方法对于没有直接使用必要设备的研究人员和行业专业人员可能是有用的参考。
