Estimating radio-frequency radiation absorbed by humans around selected base transceiver stations within Kaduna Metropolis, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper is aimed at estimating Radio Frequency (RF) radiation absorbed by humans around Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) within Kaduna metropolis. RF radiation absorbed by humans from forty two (42) selected (BTS) tagged M1 to M42 of the four major network providers (MTN, 9mobile, Airtel and Globacom) within Kaduna metropolis, Kaduna State, Nigeria within radial distance intervals of 20 ? to 100 ? from the foot of each BTS were estimated. The Average Power Density (??_???.) and Specific Absorption Rate (???_???.) of data obtained from these BTS were computed, and the results indicated that the average amount of SAR for the selected forty two (42) base transceiver BTS facilities were within the range of 16.9−331.7×10⁻⁹ ?/?? and 0.648– 10.659×10⁻⁶ ?/?² respectively. These values are lower than the recommended limit by International Commission on Non Ionization Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) which is 0.08 ?/?? for the human body. This study has shown that RF radiation absorbed by people either residing or transiting the study area has negligible effect on their health.