Presentation Script

Welcome to my presentation about 5G's adaptive antennas.

Today, nearly everybody has a cellphone. Using it in public to browse social media sites, like Twitter and Facebook, or watch a Video on Netflix or YouTube, is socially accepted and a common occurrence.

Because of this increase in usage of cellular data, new standards were developed. From 2G to 3G, which allowed mobile users to browse the internet with acceptable loading times, to 4G, with which, the populous could watch videos on the go. The most recent standard is 5G, which boasts up to 10Gbit/s in an optimal situation. As you can see on this graph, the data rates have increased exponentially. All of these standards are full duplex systems, meaning a device can send and receive simultaneously.

As a side note: The maximum speed of 5G in Switzerland is lower than the theoretical maximum, which can also be seen on the graph. This is because the higher frequency bands used in other countries aren't permitted for use with 5G in Switzerland. Using a higher frequency band yields increased the speed, but comes at the cost of range.

With the need for more speed, data through-put and broader coverage, its tempting to let the the antennas send with more power. But this would cause higher radiation levels for people around the antenna and wasting energy by blasting electromagnetic radiation everywhere instead of just the device of the user.

The solution to these problems are adaptive antennas which can, thanks to multiple subarrays, steer their beam towards the receiving device. This enables operating these antennas at a higher power level but with similar radiation levels resulting in better coverage, higher data rates and improved energy efficiency.

However, in Switzerland the law did not distinguish between "normal" antennas and adaptive antennas. To remedy this, the Swiss government instructed the BAFU to research adaptive antennas and find a correction factor which can be applied to the power level of an antenna. This would enable the antenna to send at a higher power level as the actual power level is corrected to a lower level while simultaneously reducing the consumed energy. Because the maximal power level is multiplied with a correction factor, the law which specifies the maximum permitted energy levels does not need to be modified, which should help these laws getting through parlament.

As you can see in this graph, the more sub-arrays an antenna has, the lower the correction factor gets. This is because as the number of sub-arrays increases the amount of control over the direction of the beam becomes more accurate, resulting in lower radiation levels. The correction factor is between 0.4 and 0.1. Because the power level is multiplied with a number between one and zero, the result will be less then the original power level.

To address the safety of these antennas, an automated limiter needs to be installed which will reduce the power level if it is too higher over a span of 6 minute. This will ensure that the radiation threshold isn't exceeded by an antenna.

Another important detail of the provision specifies that applying the correction factor to an already existing antenna doesn't count as modifying the antenna resulting in hopefully lower administrative burden.

An other obstacle towards adaptive antennas comes from the federalistic structure of the Swiss government. Each canton has its own law regarding the accepted radiation level of antennas and how companies apply for building and changing antennas. The report does lay the legal foundation to allow the cantons to change their law without fearing legal repercussion. With the hype around 5G, companies, like Swisscom, are anxious to build new antennas and will surly pressure the cantons to hurry up with these laws, however law-makers aren't known the be rapid.

To monitor how effective these antennas are, the BAFU started to monitor the electromagnetic pollution and will publish a report later in 2022. It will be interesting to see, if the electromagnetic pollution will stay stable at the current level or will increase.