Ricerc@Sapienza

The continuous growth of worldwide mobile subscriptions and the progress of mobile devices and telecommunications in the last few years has led to a tremendous increase of demand for high data rates. The scarcity of licensed spectrum and the high costs of this resource have encouraged mobile operators to move towards the unlicensed spectrum. LTE Licensed-Assisted Access is the proposed technology, that allows to work on the 5 GHz unlicensed band. To operate on these frequencies already occupied by Wi-Fi and radar systems, LTE must fairly coexist with the above.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to review the current literature on electromagnetic radiation (EMR): physical, biophysical, and telecommunication. The widespread application of EMR in modern technologies requires telecommunication and healthcare professionals to possess some knowledge of its physical and biological properties. In this review article, we will discuss biophysical principles of EMR, its interactions with living organisms and its application in clinical practices. We will discuss here beneficial as well as hazardous effects of EMR.

Indoor localization of wireless mobile devices, also referred to as indoor positioning, is nowadays an intensively investigated research topic, toward the extension of outdoor location-based services to indoor environments. Among the available communication technologies and infrastructures, Wi-Fi appears as an excellent localization support, since it is largely widespread in indoor environments, implying low implementation time and costs; in turn, fingerprinting is one of the most investigated techniques for the implementation of Wi-Fi indoor positioning systems (IPSs).

The increasing exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF), especially from wireless communication devices, raises questions about their possible adverse health effects. So far, several in vitro studies evaluating RF-EMF genotoxic and cytotoxic non-thermal effects have reported contradictory results that could be mainly due to inadequate experimental design and lack of well-characterized exposure systems and conditions. Moreover, a topic poorly investigated is related to signal modulation induced by electromagnetic fields.