Using Android Terminals for Measuring the Electric Field Strength Generated by Wi-Fi Access Points

In this article, some aspects related to the use of Android terminals for measuring the electric field strength generated by Wi-Fi wireless access points are provided. The main goal of this document is to determine if mobile phones can be used to measure electric field strength in a reliable way. This would make it possible for people to instantly know, anywhere and anytime, the level of non-ionizing radiation to which they are exposed. This level could be then compared to the limits for Maximum Permissible Exposure established by ICNIRP, in V/m units. Due to it is only possible to measure power levels using Android phones, a power-to-electric field conversion factor had to be found. For that, ten Android terminals and one calibrated isotropic meter were used. The results obtained clearly show the effect of the distance on the received electric field level. However, the application of the proposed methodology can introduce errors of up to 10 dB in the measurement of electric field strength.