1. 1
Online Mapping of Radiation Power Levels
from Mobile Towers
Kalyan Samanta1
, Ankit Kumar2
, Avijeet Kumar Singh3
, Srikanta Pal4
First Author: Ankit Kumar, 2nd
Year Student, BE, Dept of ECE, BIT Mesra, Ranchi,
Jharkhand 835215: Email: accantus@yahoo.com, Ph: 8969580066, Fax: 0651 2275401.
Second Author: Avijeet Kumar Singh, 2nd
Year Student, BE, Dept of ECE, BIT Mesra,
Ranchi, Jharkhand 835215: Email: avijeet1132.11@bitmesra.ac.in, Ph: 8271027767, Fax:
0651 2275401.
Third Author: Srikanta Pal, Professor, Dept of ECE, BIT Mesra, Ranchi, Jharkhand 835215,
Email: pal_srikanta@yahoo.co.uk, spal@bitmesra.ac.in, Ph: 9470136272, 0651-2275750,
Fax: 0651 2275401.
Communicating Author: Kalyan Samanta, Assistant Professor, Dept of IT, BIT, Mesra,
Ranchi, Jharkhand 835215: Email: samantakalyan@yahoo.com, Ph: 8986804721, Fax: 0651
2275401

2. Abstract— This paper reports the implementation of online
mapping of the harmful microwave radiations emitted by the
huge matrix of cell phone and Wi-Fi towers, so as to
monitor and thus help control the risk for people residing in
a high radiation zone. The manuscript proposes a scheme
for implementation of a web portal to make the common
people aware about the levels of radiation power in their
localities and their risk factors. Analog output of a radiation
detector is fed into an analog to digital converter (ADC),
output of the ADC is further uploaded to an online server,
through HTTP protocol onto which a web portal is installed.
The web portal provides a fruitful interface for graphical
analysis and mapping of the detected radiation power on an
hour to hour basis. The web portal has the facility of
keeping a record of the radiated power level data online. The
proposed research work is tested on field and provides good
results.
This research will be useful and easily accessible for the
common people as they will be aware of the radiation power
levels in their localities and thus may be able to raise the
alarm to the authorities if the restricted transmitted power
levels for respective mobile operators are as and when
violated. Output of this research may even help the
governmental authorities to monitor and control the
radiation power levels in the context of the phenomenal
growth of mobile tower, day by day. In this regard,
government can regulate installation of towers and also may
provide a plan for suitable location/s for further mobile
towers in future.
Index Terms— Mobile communications, microwave power,
web portal, Health Hazards, Radiation monitoring
INTRODUCTION
ow a days radiation from mobile towers have become
a great concern causing numerous health hazards such
as ‘cancer, irreversible infertility, calcium ion release
from cell membrane, DNA damage, stress, Alzheimer, Ear
damage, Tinnitus, Slavery gland tumor, Melatonin reduction,
Sleep disorders, etc’[1-9]. The cause of all mentioned health
hazards lie in the setup of huge matrix of mobile phone towers
installed by the telecommunication service providers for
better coverage and service. In India people are unaware of the
radiation patterns in there locality i.e. they are unable to know
whether they are living in high radiation zone or a safe
radiation zone.
N
The paper describes a detailed procedure of online mapping of
radiation power and pattern of EM radiations from mobile
towers. This research may be of great help and usage in the
coming future as it will keep a map and track of the emitted
radiation patterns on an hour to hour basis in a region where it
is installed.
The online mapping of radiation power is established using a
microprocessor, arduino equipped in a GSM 900 module. The
output (in analog voltage form) from the radiation detector

acts as an input to the this mapping device, which converts
the analog data into digital one. The converted data is now
used by the GSM 900 module of the microprocessor which is
programmed to send the data along with the unique id of the
detector to a remote server using a GPRS connection and http
protocol. The generation of unique id for the device helps the
server in interpreting its location. The server is programmed
using php to record the provided data and plot the graph of the
radiation patterns. The end result consists of the graph of
radiation pattern and its analysis, which is shown on a web
portal and is easily accessible by common man.
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
The online mapping device for radiation data works on an
arduino microcontroller which is a single-board
microcontroller including a 5V voltage regulator and a 16
MHz crystal oscillator. The hardware consists of a
simple open source hardware board designed around an 8-
bit Atmel AVR microcontroller. The software consists of a
standard programming language compiler (avr-gcc) and a boot
loader that executes on the microcontroller. The arduino
accepts the output from the radiation detector and converts the
analog voltage which it receives into a digital voltage value
through its inbuilt A to D converter.
The converted value of the voltage is stored in a variable in
the flash memory of the microcontroller. An unique id is
provided to every microcontroller which is stored as a global
constant in the memory in order to provide a trace of the
location of the device.
Once the microcontroller gets the voltage variable it passes it
to the GSM 900 shield which is explicitly installed in the
arduino microcontroller. The GSM 900 shield contains a port
for a GSM SIM. The main function of the GSM 900 shield is
to establish a GPRS connection to the server using a HTTP
protocol. The connection process is done with the help of
‘AT+CIFSR’ command which establishes a TCP connection
with the server by sending a GET request to the web page on
the server. The main header files used for the above
commands are “SIM900.h, SoftwareSerial.h and inetGSM.h”.
The only requirement for this to work is a GPRS enabled SIM.
When the connection to the web server is established
completely using the GET method, the microcontroller passes
the voltage variable and the unique id constant as a parameter
to the web page on the server. The passed voltage variable and
the unique id are then extracted on the server using PHP [10] .
PHP is an open source server side scripting language designed
for web-development to produce dynamic Web pages. Using
PHP the passed values from the device is extracted using a
$_GET[‘passed variable name’] method and are then inserted
into an online MySQL database. Now both the values are
stored in the MySQL database, a web interface is provided
which calculates the radiation power density according to the
generated output voltage in the radiation detector due to the
impact of microwave radiation on the detector.
On the server, the respective nodal locations corresponding to
each online mapping device is pre-stored and is accessed using
the unique id the device passes. Now the main web-portal
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3. which is accessible to the common man is programmed using
PHP, javascript, j-query and css. The web interface is
provided in such a way that the radiation patterns are plotted
on a graph and on a map using API (Application Programming
Interface) provided by google maps. The flowchart of the
complete mapping system is given in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 : Flow chart of the online mapping system
The picture of Arduino GSM shield is given in Fig. 2.
F
Fig 2 : Arduino GSM900 shield
Microcontroller Programming
An example program of the above mentioned radiation power
mapping is described below. The remarks of each section of
the programming block is explained after the program..
#include "SIM900.h"
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
#include "inetGSM.h"
InetGSM inet;
char uid_devide[50];
long voltage_variable;
uid_device[50]="sample device uid number";
void a_to_d_converter(){
/*code for a to d conversion in arduino
and store the converted voltage data
into a "voltage variable"*/
};
void setup(){
//call function a_to_d converter
a_to_d_converter();
//function called
//now write arduino code for opening a web page
//sample is like -
Serial.begin(9600);
3

4. Serial.println("GSM Shield testing.");
//initialize GSM shield
if (gsm.begin(2400)){
Serial.println("nstatus=READY");
started=true; }
else Serial.println("nstatus=IDLE");
if(started){
if (inet.attachGPRS("internet.wind","", ""))
Serial.println("status=ATTACHED");
else Serial.println("status=ERROR");
delay(1000);
gsm.SimpleWriteln("AT+CIFSR");//initialize AT command
delay(5000);
gsm.WhileSimpleRead();
numdata=inet.httpGET("www.server_name.php?
voltage_variable="+voltage_variable+"&uid="+uid,
80, "/", msg, 50);//code to pass the data
//Serial.println("received uno byte:");
//Serial.println(numdata);
//Serial.println("nData recived:");
//Serial.println(msg);}};
Processing starts with including the library files of the
arduino avr gcc compiler. The #include “inetGSM.h”
command includes the header files associated with the
GSM900 shield, #include “GSM900.h” includes the header
files associated with SIM that is used for GPRS connection
and #include<SoftwareSerial.h> includes header files which
can serially communicate onto digital pins. After this the code
initializes InetGSM object as “InetGSM inet ;” and declares
uid_device of data type character and length 50. The
uid_device for any online mapping device is declared as a
global variable and is kept constant for that device, now the
voltage_variable is declared as long data type.
After the program initializes the variables and include header
files. It declares a function “void a_to_d_converter()” of return
type void, which contains the code to convert the analog data
received from the input to digital form and store the converted
voltage value in voltage_variable.
Now the executable portion of the code is declared in “void
setup()” function of return type void. In the setup() function
the a_to_d_converter() function is called first to obtain
voltage_variable.
In further code snippets the code checks availability of
GSM900 shield and establishes a connection to a remote web
server using “AT+CIFSR” command and http protocol. The
most important part of the code snippet is the assigning of the
numdata variable.
Numdata is responsible for opening of webpage and passing of
the voltage_variable and uid_device to the web page, as:
numdata=inet.httpGET("www.server_name.php?
voltage_variable="+voltage_variable+"&uid="+uid, 80, "/",
msg, 50);
The comments provided in last were the simulative test cases
and were used uncommented in the test process to know about
the interaction of the arduino device with the web server.
Portal development
The data passed from the online mapping device to the server
is first received through a PHP $_GET[‘’] command and then
stored on to a MySQL database along with the time it was
received. The server identifies the device with its unique
identification code that is its uid_device passed variable. The
main interface which is accessible to the users extracts the
data in the form of query from the above mentioned MySQL
database for calculation of the radiation patterns
A schematic diagram of the online mappingsystem is given in
Fig. 3.
Fig 3 : Schematic diagram of the online mapping system
CONCLUSION
The paper describes the implementation of an innovative
concept of mapping down the radiation patterns for a locality
and can also be implemented for mapping of the radiation
power of the whole country and also even for the world. Just
like the temperature mapping, any common man will be able
to get the radiation values at just one click. As a result of
which common people will be made aware of the radiation
exposures they are subjected to in the most cheaply and easy
4

5. manner. It will enable the government to have an eye on the
radiation patterns so as to control it, as the fast growing matrix
of towers will surely be a curse to health if not curbed at right
time.
REFERENCES
[1] Mohd Yusof Mohd Ali, Rozaimah Abd Rahim, Mohd Anuar
Majid and Amirul Nizam Mohd Thani Microwave Radiation
from Mobile Telephone Base Stations”, 2006 International
RF and Microwave conference Proceedings, September 12 -
14, 2006, Putrajaya, Malaysia
[2] V S Tanwar, “Living Dangerously in Indian Cities: an RF
Radiation Pollution Perspective”, ElectroMagnetic
Interference and Compatibility (INCEMIC), 2006
Proceedings of the 9th International Conference, 23-24 Feb.
2006, page(s): 458 - 466
[3] 1Umweltanalytik und Baubiologie, 2AnBUS e.V.,
3Baubiologie Maes, “HF-Radiation levels of GSM Cellular
Phone Towers in Residential Areas”,
[4] Okonigene R.E., “Siting of GSM Base Station Antenna And
Its Health Consequences”, 2010 Seventh International
Conference on Information Technology, Las Vegas, Nevada,
USA, 12-14 April.
[5] Christof Olivier and Luc Martens, “Optimal Settings for
Narrow-Band Signal Measurements Used for Exposure
Assessment Around GSM Base Stations”, IEEE Trans. On
Instrumentation and Measurement, VOL. 54, NO. 1, On
page(s): 311 – 317, February 2005.
[6] Frans J. C. Meyer*, David B. Davidson, Member, IEEE,
Ulrich Jakobus, and Maria A. Stuchly, Fellow, IEEE,
“Human Exposure Assessment in the Near Field of GSM
Base-Station Antennas Using a Hybrid Finite
Element/Method of Moments Technique”, IEEE Trans. on
Biomedical Engineering, VOL. 50, NO. 2, February, 2003
[7] Girish Kumar, “Mobile Tower/ Mobile Phone Radiation
Hazards”, Workshop on Cell tower / Cell Phone Radiation
Hazards and Solution, VMCC IIT Bombay, 20 November
2011
[8] Girish Kumar, ”Report On Cell tower Radiation, Submitted
to Secretary, DOT, Delhi”, December, 2010
[9] Sujoy K Guha, Sudarsan Neogy, Girish Kumar, ”Report On
Cell tower Radiation Hazards, Submitted to West Bengal
Environment minister”, October 2011
[10] ref.-http://www.open-electronics.org/gsm-gps-shield-for-
arduino)
5

6. manner. It will enable the government to have an eye on the
radiation patterns so as to control it, as the fast growing matrix
of towers will surely be a curse to health if not curbed at right
time.
REFERENCES
[1] Mohd Yusof Mohd Ali, Rozaimah Abd Rahim, Mohd Anuar
Majid and Amirul Nizam Mohd Thani Microwave Radiation
from Mobile Telephone Base Stations”, 2006 International
RF and Microwave conference Proceedings, September 12 -
14, 2006, Putrajaya, Malaysia
[2] V S Tanwar, “Living Dangerously in Indian Cities: an RF
Radiation Pollution Perspective”, ElectroMagnetic
Interference and Compatibility (INCEMIC), 2006
Proceedings of the 9th International Conference, 23-24 Feb.
2006, page(s): 458 - 466
[3] 1Umweltanalytik und Baubiologie, 2AnBUS e.V.,
3Baubiologie Maes, “HF-Radiation levels of GSM Cellular
Phone Towers in Residential Areas”,
[4] Okonigene R.E., “Siting of GSM Base Station Antenna And
Its Health Consequences”, 2010 Seventh International
Conference on Information Technology, Las Vegas, Nevada,
USA, 12-14 April.
[5] Christof Olivier and Luc Martens, “Optimal Settings for
Narrow-Band Signal Measurements Used for Exposure
Assessment Around GSM Base Stations”, IEEE Trans. On
Instrumentation and Measurement, VOL. 54, NO. 1, On
page(s): 311 – 317, February 2005.
[6] Frans J. C. Meyer*, David B. Davidson, Member, IEEE,
Ulrich Jakobus, and Maria A. Stuchly, Fellow, IEEE,
“Human Exposure Assessment in the Near Field of GSM
Base-Station Antennas Using a Hybrid Finite
Element/Method of Moments Technique”, IEEE Trans. on
Biomedical Engineering, VOL. 50, NO. 2, February, 2003
[7] Girish Kumar, “Mobile Tower/ Mobile Phone Radiation
Hazards”, Workshop on Cell tower / Cell Phone Radiation
Hazards and Solution, VMCC IIT Bombay, 20 November
2011
[8] Girish Kumar, ”Report On Cell tower Radiation, Submitted
to Secretary, DOT, Delhi”, December, 2010
[9] Sujoy K Guha, Sudarsan Neogy, Girish Kumar, ”Report On
Cell tower Radiation Hazards, Submitted to West Bengal
Environment minister”, October 2011
[10] ref.-http://www.open-electronics.org/gsm-gps-shield-for-
arduino)
5