Are Mobile Communications safe? “Insufficiently protective of public health” Inter Ministerial Committee of India (Dec 2010) “Harmful to human health and environment” Council of Europe (May 2011) “Possibly carcinogenic” WHO (May 2011) “Carbon emission of 12 million tons” Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Feb 2011) Green Mobile Communications is a solution to the above concerns with a proof-of-concept pilot at Auroville.

1. GMC
Green Mobile Communications
A joint project between
Auroville & IIIT, Bangalore
In partnership with
Telecom Centers of Excellence
Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research
TCOE, JIPMER and Pondicherry Engineering College

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Concerns about EMR
• Motivation for GMC
• GMC Zone at Auroville
• Coverage and deployment
• Specifications and goals
• Stake holders
• Concluding remarks
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3. Wireless miracle?
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4. Electromagnetic Radiation
• Cell Towers
– Safe limit for radiation
– Cell size
• Cell phones
– Radiated power ( proportional to R2)
– Proximity
• Electromagnetic pollution
– Depends on the total energy from BTS and cell
phones: function of safe limit/cell size, BTS, active
cell phones, range and call duration
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5. Safe exposure limits of EMR
μW/m2 Source
O 4,700,000 ICNIRP 1998
U 1,000 Austria
T
1,000 BioInitiative Working Group (2007)
D
O 170 Seletun Consensus Statement (2010)
O 10 Health Department , Salzburg (2002)
R
I 100 BioInitiative Working Group (2007)
N 1 Health Department , Salzburg (2002)
< 0.1 Building Biology /’No concern’
Sleeping areas (2008)
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6. Increasing concerns about EMR
• 1998, ICNIRP - No long term effects
•2010, Inter Ministerial Committee - Current
limits not sufficiently protective of public health
• May 2011, Council of Europe - Reconsider the
scientific basis and apply precautionary
principle, Protect children, Potentially harmful
to environment
• May 2011, WHO- Possibly carcinogenic to
humans (Group 2B)
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7. Carbon foot print
• As per TRAI Consultation paper 3 Feb 2011,
the carbon foot print due to the electrical
power and diesel generators used for cell
towers used is estimated to be 13 million
tons.
• The cost is ~ Rs15,000 crores
• Mobile towers are expected to double in the
coming 5-7 years
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8. Why GMC?
• Beyond carbon footprint
• Apply ‘Precautionary Principle’ to EMR in
experimenting with ‘safe limits’
• Minimize electromagnetic pollution
• Practical research in electromagnetic pollution
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9. Goals of GMC
• Provide basic mobile communication services
while addressing all factors contributing to
electromagnetic pollution.
• Reduce cell size down to 0.5 – 1 Km (20 to
30dB)
• Reduce over-the-public-air radiated energy
– Public /private air spaces (10 to30 dB)
– Strategies to reduce call density and energy
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10. Approach
• Lower limits of EMR, in a phased manner, and
eventually operate at levels considered to be
‘completely safe’ for humans, flora and fauna.
• Use Solar/Fuel Cell Power to minimize carbon foot
print
• Practical research
– Modeling, reducing and minimizing EM pollution
– Quantify health of the population, flora and fauna in GMC
zone as a control group
– Transparently record, monitor, analyze and publish results
objectively and credibly.
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11. GMC Target Specifications
Phase Radiation limits in micro Watts/ m2
Outdoor Indoor
1 100 10
2* 10 1
3* 1 0.1
* Review specs for phase 2 and 3 after phase 1
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12. µW/m2
Link Budget
µW/m2
• Free space model
• Pt=50mW
• 1 Km Max Range
• -102dBm Rx sensitivity
• 20 dB losses
• 10 dB link margin
Received signal is 13dB
above the receiver
sensitivity at 1Km
Meters
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13. GMC Architecture
SIP Server
IP Phones
PSTN Service Provider CAN POTS Exchange Phones
Low Power
BTS
Mobile Switch Femto/pico Mobile
PLMN cells Phones
& BSC
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14. Auroville
Founded by The Mother in 1968
International city of human unity
• Goals
Human Unity
Education, Spiritual & Material
Research
Integral Development
• UNESCO endorsed the goals and
directions on many occasions
• Current population 2,250 from 46
countries; projected to grow to
50,000 by 2025
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15. 1968
15

16. 2010
16

17. Eco friendly transportation

18. Renewable Energy
Solar cooker
18

19. Initiatives to reduce EMR
• Highly EMR conscious society as part of the
commitment to sustainable development
• Green Waves (Radiation Awareness Group)
• Prevented installation of antennas in the
township area till November 2010
• ICITI (Integrated Communications and IT
Infrastructure) – convergence, eco-
friendliness, ICT4D to reverse urban migration
• Annular shape caters to ‘buffer zone’
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20. ICITI Architecture
INTERNET Mobile Switch
Servers DSLAM
PSTN BSNL
PLMN Exchange
Core 10G
Router
SIP Server
Distribution 1G
Access 100M
Bioregion
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21. Required Coverage

22. Deployment
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23. Partnerships
• International Institute of Information
Technology, Bangalore
• Pondicherry Engineering College
• Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Post Graduate
Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry
• Pondicherry University
• Low Power GSM Equipment vendor (VNL)
• Centre for Scientific Research
• Telecom Centers of Excellence
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24. Challenges in wider deployment
• Increase in number of BTS
– Equipment cost, Cell sites, Aesthetics
• Wired backhaul
• Mini cell handover and QoS
• New sites may be easier
• Timeline issues (?) as public health issues are
involved
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25. Grey areas
• Shared infrastructure to reduce capital cost as
well as EM pollution
• Roaming
• Workable and cost effective convergence
solution
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26. What GMC Needs
• Recognize and endorse the goals & objectives
• A cooperative model with all stake holders
leading to formulation of Auroville as a pilot
GMC Zone with phase 1 specs
• Partnership with a service provider
• ICITI as a platform for convergence
• Funding
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27. Conclusion
• A unique, timely, ‘True Green’ Mobile
Communications Zone to address health and
environmental concerns & demonstrate that
mobile communications can be provided with
low electromagnetic & carbon footprints
• Experimental research in the field of EM
pollution and share the knowledge/wisdom
• First phase cost ~ Rs 1.25 crores
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28. THANK YOU
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