Assessing EMF Exposure in Greek Urban and Suburban Areas During 5G Deployment: A Focus on 5G EMF Levels and Distance Correlation

This study presents an extensive analysis of electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure in Greek urban and suburban areas during the ongoing deployment of the 5G technology. A total of 400 in situ measurements of electric field strength were conducted at ground level across four distinct regions. The first part of the study provides a statistical analysis of the overall EMF exposure, highlighting the contributions of different cellular generations (2G–5G) to the total field. The results show that 4G networks are the dominant contributors, while the impact of 5G remains limited. The second part investigates the correlation between electric field levels in the 3.5 GHz band and the distance from 5G base stations (BS). Using geospatial analysis, we computed distances to the nearest BS and examined their relationship with measured EMF levels. The findings indicate a general inverse correlation between EMF levels and BS distance, although variations occur due to factors such as line-of-sight conditions and urban built environment characteristics. These results confirm that distance remains a key predictive feature for AI-based EMF exposure models, even in the case of 5G networks.