A Comparative Study of Analog and Microcontroller-Based RF Detection Systems for Mobile Phone Emission Monitoring

Abstract—With the exponential growth in wireless communica- tion and mobile phone usage, ensuring the controlled use of such devices in sensitive environments has become crucial. This paper presents a comparative study of two complementary RF detection approaches for mobile phone emission monitoring: an analog ring detector circuit and a microcontroller-based broadband RF monitoring system using an ESP32. The analog system targets narrowband high-energy GSM signals, while the ESP32-based solution employs a broadband RF detector capable of analyzing a wider spectrum from 100 MHz to 2.5 GHz. Both systems are designed and implemented to capture RF emissions in real-time and are evaluated based on sensitivity, coverage, response time, and implementation complexity [?]. The results provide valuable insights into their strengths, weaknesses, and potential integration for enhanced RF surveillance. The study demonstrates the prac- ticality of hybrid analog-digital detection systems for applications such as examination halls, secure facilities, and signal monitoring research.. Index Terms—RF Detection, ESP32, Ring Detector Circuit, Mobile Phone Detection, Wireless Emissions, Broadband Moni- toring