Experimental Assessment of Electromagnetic Fields Inside a Vehicle for Different Wireless Communication Scenarios: A New Alternative Source of Energy

Abstract

The search for new energy sources in the 21st century is a crucial topic with an essential economic and societal meaning. Today, energy from electromagnetic fields (EMFs) is considered a promising new energy source for ultra-low-power consumption devices, such as wearable devices and Internet of Things (IoT) sensors. The research goal of this study was to experimentally evaluate the electric field (E-field) inside a compact car for several realistic wireless communication scenarios and to explore the possibility of using these EMFs in energy-harvesting applications. For each scenario, we performed measurements of E-fields in an urban area, in two cases: when the car was in an open space without a direct line of sight to a base station, and when the car was in underground parking. The results show that the highest measured value of the electric field appeared during the voice calls via the GSM network. Moreover, the maximum measured values of the electric field during a UMTS, LTE and 5G voice call were five to six times lower than those in the GSM network.