A survey of IEEE 802.11ax WLAN temporal duty cycle for the assessment of RF electromagnetic exposure

Yang, Yizhen; Vermeeren, Günter; Verloock, Leen; Guxens Junyent, Mònica; Joseph, Wout

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app15052858

A survey of IEEE 802.11ax WLAN temporal duty cycle for the assessment of RF electromagnetic exposure

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Yang Y, Vermeeren G, Verloock L, Guxens M, Joseph W. A survey of IEEE 802.11ax WLAN temporal duty cycle for the assessment of RF electromagnetic exposure. Appl Sci. 2025;15(5):2858. DOI: 10.3390/app15052858

Abstract

The increasing deployment of IEEE 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) networks necessitates an accurate assessment of radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure under realistic usage scenarios. This study investigates the duty cycle (DC) and corresponding exposure levels of Wi-Fi 6 in controlled laboratory conditions, focusing on bandwidth variations, multi-user scenarios, and application types. DC measurements reveal significant variability across internet services, with FTP upload exhibiting the highest mean DC (94.3%) under 20 MHz bandwidth, while YouTube 4K video streaming showed bursts with a maximum DC of 89.2%. Under poor radio conditions, DC increased by up to 5× for certain applications, emphasizing the influence of degraded signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on retransmissions and modulation. Weighted exposure results indicate a reduction in average electric-field strength by up to 10× when incorporating DC, with maximum weighted exposure at 4.2 V/m (6.9% of ICNIRP limits) during multi-user scenarios. These findings highlight the critical role of realistic DC assessments in refining exposure evaluations, ensuring regulatory compliance, and advancing the understanding of Wi-Fi 6’s EMF exposure implications.