Yang, YizhenVermeeren, GünterVerloock, LeenGuxens Junyent, MònicaJoseph, Wout2025-05-122025-05-122025Yang 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/app150528582076-3417http://hdl.handle.net/10230/70349The 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.application/pdfeng© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app15052858Wi-Fi 6EMF exposureDuty cycleRealistic scenariosRegulatory complianceinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess