Comments on 'Exposure assessment of mobile phone base station radiation in an outdoor environment using sequential surrogate modeling' by Aerts et al.

摘要

Aerts et al. [2013] report a method to map radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure from base stations using a sequential surrogate model (SSM). While innovative, we think that the assertion that SSM is suitable for large-scale epidemi-ological research is doubtful and we propose that 3D radio wave propagation modeling (3DM) is likely more suitable to assess RF-EMF for epidemiological studies. Previous studies that have applied 3DM show a similar accuracy as SSM when comparing modeled and measured RF-EMF [Biirgi et al., 2008; Beekhui-zen et al., 2013]. However, 3DM, in contrast to SSM, can (i) be easily scaled to large study populations, (ii) considers temporal changes, and (iii) provides exposure estimates also at heights. These considerations are important for the practical implementation in epidemiological research.