5G small cell / street-level node
Pole-mounted nodes radiate roughly 10 W EIRP at street level, putting a residence 10 m away at about 8,000 µW/m² on the main beam — far below regulatory limits but often above precautionary building-biology bands.
radiofrequencyoutdoor
Last verified 12 August 2026.
Also searched as: small cell, 5G node, street pole antenna
- Category
- radiofrequency
- Emission bands
- Mid band (1.7–2.6 GHz); C-band (3.3–4.2 GHz); mmWave (24–39 GHz)
- Environments
- outdoor
- Transmit power
- 10 W EIRPRegulatory value — legally enforceable — Small cells span roughly 1–50 W EIRP depending on class and band; mmWave nodes use high EIRP with very narrow beams and poor wall penetration.sources: fcc-oet65
- Duty cycle
- Similar to macro sites: continuous control channels, load-dependent traffic, beamformed peaks.
Field strength by distance
- 5 m
- 31,800 µW/m²Computed estimate — S = EIRP / (4πd²) with EIRP = 10 W, d = 5 m — Main-beam free-space value.sources: fcc-oet65
- 10 m
- 7,960 µW/m²Computed estimate — S = EIRP / (4πd²) with EIRP = 10 W, d = 10 m — Main-beam free-space value.sources: fcc-oet65
- 30 m
- 884 µW/m²Computed estimate — S = EIRP / (4πd²) with EIRP = 10 W, d = 30 m — Main-beam free-space value.sources: fcc-oet65
- 100 m
- 79.6 µW/m²Computed estimate — S = EIRP / (4πd²) with EIRP = 10 W, d = 100 m — Main-beam free-space value.sources: fcc-oet65
Mitigations, most effective first
- Determine which rooms have line of sight to the node; mmWave and C-band are strongly attenuated by walls and glass coatings.
- Line of sight is the single biggest factor in indoor levels from street-level nodes.
- Apply RF window film or shielding paint to the facing wall and window, then re-measure.
- Typical installed shielding of 20–30 dB reduces incident power density by 99–99.9%.
Measure with
- Broadband RF power-density meter
- RF spectrum analyser
Related records
- Macro cell tower (LTE / 5G sector antenna)
Sector antennas radiate on the order of 1000 W EIRP per sector on the main beam, which is aimed above and away from the tower base — ground-level exposure directly beneath a tower is usually lower than at a few hundred metres away.
Sources & emitters
- Swiss installation limit value for mobile phone antennas
4–6 V/m at places of sensitive use depending on band — about 100 times lower in power density than ICNIRP's reference level.
Exposure limits
Sources
- fcc-oet65 OET Bulletin 65: Evaluating Compliance with FCC Guidelines for Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields — Federal Communications Commission, Office of Engineering and Technology, 1997. government, link checked 2026-08-12.
- itu-fs-relations Free-space path loss and power density relations (ITU-R P.525) — International Telecommunication Union. standard, link checked 2026-08-12.
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