SEAWave – EU project for research into high-frequency fields and millimetre waves

Project start: June 2022
End of project: June 2025
Participation: 15 consortium partners from the European Union and Switzerland
Funding: Euro 7.3 million of funding from the EU
Consultative Consortium Partner: BfS

Background

The 5G mobile communications standard will also use higher frequencies, for example in the 24 Gigahertz (GHz) or 40 GHz range. The Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) does not expect any health effects in these areas either if the applicable limits are observed. However, because relatively fewer examination results are available here, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) and its international partners see a need for further research. The EU-funded research project SEAWave is intended to close research gaps here. SEAWave stands for "Scientific-Based Exposure and Risk Assessment of Radiofrequency and MM-Wave Systems from Children to Elderly (5G and Beyond)". The programme serves a scientifically sound exposure and risk assessment of high-frequency fields and millimetre waves that covers all age groups and includes 5G as well as other technologies.

Objective

The consortium of 15 partners from the European Union and Switzerland is dedicated to five overarching goals in 11 work packages:

1. Identification of differences in exposure patterns between old generation (2G–4G) and new generation (5G) mobile networks
2. Provision of tools (hardware and software tools) for reliable exposure assessment
3. Identification of exposure minimisation measures
4. Provision of important new scientific data for the assessment of possible health risks of the new frequency ranges (24–53 GHz), in particular with regard to influences on carcinogenesis and cancer promotion that have not yet been scientifically ruled out as well as other hazards from skin exposure
5. Provision of means for effective risk communication for stakeholders (including authorities such as the BfS)

Each work package is led by a consortium partner and supported by other partners such as the BfS.

BfS is an advisory consortium partner in SEAWave and thus contributes the expertise of a national radiation protection authority to the implementation of research projects. The main tasks of the BfS are to advise on the design of individual research projects, to critically review and constructively support reports, and to contribute exposure data. The BfS does not lead any of the work packages and is mainly active in an advisory capacity.

Consortium partner

There are 15 consortium partners:

1. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Greece
2. Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Italy
3. Schmid & Partner Engineering AG (SPEAG), Switzerland
4. Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society (IT’IS), Switzerland
5. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), France
6. International University (IU), Germany
7. Institute of Non-Ionizing Radiation (INIS), Slovenia
8. Greek Atomic Energy Commission (EEAE), Greece
9. Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Switzerland
10. French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), France
11. Interuniversity Microelectronic Center (IMEC), Belgium
12. Institute Mines-Telecom (TP-IPP), France
13. Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), Germany
14. National Frequency Agency (ANFR), France
15. Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM), Germany

Financing

SEAWave is funded with Euro 7.3 million from the EU.