Comment by jauntywundrkind

> Also, what frequencies is this antenna designed for; it seems like 5g can run on lots of spectrum; is this mmWave gear or lower?

The article says it's for the "sub-6" 5G bands, a.k.a. normal cellular frequencies, not mmWave.

As always, these are non-ionizing frequencies, they pose absolutely zero risk to health or safety unless you're absorbing enough power to be meaningfully heated by it.

> How much power can you emit if Joe in accounting is 8 feet away from it, and how does that compare versus normal building mounted or pole mounted antennas?

Assuming an antenna gain of 10 dBi, which seems to be "normal" for panel-style antennas in the 5G low band, just short of 30 watts in to the antenna would be safe according to the guidelines the FCC gives us amateur radio operators for "uncontrolled" environments if the antenna were aimed directly at a person eight feet away.

Obviously in the real world these antennas will be aimed outward so the energy being absorbed by anyone in the building will be significantly less than that.

These should not be installed in places someone could directly touch it or the cables feeding it, but there's no reason to believe there's any danger to someone just existing normally in the same room.

The patent indicates there is a ground plane on the back layer. The antenna is presumably only intended to radiate outside the building.

https://patents.google.com/patent/EP3828994B1

> My main concern is power level. How much power can you emit if Joe in accounting is 8 feet away from it

That was my first takeaway from the photo from outside. The kinds of antennas they put on top of buildings routinely run many hundreds to a thousand watts or more of power directionally out into the city. That's fine when you're putting it on equipment outside the building on a controlled access roof pointing away from the occupants in the building. Everyone actually in the beam pattern is going to be far away from the active elements.

This design doesn't seem to be incredibly directional especially outwards. You're not going to be able to run much power on that antenna, and now you're going to have it on the inside of metallized glass. A lot of that energy is going to stay in the building. I wouldn't want the desk next to this if it's going to run even 100W. Just asking to get some good RF burns.

> My main concern is power level. How much power can you emit if Joe in accounting is 8 feet away from it, and how does that compare versus normal building mounted or pole mounted antennas?

My thoughts exactly. Who would like to sit that close to a 5G Base Station?

This is a demonstration setup to show that it works.

It's fairly obvious that there are thousands of different ways to camoflauge this equipment in a real-world customer deployment, just like how routers, etc., are hidden in restaurants and stores.

> Apologies for soapboxing, but I want to chip in my belief that this world is driven by those who see possibility & potential.

Cynics never lose but optimists win.