The high-power C-band Range Safety & Telemetry System (RSTS) antennas and the Flight Termination System (FTS) antennas used for tracking and command, control, and destruct of the missiles launched from the Kodiak Island Launch Complex present unique RF safety concerns. Because the launch complex and the separate tracking facility on the coast are so far north, these directional antennas actually point below horizontal at the time of launch. Surveys and the subsequent RF safety reports at facilities like this must focus not only on measured field strength but on “what if” scenarios. The custom training program must also address the unique issues at these sites.

How do you train nearly 300 field personnel that each work on their own? Ten RF Safety LiveCast™ sessions were taught with 25 to 35 people signed in from separate locations at each class. One advantage of the live training is that it is very interactive, both between the instructor and the students and between the students, who have the ability to learn from each other. Training sessions were updated as new information was gleaned from the field personnel about some of the very unique sites owned and managed by American Tower.

Because Alaska is a very big state, wireless tower sites are located in areas that are frequently inaccessible. Conducting RF surveys of more than 20 sites is time-consuming and costly—and not necessary to determine compliance with FCC Regulations. Rather than spend a great deal of money to have a technician travel to Alaska to make measurements, RF Safety Solutions provided a different solution. Data on each site was gathered by the company and supplied along with pictures. Several worst-case antenna installations were analyzed using sophisticated computer-modeling software designed specifically for the task. The resulting, comprehensive report not only proved conclusively that all the sites were compliant at ground level, but it provided the foundation for developing a comprehensive RF safety program for those who climb the towers. With the sites assessed and a complete RF safety program in place, personnel were trained live via the Internet—RF Safety LiveCast™—with a single training session. The cost for the site evaluation, report, safety program, and training was less than 25 percent of the proposed cost just to make measurements!

The Meadowlands Xanadu Project is a five-story retail and entertainment complex undergoing construction in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Xanadu will be the largest retail and entertainment complex in the United States and the third largest in the world, with 4,500,000 square feet (418,000 square meters) of entertainment, sports, retail, office, and hotel space. It features the only indoor, downhill ski run in the country and will soon have the largest Ferris wheel in the Americas and the second-largest in the world. The Meadowlands area of New Jersey, which is located due west and in sight of Manhattan, is the site of 11 AM radio broadcast stations. The stations were located in this area because much of the land is not useful for buildings due to the wetlands, and so it was generally inexpensive.

Operating large cranes anywhere in the Meadowlands area has always been a challenge since the cranes make very effective AM radio antennas. The Xanadu Project brought concerns over this problem to unprecedented levels because some of the buildings are less than 300 feet from a 50,000-Watt, three-tower array. Special work procedures had to be developed to allow work to proceed. All the buildings had to be constructed so that they function as RF shields.

The last item scheduled for installation is the Ferris wheel. The 300-foot-high wheel, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, will be located about 200 feet (60 meters) from the AM radio towers.  Grounding and testing of the wheel introduces some unique challenges.

Cornell University manages the Arecibo Observatory for the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center. The 300-meter/1,000-foot-diameter reflector is the largest in the world. The feed is suspended from cables attached to three towers.
The site includes two extremely high-power radar systems. RF Safety Solutions evaluated the site, wrote a comprehensive RF safety report, and trained most of the personnel at the facility. Training ranged from basic awareness to measurement training for a few senior scientists. The 430-MHz radar has a peak power of 2.5 MW with an average power of up to 150 kW. The 2.38-MHz radar has an output power of 1,000,000 Watts CW!
This site was featured in the film Contact (1997), with Jodie Foster, and the Bond film GoldenEye (1995), with Pierce Brosnan. The view from the platform is spectacular!

At one point, NBC owned and operated 30 broadcast television sites for its NBC and Telemundo networks. RF Safety Solutions visited each of these sites to conduct an RF survey and wrote a comprehensive RF safety report for each site. Personnel from the stations were trained live via the Internet via customized courses for different groups of personnel. NBC was one of our earliest RF Safety LiveCast™ customers. A comprehensive RF safety program was developed for NBC Television. Recently, RF Safety Solutions developed the content for a series of four interactive computer-based training (CBT) modules that are being created by General Electric’s (NBC-Universal’s parent company) learning center.

How do you offer quality, affordable RF safety training to the several thousand members of SBE that are located in more than 100 chapters scattered across the United States? Live training via the Internet—RF Safety LiveCast™ sessions—are the answer. Small groups of 2 to 20 people located in several cities sign in for a course that lasts about 3.5 hours. Students have signed in from as far away as Johannesburg, South Africa. The sessions are always lively since the students can interact not only with the instructor but also with their fellow students at their own training site and students in other cities. Our partnership with SBE allows SBE to register the students and issue the certificates.

RF Safety Solutions conducted RF safety training for key management and technical personnel on both the East and West Coasts that were attended by personnel from all over the United States. The Global Maritime Safety and Distress System (GMSDS) was evaluated at two sites in Louisiana just days before the sites were hit by Hurricane Katrina. The primary antenna type used by GMSDS is a 54-foot, self-supporting, omnidirectional whip antenna. The second type of antenna is the Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) antenna. The NVIS is a horizontal, multiwire, center-fed antenna supported between two nearly vertical towers. Both antenna systems are capable of operating over the entire 2- to 30-MHz band. There were concerns at the site about exposure to significant RF fields as well as induced currents. The project included extensive calculations and predictions of induced currents using electric field measurement data. The goal was to determine the appropriate size of fenced enclosures and to establish safe work practices for Coast Guard personnel.

The Virginia class (or SSN-774 class) of attack submarines are U.S. subs designed for a broad spectrum of open-ocean and littoral missions. They were designed as a less expensive alternative to the Cold War-era Seawolf-class attack submarines, and they are slated to replace the aging Los Angeles class subs. The Virginia-class incorporates several innovations not previously seen in other sub classes. Instead of a traditional periscope, the class utilizes a pair of telescoping photonics masts located outside the pressure hull. Each mast contains high-resolution cameras, along with light-intensification and infrared sensors, an infrared laser rangefinder, and an integrated Electronic Support Measures (ESM) array. Two Multifunction Communications Mast Antenna Systems are installed in the sail of each submarine. Each mast can handle a vast array of communications systems ranging from high frequency (HF) to the millimeter-band MILSTAR system.

At sea, these antennas radiate from a height of several feet above the heads of the sailors located on the bridge and in the lookout hole on the top of the sail. There were concerns over possible RF exposure when in port where a two-tier scaffolding rig, referred to as the racetrack, is installed on the top of the sail. A person standing on the upper level of the racetrack has his or her feet at the same elevation as the top of the sail and is thus both much closer to the antennas and no longer shielded by the ship’s hull. A complex set of single-system measurements were made, both from the racetrack and from a man lift basket in close proximity to the antennas of the USS New Hampshire (SSN 778) while it was docked at the submarine base in Groton, Connecticut. In addition, calculations were made to determine the safe distance from the concentrated beam radiating from the MILSTAR antenna to ensure the safety of crane operators. The detailed RF safety report has been distributed within General Dynamics’ Electric Boat Division and the U.S. Navy.