Page 601 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

unknown for the general public. This unawareness and imperceptibility can generate public distrust
and rejection, which in turn can result in social conflicts and lead to delays in the deployment of
new wireless technologies. In this context, city officials and elected representatives need to develop
transparent policies and mechanisms for the implementation of wireless facilities.

2 ICTs and EMF
Radio communications and wireless systems are a part of everyday life in today's society. All radio
communications systems use EMF in the radio frequency (RF) part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Wireless networks provide vital infrastructure and the underlying connections supporting the
information and communication technologies (ICTs) for smart sustainable cities (SSC).

2.1 How wireless networks support ICT services?

The connected devices in our homes, businesses and communities are linked together through
dedicated wireless networks. Connected devices typically operate at very low power and over short
distances.

For example, the connected devices in a home can use a large number of radio access technologies,
such as Wi‐Fi, Bluetooth or protocols based on 434 or 868 MHz unlicensed services using industrial,
scientific, and medical (ISM) spectrum as well as mobile networks.
Connected devices in larger buildings such as hospitals, universities and schools typically use
dedicated wireless systems with antennas distributed throughout the facility.

Other wireless systems in our communities include, among other RF sources, television (TV)
broadcast, amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) radio broadcasting, mobile
phones and their base stations, wireless broadband, paging services, cordless phones, baby
monitors, emergency services (for example, police, fire, ambulance) as well as rural and country
communications, such as wireless local loop technologies and high frequency (HF) two‐way radio.
Some common RF transmitter sources and their typical operating powers are shown in Figure 1.
More information is provided in Table 1 of section 2.4.

ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications 591