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    Fresnel Zones and Their Effect

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    Dramane Bonkoungou
    Fresnel Zones and their Effect in transmission links

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    Fresnel Zones and Their Effect

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    Dramane Bonkoungou
    145 views3 pages
    Fresnel Zones and their Effect in transmission links

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    Fresnel Zones and their Effect in transmission links

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    145 views3 pages

    Fresnel Zones and Their Effect

    Uploaded by

    Dramane Bonkoungou
    Fresnel Zones and their Effect in transmission links

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
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    Tech Stuff - Fresnel Zones and their Effect

    1 of 3

    http://www.zytrax.com/tech/wireless/fresnel.htm

    Tech Stuff - Wireless - Fresnel Zones and their Effect


    Or 'Why Line of Sight is not enough'
    This page provides a quick overview of the phenomena known as Fresnel Effect or
    Fresnel Zones. Since Monsieur Fresnel was a French physicist/mathematician drop the
    's' when pronouncing his name to show you are real savvy (or should that be 'chic').
    Bad News: If you can see the receiving antenna the wireless link still might not work this is entirely the fault of M. Fresnel (aided and abetted by a few natural laws). If you
    prefer some action ("to !#? with the theory just gimme the numbers") go direct to our
    Fresnel Calculator.

    With apologies to M. Fresnel


    Here goes for a quick explanation of the problem (with suitable apologies for the
    superficiality). Direct radio waves will obviously travel in a straight line from the
    transmitter (TX) to the receiver (RX). But there are other waves inside the signal 'cone'
    (or circle if the antenna is a omni). If these other waves don't bump into anything
    (there are no obstacles) they will just travel off into the night until overcome with
    exhaustion. But if they bump into something (a deflection) they may end up at the RX
    antenna and if they are out of phase with the straight line signals they may have a
    phase cancelling effect - they will reduce the power of the arriving signal. The
    magnitude of the phase cancelling effect is a function of the signal strength (the
    longer the distance the waves have travelled the lower the signal strength) and how out
    of phase (always described in terms of an angle) is the deflected signal. See diagram 1
    below.

    Diagram 1 - Phase cancelling effects from deflections (bumps)

    Phase Cancellation
    Fresnel provided a means to calculate how out of phase the bumps (deflections)
    between the transmission source (TX) and the receptor (RX) will be. Each Fresnel zone
    is an ellipsoidal shape ('sausage like' to the rest of us) as shown below. Deflections
    (bumps) from obstacles which occur anywhere in zone 1 will, if they arrive at the
    receptor (RX), create signals that will be 0 to 90o out of phase, in zone 2 they will be 90
    to 270o out of phase, in zone 3 they will be 270 to 450o out of phase and so on. Even
    numbered zones are bad'ish (they have the maximum phase cancelling effect) and odd
    numbered zones are good'ish (they may actually add to the signal power). The signal
    strength (and hence the magnitude of the phase cancelling effect) is strongest in zone

    16/07/2014 10:23

    Tech Stuff - Fresnel Zones and their Effect

    2 of 3

    http://www.zytrax.com/tech/wireless/fresnel.htm

    1 and decreases in each successive zone simply because wave paths get longer (and
    signals get weaker) the further they are from the direct line from transmitter (TX) to
    receptor (RX). Because the Fresnel zone is ellipsoidal, at any arbitrary point which is d1
    distance from the transmitter (TX) and d2 distance from the receptor (RX) each Fresnel
    zone has a unique radius value of r1. Fresnel's equation allow us to calculate this
    unique radius (r1) given the value of either d1 or d2. See diagram 2.

    Diagram 2 - Fresnel zones

    OK, so what's the big deal


    The big deal is this. To maximise RX strength you need to minimise the effect of the out
    of phase signals. To do that you must make sure the strongest signals don't bump into
    anything - they have the maximum chance of getting to the RX location. The strongest
    signals are the ones closest to the direct line between TX and RX and always lie in the
    1st Fresnel Zone. The rule of thumb is that 60% of the 1st Fresnel zone must be
    clear of obstacles If you have a building, say, that is a distance d1 from the TX
    antenna and d2 from the RX antenna then it must not be closer than 60% of r1
    measured from the centre line of sight (shown as c1 in diagram 3). You may need to
    juggle the antenna positioning to ensure this 60% zone is clear (you will also see this
    60% figure written as 0.6 just to confuse). See diagram 3.

    Diagram 3 - Fresnel zone clearance

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    Tech Stuff - Fresnel Zones and their Effect

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    http://www.zytrax.com/tech/wireless/fresnel.htm

    The earth is in the way


    Finally on longer links especially (> 3Km or 2 miles) you will frequently see discussions
    about Fresnel zones and the curvature of the earth (though it can have an impact at
    very much closer distances). The reason: even if you are shooting a link across flat
    ground with no apparent obstacles, eventually the ground itself becomes the obstacle
    and can easily get inside the 60% clearance zone. Solution: lift the antenna higher to
    make sure the earth stays out of your way! In diagram 4 d1 and d2 are the same (the
    mid point) so the distance of the direct line of sight to the earth (c1) must be more than
    60% of r1. Our Fresnel Calculator gives the earth's height (or bulge) at the mid point of
    the link.

    Diagram 4 - Fresnel zone and earth curvature

    Problems, comments, suggestions, corrections (including broken links) or something to


    add? Please take the time from a busy life to 'mail us' (at top of screen), the webmaster
    (below) or info-support at zytrax. You will have a warm inner glow for the rest of the
    day.
    Copyright 1994 - 2014 ZyTrax, Inc.
    All rights reserved. Legal and Privacy

    site by zytrax

    web-master at zytrax
    Page modified: September 22 2013.

    16/07/2014 10:23

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