Fresnal Zones

In a point-to point, LAN-to-LAN bridging situation, their are two cone-shaped signal RF signal patterns which extend from the antenna located at each site. Together these cone shaped signal patterns are known as the Fresnel Zone (pronounced Fresnel Zone). To visualize the shape of the Fresnel Zone between the antennas, think of a big cigar sitting between the antennas. If you were to slice the "Cigar" at it's thickest point (directly in the middle), this point is known as the First Fresnel Zone and this point needs to have 60% of it's radius clear of obstructions or otherwise your signal will be affected. Have a look at the attached diagram where the Fresnel Zone is illustrated by the green cigar-shaped signal pattern. The first Fresnel Zone is illustrated by the pink circle.

An equation for calculating the radius of the Fresnel Zone can be expressed as follows (If you do a search on the web for "Fresnel Zone" you will be sure to find some calculators for this): / \ / R = 17.32 x \/ / ____________ D1 x D2 --------F x Dt

R = Radius D1 = Distance in km from first antenna to point just above potential obstruction D2 = Distance in km from point of obstruction to second antenna F = Frequency in GHz Dt - Total distance in km (D1+D2) Example 1 If you wanted to bridge two LAN's 10 kilometres apart, and the land was perfectly flat, the antenna's would have to be located around 11 metres above the ground. This equation shows midpoint of the antenna's which is the "fattest" point of the Fresnel Zone, so D1 & D2 need to be of equal value. ____________ / / 5x 5 \ / --------R = 17.32 x \/ 2.4x 10 Radius of first Fresnel Zone = 17.6771 metres 60% of 17.6771 metres is 10.6062 metres, so therefore the antennas need to be around 11 metres above the ground.

Example 2 Again, if you wanted to bridge two LAN's 10 kilometres apart, however there was a tree 2km from the first antenna. See diagram above: ____________ / / 2x 8 \ / --------R = 17.32 x \/ 2.4x 10 Radius of the Fresnel Zone at 2km = 14.1417 metres 60% of 14.1417 metres is 8.4850 metres. As the tree is 20 metres high, the antenna's need to be 28.4850 (30 metres) above the ground. You may have noticed that in Example 2 that the value for the Fresnel Zone is smaller than in Example 1. As you may have already worked out, this because Example 2 is measuring the Fresnel pattern before it has radiated to it's maximum point, midway between the two antenna's, as in Example 1.