[MLB-WIRELESS] Line of Sight

Craig Mead craig at australianwireless.org
Tue Feb 10 14:31:59 EST 2004


> Can someone please explain to me the concept of "line of sight"?  When
> setting up wireless links, people always talk about the importance of
> having line of sight... which I basically understand.  But I can wander
> around my house or around the uni campus with absolutely no line of sight
> whatsoever to any of the base stations, and things generally work fine.
>

The concept is pretty much as the term suggests. Point A must be able to
"see" Point B, however this is not a rule, more of a guideline.

The further you go away from the base station, the more important LOS
becomes, as the obstacles in the way will reduce the signal strength. The
material the obstacles are composed of also will effect how far you can go
without LOS.

LOS is MUCH more important in CWN's (community wireless networks) as over
much larger distances LOS all but becomes a necessity.

Yet again, guideline, not rule.

I have links and have tested links running ~ 600m thru nothing but trees and
houses, 4.5km's and not even knowing where the other node is etc etc and
they are useable, maybe not the strongest possible, but they work.

Hope this helps explain it!


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