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 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

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

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Page modified: October 21 2015.