One of the first questions we get is the achievable range with the Wearable Smart Radios. It is not possible to give a simple answer as it depends on a number of different variables. In this document we have compiled some real-world field data to provide some indications of what the customers can expect in their use case.
The Wearable Smart Radio is designed to be man-portable and is normally carried in a backpack at around 1+ meter (3-4 feet) height. This low height affects the Fresnel Zone and LOS clearance due to uneven terrain, foliage and other environmental conditions. These variables affect the achievable range.
As you will observe in the following field scenarios, raising the height of one of the nodes on a mast (like mounted on a vehicle) has significant advantage in performance. It is possible to achieve around 3 to 4 Km range while sustaining 5 Mbps throughput for HD video transmission. For people to people communication in a MANET, it is possible to achieve 1.5 to 2 Km range with 5 Mbps throughput. The range can be even longer for lower throughput requirements.
It is also notable that the Smart Radios are available in many different frequencies. So for use cases that require deep penetration through the woods, we recommend the use of the 900 MHz radios. However, note that the 900 MHz band has the widest Fresnel zone, limiting the range that can be achieved with radios at low height.
On the other end, even though the 5.8 GHz has bigger path loss, it has the smallest Fresnel zone and hence it can achieve longer range in clear LOS conditions. However, signals at this high frequency can not penetrate deep foliage.
For a balance between the range and the penetration, use of the 2.4 GHz Smart Radios is recommended.