If you checked out the Bluetooth LE range use case post, you’re well aware of our made-up, engineer/fitness friends who recently started an obstacle course business. If not, here’s a quick synopsis:

The owners of a fitness obstacle course for adults are looking to offer more data for contestants. They want to show people their top speeds, the route they chose, time elapsed, and more. People love data. But first, they need to build a tracking device system. Being electrical engineers, they take a Sunday afternoon to see if they can build this tracking device system themselves. They’ll first need to test out which type of wireless technology to use and maximum range capability for each, and today they’ll be trying out Zigbee (yes - they have unlimited resources, for the sake of the story).

What is the expected ZigBee maximum range in meters from the second-floor antenna?

ZigBee Range Expectations:

Antenna: Second floor, block-wall building

Receiver: One meter off the ground in the parking lot (in the hands of one of our buddies)

    ZigBee
  TX Antenna Height (m)   6
  TX Power (dBm)   18
  TX Antenna Gain (dB)   0
  Frequency (MHz)   2400
  RX Antenna Height (m)   1
  RX Antenna Gain (dB)   -6
  Structure Loss (dB)   11
  Sensitivity (dBm)   -102
  Margin (dB)   20
  Range   291

(Note: 11dB structure loss consistent with propagation through an 8" masonry block wall)

With one antenna on the second floor, the expected range for ZigBee is 291 meters. That’s not enough distance to cover all of the obstacle courses that span a few football fields. If they could move the antenna to a more central location, ZigBee could work. For now, they check their other options:

Want to learn about what we're building at Link Labs? Click below to learn about the system with 2594 meters of range using the same assumptions.


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Jennifer Halstead

Written by Jennifer Halstead

Jennifer Halstead, MBA, CPA brings more than 20 years financial industry experience to Link Labs. She began her career in finance within the pharmaceutical industry and has continued in both public accounting and private companies. She passed the CPA exam with the 3rd highest score in the state and completed her MBA with an accounting concentration (summa cum laude). Jennifer has worked with several software companies and has led multiple venture financing, merger and acquisitions deals. She has helped companies expand internationally and has managed the finance department of a startup to 33 consecutive quarters of growth prior to acquisition. After the acquisition, she served as the Controller of Dell Software Group’s Data Protection Division where she managed a portfolio of multiple hardware and software products to scale and achieve over triple-digit growth worldwide in 18 months. Jennifer brings a depth of finance experience to the Link Labs team.

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