Line of Sight

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What Does Line of Sight Mean?

Line of sight (LoS) is a type of propagation that can transmit and receive data only where transmit and receive stations are in view of each other without any sort of an obstacle between them. FM radio, microwave and satellite transmission are examples of line-of-sight communication.

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Techopedia Explains Line of Sight

Long-distance data communication is more effective through wireless networks but geographical obstacles and the curvature of the earth bring limitations to line-of-sight transmission. However, these issues can generally be mitigated through planning, calculations and the use of additional technologies.

For example, mobile phones use a modified line-of-sight transmission, which is made possible through a combination of effects like diffraction, multipath reflection, local repeaters and rapid handoff.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.