Optimized lightning protection for higher frequencies 4.9-GHz Public Safety, 5.3- and 5.6-GHz UNII and 5.8-GHz ISM - Lightning is a serious concern for equipment investments

摘要

FREQUENCIES ABOVE 4.5 GHz are being used more often for a wide range of outdoor communications. These uses include critical infrastructure applications where long lifetime and high availability requirements are paramount. In outdoor antenna applications, the exposure to lightning effects must be considered in most locations. When cables are brought outdoors, the coaxial format has proven to be the most rugged, because of the inherent shielding of the center conductor by a much larger cross sectional area outer conductor. For long lifetime requirements, parallel or twisted conductors, such as Cat5, are not able to withstand the harsh electromagnetic environment nearly as well. This article focuses on 4- to 6-GHz class protection in a coaxial transmission line for long term use and high availability applications.