At 2.4GHz, λ is approximately 0.125m. Since the wavelength is small, the antenna is likely to be "electromagnetically long", i.e. the size of the antenna is of comparable size to the wavelength.
The edge of the near field in this case is defined by the Fraunhofer Distance [0][1]. Let's assume we want the edge of the near field to be 1km away. Running that through the Fraunhofer distance equation to compute the largest dimension of the radiator, we get ~7.9m. That's huge. For 10km it is 25m.
0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_and_far_field#Electromagn...
Are you gonna screw with my WiFi way over here in Sydney?
;-)
> ...system uses a net of lasers surrounding the beam to detect obstructions, like a bird or person, and it automatically shuts off transmission until the obstruction has moved on...
I guess i assumed any obstruction would suffice in triggering the lasers...but now re-reading it, maybe the obstruction has to be more significant.