Whether you’re installing one antenna or an entire tower-full of them, antenna polarization is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle to consider, yet it is also one of the least understood properties of wireless communication.
Most antennas are typically mounted horizontally or vertically and the way they are mounted determines their polarization. For the best network performance, antennas used in point-to-point wireless applications should have the same polarization as each other. A wireless links can be established with antennas of different polarity, but usually it compromises the network performance and connectivity.
Though there are some cases where using antennas with different polarization is beneficial in reducing interference. For example, if you’re mounting several antennas on a tower, your best plan is to stagger vertically and horizontally polarized antennas to decrease interference.
Some wireless applications won’t work with horizontal or vertical polarization. In these cases, there are other polarization schemes to explore including: dual-polarized, cross-polarized and circular-polarized antennas.
