Waves that reflect off of surfaces within an even Fresnel zone are out of phase with the

direct-path wave and reduce the power of the received signal. Waves that reflect off of
surfaces within an odd Fresnel zone are in phase with the direct-path wave and can
enhance the power of the received signal
Fresnel provided a means to calculate where the zones are--where a given obstacle will
cause mostly in phase or mostly out of phase reflections between the transmitter and the
receiver. Obstacles in the first Fresnel zone will create signals with a path-length phase shift
of 0 to 180 degrees, in the second zone they will be 180 to 360 degrees out of phase, and
so on.
If a reflective object is placed anywhere on the edge of the ellipse, it will cause a reflected signal
that, due to propagation delay, is delayed 180 degrees (in carrier phase) with the line of sight signal
at the receiving antenna.
The level of the resultant signal at the receiving antenna from the combining of the line of sight signal
and a single reflected signal will vary from an increase of up to 3 dB in power (if they are in-phase) to
a deep cancellation (out of phase).
The total phase difference between the line of sight signal and the reflected signal at the Fresnel zone
ellipse will be determined by both the 180 degree propagation delay and the phase shift at the point of
reflection.
If the wave is linearly polarized and hits a surface that is parallel to the wave's polarization, a 180-degree shift will occur. If the surface is perpendicular to the wave's polarization, a phase shift from 0
to 180 degree shift will occur depending on the angle of incidence.
The reflected signal from the building is shifted 180 degrees at the reflection point because the top of
the building (point of reflection) is parallel to the horizontally polarized signal. When this reflected
signal is combined with the line of sight signal, the two add in-phase (reflected signal has 180 degree
delay plus 180 degree shift at reflection point or 360 degrees total phase difference) and result in a
combined signal that is at a higher level than the line of sight signal
The amount of the increase will depend on the amount of signal reflected off the building.
If the transmitted signal hits the airplane on the right side, the surface of reflection will be
perpendicular to the polarization of the signal. Assuming perfect conditions (0 deg phase shift)
let the angle of reflection be such that the phase shift at the point of reflection is 0 degrees. This
reflected signal will reach the receive antenna at (0 + 180 degrees) 180 degrees out of phase with the
line of sight signal. The level of the resultant signal from this reflected path and the line of sight signal
will be lower that the line of sight signal. This is commonly referred to as multipath attenuation.
The amount of attenuation caused by multipath reflections will depend on the size, shape and physical
properties of the reflecting object.