Antennas make wireless communications more efficient by focusing the broadcasted energy. When selecting antennas for your application, it is important to consider factors such as broadcast frequency, antenna type and the installation environment.
Antennas are tuned to operate at a specific frequency, so proper communication will depend on selecting an antenna that corresponds to whether your radio is operating at 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz. Depending on the environment and your application needs, you will need either an omni-directional antenna, which is typically designed to radiate energy 360 degrees in a horizontal plane, or a directional (Yagi-style) antenna, designed to focus energy in the direction it is pointed.
The type of antenna you use usually depends on the application, but multiple antenna types can be used in the same wireless network as long as they are all of the same frequency. The most common type of antenna is the half-wave omni-directional dipole that Digi offers in both indoor and weatherproof versions.