Building penetration loss by material and frequency

Material-Dependent Signal Attenuation

Different building materials attenuate radio signals by vastly different amounts. Standard drywall or plasterboard introduces only two to four decibels of loss per wall. Concrete block walls cause eight to fifteen decibels of attenuation depending on thickness and reinforcement. Brick masonry adds six to twelve decibels. Tinted or low-emissivity coated glass, increasingly common in modern energy-efficient buildings, can introduce twenty to forty decibels of loss — far more than older clear glass which only adds three to six decibels. Metal cladding and foil-backed insulation act as…