Wireless: short-hop vs. short-range — what's the difference?

[cmyguo3o]

Can you explain me the difference between short-hop wireless and short-range wireless, if any?

 

[JimB]

I don't think that I have ever heard the expression "short-hop wireless".

However in English the expression "short-hop" is an informal way of saying that some where is not far away.

For example:
Longside is just a short hop from Peterhead.

Look at this map fragment cut from Google Maps.

Does that help?

JimB

 

[Ian Rogers]

Hopping in wireless terms means channel hopping.... If your wireless device has 16 available channels you can hop from 1 ~ 16 to make a more reliable communication..

 

[cmyguo3o]

Thank you for the input, JimB and Ian Rogers. Here is an example of a text containing that expression:

**broken link removed**
"Intelligent Production System for Ultra Deepwater with Short Hop Wireless Power and Wireless Data Transfer for Lateral Production Control and Optimization"

I know that often the word "hop" is used where some kind of re-translation takes place, like "multi-hop network". I doubt that in this case the word relates to channel-hopping, because I have trouble imagining what "short-hop" would then mean. It's most probably related to distance, as in what JimB suggests, I'd just like to know if it's the same as short-range for these purposes.

 

[cmyguo3o]

Could it be that "range" refers to the potential link distance that can be served and "hop" refers to the actual distance?

 

[ericgibbs]

hi,
UHF/uWave radio interlinks over short distances.
E

 

[cowboybob]

Can you explain me the difference between short-hop wireless and short-range wireless, if any?

Speaking as an Amateur Radio Operator (K4NFF):
"Short (or long )-hop" wireless generally refers to the use of the reflective properties of the ionosphere in radio communications. More vertically oriented wave propagation will result in "shorter" hops. Longer or multiple hops are also possible.

From: **broken link removed**

It has also been used to describe "relayed" communications, tower to tower, as when using devices considered to be "short range", as explained below.

"Short (as opposed to long) -range" wireless is generally considered very low power communications. Think line-of-sight, i.e., small hand held transceivers, or cell phones.

 

[JimB]

Here is an example of a text containing that expression:

In the context of that presentation, "short hop" simply means "short distance".

JimB

 

[cmyguo3o]

Thank you, ericgibbs, cowboybob, and JimB! The term is now pretty clear to me both in the wide and narrow contexts.

 

[Mikebits]

Back when I was a teen and built my own HF setup. We called it. "Skip". I had this old timer retired engineer who taught me about skip along many other RF design concepts. I was a nerd early on.