Fluorescent light interaction with personal communication signals

Personal communication systems within office buildings are designed on the premise of slow (<10 Hz) amplitude and phase variations. The ubiquitous presence of fluorescent lights in that environment introduces variations at twice the line frequency, however, when propagation is via multipath reflections from such fixtures and when the direct path is blocked. The mechanisms responsible for these effects are the time-varying dielectric properties of the ionized gas in the tube, which cause the path length and strength of multipath components to be variable. Measurements in an office showed peak-to-peak variations up to 3 dB and 90/spl deg/.<>