We have a building where it's effectively constructed like a warehouse with only concrete exterior walls. Inside, pretty much all the hallway and room walls are temporary metal stud walls with sheetrock.

I have been trying to better understand the effect these metal studs may have on signal reception. Can anyone tell me if these concerns are valid?

It seems that the studs are probably transparent to radio signals if the radio signals are directly parallel to them, but as the angle of the radio signal increases, the metal studs appear to combine in a diffraction pattern to form a solid wall or mirror, blocking the signal.

So although sheetrock does not affect signal strength much, at a distance and at a high angle from the AP, the metal studs may effectively be reflecting and blocking nearly all of the AP signal getting into distant rooms.

If I am understanding this correctly, then apparently for best room-to-room coverage, we want the antenna as far away from the metal studs as possible. To do that, it appears we need put the radios not in the hallways but directly in the rooms, in the center which is the furthest away the radio can be from the studs.

 Is this analysis correct?