Re: Breaking news: long distance wifi ;-)

On Mar 28, 12:50 am, m...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=business&id=5157587

Mar. 27 - KGO - WiFi -- it's your connection, if not now, in the near
future, to the Internet. Of course, you want it whenever and wherever
at hot spots as well as not so hot spots, but the technology is not
quite there yet.

WiFi has enabled laptop users to connect to the Internet on the go.
The technology is designed to spread an Internet connection over a
short distance.

However, that's not good enough for these engineers and scientists at
Berkeley's Intel Research Lab. They undertook a project last year to
create a new kind of WiFi system that sends the signal over a long
distance -- up to 60 miles. The key to that is this prototype antenna.

Alan Mainwaring, Ph.D., Intel Lab Research Scientist: "So what this
basically is, is a reflector. So, the WiFi energy is radiated by this
element, and it reflects off this surface in such a way that a narrow
beam is formed, and this is what allows the energy to travel a greater
distance."

The goal is to provide Internet connections by WiFi to remote areas of
the world, affording students in the Amazon rainforest or in India to
have the same access to information as the rest of the world.

The system also simplifies the process of lining up the transmitter
and the receiving antenna for optimum signal strength. The technology
also could have applications here at home when a natural disaster
might strike.

WiFi with this new long-distance capability could be deployed quickly
to restore communications.

Kevin Fall, Ph.D., Intel Lab Principal Engineer: "This we can actually
roll in with a truck, put up an antenna on a tripod and do that sort
of thing, and a number of cities around the country have been looking
at these kinds of capabilities in order to help out the emergency
response system."

Intel engineers say another key benefit is the low cost. They project
the antennas they created will cost only $200 dollars.

This WiFi project is a great example of collaboration between a public
university and private industry. It's now being tested in Ghana, India
and Uganda.

After contacting the reporter, it turns out he neglected to mention
the Intel project as steer the antenna electronically. Now that would
be THE innovation. Not new technology, but certainly an advancement in
consumer priced technology.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Breaking news: long distance wifi ;-)
    ... at hot spots as well as not so hot spots, but the technology is not ... WiFi has enabled laptop users to connect to the Internet on the go. ... The key to that is this prototype antenna. ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)
  • Re: [telecom] Clueless Woman Calls Tech Show When Her Stolen Wi-Fi Disappears
    ... offered to locate the system owner and "Buy In" to the WiFi access, ... The use of _any_ shared resource is subject to the ... Internet service, I can share" - but that's Unlimited in name only. ... efficient while they're visiting other businesses means making the ...
    (comp.dcom.telecom)
  • Re: AMD planning 45nm 12-Core Istanbul Processor ?
    ... "cubic dollars" I take as BILLIONS, and AMD has never had this to ... Intel might over a number of years. ... management would have worked before Long Term Capital Management. ... packet capture there really is no way to regulate the internet. ...
    (comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips)
  • Re: Legal status of "War Driving"
    ... WiFi is a brand name which has come to mean a wireless internet connection ... WiFi signals are so common that it is not easy to find an ...
    (misc.legal)
  • Re: At sea internet
    ... usage, i.e. email, internet surfing, both or more? ... internet surfing at the same time while offshore. ... Card for the last 3 years, Sprint does not use GSM so i could not ... to add an antenna to an internal wireless card ...
    (rec.boats.electronics)