Wifi

I know my blog doesn't reach very far yet, and most of the people who have seen it, and will be reading it currently, don't have an extensive technical knowlege, so with that in mind, I move forward.

My blogs will become more technically driven, worded and oriented as time goes on, but if you find that I'm explaining simple technical concepts here, that's because I expect most of my readers to be non-technical people.

I just saw a video on youtube about a man who boosted his wifi signal strength for less than $1, using an old box and some aluminum foil. I'd like to throw support behind the guy, and he's got the concept right, but the implementation is clearly done by someone without technical knowledge of how wireless functions.

for the purposes of this article we'll be talking about the most common wifi, which is 802.11g, 2.4ghz wireless.

Here's a brief rundown: In optimal conditions, a wireless router produces an alternating current through a wire, at 2.4 billion iterations per second, which produces an electromagnetic wave, which travels through space towards its intended target. this wave travels at light speed in a vacuum, but since we don't live in one, it's slowed down by air and whatnot. Regardless, at 2.4Ghz, and the distance that an electromagnetic wave can travel in one second, we can determine the wavelength. The wavelength is how long one hz, or one iteration of the wave occurs (meaning it goes up, comes down, and comes back to center). from all the math, we can determine that a 2.4ghz wave has a wavelength of aproximately 12.5cm (or 4.9something inches). all this aside, the 802.11 protocol has been designed with reflections and noise accounted for, so your computer isn't expecting a clean wifi signal to begin with. with this guy's reflector being... what? 2cm from his antennas, it causes a reflection that is out of phase.

brifely, phase is where in the wave you are, it's measured in degrees, starting at zero degrees from centre, going upwards to the highest level, at 90 degrees, returning to the zero line, at 180 degrees, and the lowest level at 270 degrees, then returning to zero again at 360 (or zero) degrees.

the out of phase signal is accounted for by the wifi card and it interprets it with the rest of the data on the wireless channel, but it makes for an uneven waveform (which actually damages the potential signal quality).

The intention is to put two waves, in phase, and by doing so, the two compliment each other and amplify each other. to do this, the reflector should be one-half wavelength away from the antennas on the opposite side of the antenna related to the desired target (aka behind it).

all this techobabble means that if you want to boost your signal better, you need to have the reflector exactly 6.25cm behind your antennas (for 2.4ghz). obviously, he's far under this, I doubt he's even 1/4 wavelength behind the antennas, which means he's probably giving two waves to the target that are 1/8th wavelength, or 45 degrees out of sync. albeit, it will still be more powerful than without the reflector, but move that reflector to 1/4 wavelength and you would actually have a negative impact on wireless performance.

Optimally, the reflector should be parabolic, or rounded, around the antennas, maintaining a constant distance from the signal origin.

I hope this explains some of the nuances of wifi technology and signal enhancing technologies. his idea is good and it's a very simple and effective way to increase signal strenth (if done right).

I hope you all enjoyed, good luck if you're trying this, and happy wifi-ing.