Wi-Fi tagged posts

Could New Technique for ‘Curving’ Light be the Secret to Improved Wireless Communication?

A study that could help revolutionize wireless communication introduces a novel method to curve terahertz signals around an obstacle. Illustration provided by the Mittleman Group

A study that could help revolutionize wireless communication introduces a novel method to curve terahertz signals around an obstacle.

While cellular networks and Wi-Fi systems are more advanced than ever, they are also quickly reaching their bandwidth limits. Scientists know that in the near future they’ll need to transition to much higher communication frequencies than what current systems rely on, but before that can happen there are a number of — quite literal — obstacles standing in the way.

Researchers from Brown University and Rice University say they’ve advanced one step closer to getting around t...

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Wi-Fi could help Identify when you’re Struggling to Breathe

Wi-Fi could help identify when you're struggling to breathe
Jason Coder sets up an experiment in an anechoic chamber to use Wi-Fi to sense breathing. The manikin is used to train medical professionals, and simulates a number of breathing scenarios. Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST

Wi-Fi routers continuously broadcast radio frequencies that your phones, tablets and computers pick up and use to get you online. As the invisible frequencies travel, they bounce off or pass through everything around them—the walls, the furniture and even you. Your movements, even breathing, slightly alter the signal’s path from the router to your device.

Those interactions don’t interrupt your internet connection, but they could signal when someone is in trouble...

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Researchers discover Security Loophole allowing Attackers to use Wi-Fi to See Through Walls

Researchers discover security loophole allowing attackers to use Wi-Fi to see through walls
Overview of Wi-Peep. Credit: Proceedings of the 28th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing And Networking (2022). DOI: 10.1145/3495243.3560530

A research team based out of the University of Waterloo has developed a drone-powered device that can use Wi-Fi networks to see through walls. The device, nicknamed Wi-Peep, can fly near a building and then use the inhabitants’ Wi-Fi network to identify and locate all Wi-Fi-enabled devices inside in a matter of seconds.

The Wi-Peep exploits a loophole the researchers call polite Wi-Fi. Even if a network is password protected, smart devices will automatically respond to contact attempts from any device within range...

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Wi-Fi may be coming soon to a Lamppost near you

NIST communications researchers traveled to downtown Boulder, Colorado, to verify their channel model for evaluating high-frequency wireless network designs. Sung Yun Jun is checking the alignment of the transmitter, mounted 6 meters high on a mast, with the receiver antenna array on the roof of the blue van. Derek Caudill, barely visible inside the van, is preparing software programs to collect measurement data. Justin Sadinski, in a yellow vest, is checking equipment on the masts. Credit: NIST

As Wi-Fi is deployed more widely in cities, and perhaps at higher frequencies, it may depend on an abundant urban asset: streetlight poles.

To help ensure these networks work well, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed and verified a novel mo...

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