Aluminum Foil May Enhance Wi-Fi Signal, Dartmouth Researchers Claim
Researchers from Dartmouth College claim that Wi-Fi signal can be enhanced by something very much like aluminum foil.
The study was presented during ACM's BuildSys 2017 in Delft, Netherlands, on Wednesday and it claimed that something similar to aluminum foil could not only strengthen Wi-Fi signal, but would also enhance security for wireless home and office networks.
According to EurekAlert of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the innovation would require 3D printing to form "a cheap, customized reflector" that was similar to aluminum foil.
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Dartmouth's assistant professor of computer science, Xia Zhou, told EurekAlert: "Through this single solution, we address a number of challenges that plague wireless users."
What the customized 3D-printed aluminum foil does, as EurekAlert calls it, is it shapes the coverage of the wireless network's signals. This means that the formed aluminum foil will act like a guide to the Wi-Fi signals and would lead them to the direction where most home and office users are.
The report added that the aluminum foil hack increased cyber protection for Wi-Fi users since it brings the signal and confines it to spaces where users can apply powerful encryption.
With that, it resolves the underlying issue of interference coming from other radio signals in an indoor environment. EurekAlert added that the new nnovation provided a cheaper and efficient alternative for directional antennae that are considered more complicated to set up.
The report further stated that one of the most recent experiments Dartmouth researchers used to prove their study involved taking an aluminum soda can and placing it near a Wi-Fi access point to see how it directed the signal to a particular location.
However, it is also important to note that the aluminum foil signal enhancer is not easily made. It was reported that the researchers had to use a "computationally optimized" reflector based on a particular layout of an indoor space.
This means homes and offices also had to be scientifically analyzed for the aluminum foil reflector to work efficiently.
On a positive note, Zhou added that interested Wi-Fi users can start with a $35 investment.
"With a simple investment of about $35 and specifying coverage requirements, a wireless reflector can be custom-built to outperform antennae that cost thousands of dollars," Zhou shared.
