Researchers discover aluminum foil actually does improve your wireless speed
Researchers at Dartmouth University have found that a 3D printed shape covered in aluminum foil can improve wireless range and increase Wi-Fi security. The project, which appeared on Eurekalert, involves placing a reflector on and around a Wi-Fi router's antennae to shape the beam, increasing range and preventing it from passing through to unwanted spaces.
"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," said Xia Zhou, a Dartmouth assistant professor.
In their paper, Zhou and his colleagues tested multiple styles of directional antennas and also tested an "anecdotal" solution that involved sticking a soda can behind a router to shape the radio waves towards a target. After a few iterations, they were able to create specific shapes to increase Wi-Fi reception in specific rooms. They then created a program called WiPrint that 3D prints the exact shape needed to form the beams for better coverage and security. Once printed all you have to do is cover them in aluminum foil.
(Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Wednesday November 08 2017, @10:45PM (7 children)
My can of pringles would love a chat with your "researchers"
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 08 2017, @10:49PM (1 child)
Can't communicate. Too much interference.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by Spamalope on Thursday November 09 2017, @10:27AM
The interesting thing about this is that it's adding intentional dead spots. They defined areas they wanted the signal to be weak, and managed it.
Reducing interference for multiple APs is a neat thing, as is reducing power in areas where snoops might eavesdrop (or freeloaders try and get access).
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 08 2017, @10:51PM (3 children)
yeah I mean come on. I did this on a buffalo router running dd-wrt. in fact, i put the foil around some box liner cardboard/paper to give it rigidity.
if these guys just came up with it now, i should let them know I followed instructions i found off the dd-wrt forum years ago to do just this
sometimes, academia needs to come out of the tower now and then. but i guess if they did they, they might decide they can't patent what everyone tweaking their old gear already knows how to do
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday November 08 2017, @11:01PM (1 child)
But but but ... it's 3D-printed !!!11!! innovative !!!!!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday November 09 2017, @05:11PM
Well, in fairness, the 3D printed version is a bit more flexible than the Pringles can - and, the complex designs can be shared via internet to anywhere in the planet that has enough infrastructure to run a 3D printer... so, that's a little sorta cool - just like every other thing shared on https://www.thingiverse.com/ [thingiverse.com]
But, yeah, 1 + 1 = 2 in this case, two well known things put together have the positive aspects of both; like surprise, dude, totally.
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(Score: 5, Informative) by Nerdfest on Thursday November 09 2017, @01:45AM
This [wordpress.com] is the one I've used before. It can make quite a difference. This has been around for years.
(Score: 3, Funny) by inertnet on Wednesday November 08 2017, @11:45PM
I think the waveform of those pringles have the wrong frequency. Your signal might crumble.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by deadstick on Wednesday November 08 2017, @10:52PM
Performance of a general-purpose antenna can be improved with a customized array of conductive surfaces. Video at eleven.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 08 2017, @10:52PM (3 children)
The doctor asked me why I put tinfoil behind my router. I told him it's not tin, it's aluminum. I didn't tell him it's a NURBS curve. He said, take these pills.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday November 08 2017, @10:59PM (2 children)
Aluminum routeritis Americanus: a friend is asking what opioid one could hope will be prescribed...
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 08 2017, @11:02PM (1 child)
I've heard great things about Tramadol [soylentnews.org].
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(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Wednesday November 08 2017, @11:23PM
Dogs and ISIS. [theguardian.com]
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday November 09 2017, @12:36AM
.....the more they stay the same.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by weregeek on Thursday November 09 2017, @04:22AM
I suspect that this design predates the oldest copy that I could find, but here's what lot's of folks knew over 14 years ago: https://web.archive.org/web/20030402130540/http://www.freeantennas.com:80/ [archive.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by jmorris on Thursday November 09 2017, @05:38AM
Wow, what an invention. Who knew you could improve the directionality of an antenna?
Antenna design [arrl.org] isn't exactly an undocumented black art. Of course if you play around with WiFi antennas you might be breaking a few laws, depending on your jurisdiction, just how much improvement you manage to achieve and whether you have an amplifier involved.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by pTamok on Thursday November 09 2017, @08:14AM (1 child)
I know the hacker community in general (using hacker in the original sense) doesn't care much for restrictive rules, but just in case anybody cares, there are FCC rules (and equivalents in other countries not covered by FCC regulations) about EIRP [wikipedia.org] (Effective/Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power).
A summary randomly found by an Internet search engine is here: http://www.bitstorm.com/fcc-regulations/ [bitstorm.com]
By shaping the beam you are increasing the gain in certain directions, so to be legal, you might* need to reduce your transmitter power output.
Feel free to experiment, but if you break the rules, don't complain if someone comes and punishes you. Equipment seizure and/or a (large) fine is a distinct possibility.
*If you are in the midwest, and your nearest neighbour is several miles away, you are unlikely** to cause other people a problem. Doing the same thing near an airport or military base might well get you visited.
**Isolation is good for some things, but can also make you stand out like a sore thumb. To use an optical analogy, lighthouse lamps are not particularly powerful, but they use optical beam-forming (aka lenses) to make a beam that can be seen many, many miles away. Antennae 'simply' form the radio beam in an analogous fashion to lenses with optical sources - this is good if you are trying to get range, but might not be so good if you are trying to be unobtrusive. Making your home on the prairie the radio-equivalent of an unlicensed lighthouse isn't necessarily smart.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday November 09 2017, @05:13PM
Which is all another way of saying: "this is why there aren't commercial solutions on the market for this already."
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09 2017, @08:22AM (2 children)
Summary of the summary:
Researchers discover that directional antennas have greater range.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09 2017, @04:59PM
Actually, directional antennas have greater gain in certain directions, not range. Range depends upon what is between the antenna and receiver. There are scenarios where an omni antenna would give you better range (a highly-directional antenna with a direct line of sight obstacle, for instance).
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Thursday November 09 2017, @06:53PM
Summary of the summary:
Researchers discover that directional antennas have greater range.
Actually, no. There are no changes in the antenna. This is about putting an appropriately shaped reflector in the vicinity of an antenna. To use a car analogy, it's like having a mirror behind a car headlamp: you could do without it, but half the light would be illuminating the car's engine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09 2017, @04:41PM