from the hello-lamppost-what'cha-knowin'? dept.
Wi-Fi May Be Coming Soon to a Lamppost Near You:
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) developed and verified a novel model that will help wireless communications providers analyze how high to attach Wi-Fi equipment to light poles.
In general, the NIST team found that the optimal height depends on transmission frequency and antenna design. Attaching equipment at lower heights of around 4 meters is better for traditional wireless systems with omnidirectional antennas, whereas higher locations 6 or 9 meters up are better for the latest systems such as 5G using higher, millimeter-wave frequencies and narrow-beam antennas.
An international group, the Telecom Infra Project, is promoting the idea of making Wi-Fi available over the unlicensed 60 gigahertz (GHz) frequency band by installing access points on light poles. A technical challenge is that signals in this band, which are higher than traditional cellphone frequencies, are sparse and tend to scatter off rough surfaces.
These systems are becoming more line-of-sight and point-to-point, which means a lot of these will need to be used for a given area. Will lampposts end up looking like the water towers do, all covered in transceivers from every vendor?
Journal Reference:
S. Y. Jun et al., Quasi-Deterministic Channel Propagation Model for 60 GHz Urban WiFi Access from Light Poles, in IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters
DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2022.3171503
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2022, @11:35AM (1 child)
So a Teleprompter is not enough...now we will be talking in secret hushed voices around lamp posts.
Great.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2022, @02:26PM
and those who choose to not talk will be rushed to the head of the line for further processing. comrade.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday May 07 2022, @11:59AM (7 children)
To keep wifi switched off in your cellphone until you need it.
Ever wondered how Google could deliver a rough position even when GPS is turned off? If you thought that was creepy enough, this urban wifi network is about to make Google's surveillance a whole lot creepier.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2022, @12:57PM (3 children)
How cute... you think the switch actually does something.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 07 2022, @05:06PM (2 children)
It does, but the backdoor allows someone to surreptitiously flip it back on.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @03:04AM (1 child)
No, the switch prevents you from accessing the location data. Google still gets to help themselves to as much of it as your device can spew.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @05:01PM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Saturday May 07 2022, @06:21PM
Costs and benefits... Do you use navigation software? If so, do you find information about traffic problems useful? Much of that comes from monitoring the movement of phones in cars.
If you want your position to go unmonitired, you have to turn off your phone. Nothing else works, or can work, because you are always connected to cell towers.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @05:06PM (1 child)
I use Tasker and I use the GSM cell tower info to figure out where my own phone is roughly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @06:29AM
They know far more precisely than that. Your phone and all nearby cell towers are constantly checking the signal strength to see if you should switch towers. That gives them the info to locate you to within a few yards.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday May 07 2022, @12:16PM (1 child)
How much more stuff are they going to stuff in there? Lampposts are already used for a lot of other things besides providing light in the dark. They like putting various sensors, cameras etc there already. Cause it comes with built in power, have enough height to be away from people with sticky fingers etc. Plus there is a lot of empty space in there. Problem is they all want to use that space at the top of the post. So either they are getting taller or they'll have to somehow balloon the thing so it is even larger on top.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @02:40PM
I don't know about over there, but here in AU they can mount other stuff on the poles but there is an absolute prohibition on any of it being as high as the powerlines or even crossing over a domestic supply line.* Often there isn't enough headroom to cross under a domestic line with the required spacing. Not sure what the spacing on the pole is, but I think the vertical separation on crossing wires is at least a metre. Made the cable companies get quite creative with their line placement on occasion.
*The powerline guys are quite ruthless in enforcing this.
(Score: 2) by HammeredGlass on Saturday May 07 2022, @05:57PM (2 children)
is what they are interested in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 08 2022, @10:30PM (1 child)
They already can ...
(Score: 2) by HammeredGlass on Tuesday May 10 2022, @01:27PM
"smaller"