Ultimately, Zou says she hopes this research will help “lower the barrier” so that everyday people can control how their Wi-Fi blankets their home. (Theoretically, it should work better as the frequency increases and the wavelengths shorten.) Zhou says they did their tests with a Netgear R700 router, and that the method works on both frequencies that a typical two-band router emits: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Metals like aluminum, copper, and silver all do the job. Think of it like a reflector behind a flashlight bulb, concentrating the beam where you want it to go. “For instance, if you want stronger signals in the study room, or weaker signals in the restroom,” Zhou says, with a chuckle. Their algorithm lets them fashion a curvy reflector to tailor the Wi-Fi signal for different environments. “The idea is really based on the reflection of Wi-Fi signals,” says Xia Zhou, an assistant professor of computer science at Dartmouth, and the senior scientist behind the new research. The reflector needs to be covered with aluminum foil, and if designed and positioned correctly, it can amplify the signal in the direction in which you want it to be strong, and diminish it in others (like towards a neighbor’s apartment). That’s the key point behind research from Dartmouth College that describes a way to fashion a 3D-printed reflector you can place near your router’s antennas. Then there’s metal: it reflects the waves, a fact you can even take advantage of to shape the Wi-Fi signal in your home. These electromagnetic waves can travel through wood, glass, or concrete, but not water, so-pro tip-don’t put a fish tank in front of your router. Wi-Fi signals are ubiquitous, but even though they’re invisible to us, the materials they interact with still affect them.
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