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Wi-FM listens to FM signals to determine best times to send and receive data

mccormick.northwestern.edu

11–18 of 18 posts

Re: Wi-FM listens to FM signals to determine best times to send and receive data

#11
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution to all wireless problems is... wires.

Makes me hope that "li-fi" pans out. Basically combo powerline data with rapidly blinking (1000+ hz, iirc) leds to be able to give specific rooms wireless data. And if the light is polarized, a simple coating on the windows that match can let light in, but not data out.

Better yet, directional li-fi through transparent panels on your devices guided by compact adjustable optics.

Example of what tech such optics could use:

Solid-state variable optics: https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-18-13-1...

Compact non-conical optics: http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/out-with-the-old-in-with...

Re: Wi-FM listens to FM signals to determine best times to send and receive data

#12
The link to the paper provide more detail. The basic idea is to use the FM radio RDS sub-channel as a sort of control plane or control channel. One of the things that differentiates LTE for example from 802.11 (WiFi) is that LTE has a control channel that coordinates the activities, when to transmit an on which channel via a control plane and hence achieves a higher spectral efficiency. Wifi uses CSMA/CD to sense and detect collisions. But sensing when they happen is not as good as just avoiding it all together. But to do that you need a control channel. The idea of using something as ubiquitous as the RDS sub-channel as a control channel has a lot of potential applications beyond Wifi, it could also be used for white space control to open up vast amounts of un-used spectrum potentially.

Re: Wi-FM listens to FM signals to determine best times to send and receive data

#14

Doesn't the WiFi standard already do this for devices running in the same channel? I.e. if 3 devices are on Channel 1 they will talk to each other to avoid conflicts. Hence why you should only use one of 3 channels (the only 3 which never overlap)

That is the popular wisdom, but in my experience it's not universally true. I have had good results in an apartment building by choosing channels between 1, 6, and 11. Signal strength sometimes went up quite a bit. For example, if there are 3 APs on each of the three non-overlapping channels, using a channel between those channels may provide better results than directly competing with 3 other APs for the entire chan…

I think this is a bad idea... to use non-standard channels. See: http://superuser.com/questions/443178/is-it-better-to-use-a-...

Re: Wi-FM listens to FM signals to determine best times to send and receive data

#15
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution to all wireless problems is... wires.

Makes me hope that "li-fi" pans out. Basically combo powerline data with rapidly blinking (1000+ hz, iirc) leds to be able to give specific rooms wireless data. And if the light is polarized, a simple coating on the windows that match can let light in, but not data out.

Actually need to blink closer to 10^8 Hz :)

Re: Wi-FM listens to FM signals to determine best times to send and receive data

#16
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution to all wireless problems is... wires.

Makes me hope that "li-fi" pans out. Basically combo powerline data with rapidly blinking (1000+ hz, iirc) leds to be able to give specific rooms wireless data. And if the light is polarized, a simple coating on the windows that match can let light in, but not data out.

Actually need to blink closer to 10^8 Hz :)

Re: Wi-FM listens to FM signals to determine best times to send and receive data

#17

Doesn't the WiFi standard already do this for devices running in the same channel? I.e. if 3 devices are on Channel 1 they will talk to each other to avoid conflicts. Hence why you should only use one of 3 channels (the only 3 which never overlap)

That is the popular wisdom, but in my experience it's not universally true. I have had good results in an apartment building by choosing channels between 1, 6, and 11. Signal strength sometimes went up quite a bit. For example, if there are 3 APs on each of the three non-overlapping channels, using a channel between those channels may provide better results than directly competing with 3 other APs for the entire chan…

Or if you can't run ethernet cables, I've had quite good success in my house with a powerline adapter (like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Powerline-Extra-Outlet-PLP1200...).

Couldn't vouch for how well it'd work in an apartment setting, though.

Re: Wi-FM listens to FM signals to determine best times to send and receive data

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the popular wisdom, but in my experience it's not universally true. I have had good results in an apartment building by choosing channels between 1, 6, and 11. Signal strength sometimes went up quite a bit. For example, if there are 3 APs on each of the three non-overlapping channels, using a channel between those channels may provide better results than directly competing with 3 other APs for the entire chan…

I think this is a bad idea... to use non-standard channels. See: http://superuser.com/questions/443178/is-it-better-to-use-a-...

You should read the links you cite before you cite them. Among the answers found on that page are these:

"The 1-6-11 recommendation contained in Cisco's whitepaper about IEEE 802.11 deployment in the corporate environment certainly does not apply to all circumstances! For example, in moderately congested neighbourhoods, one stands a very good chance to benefit from not sticking to this proposed scheme."

"the situation usually gets worse when one voluntary abides to the 1-6-11 non-overlapping channel scheme. Doing so will expose your devices to the IEEE 802.11 RTS/CTS/ACK (Request to Send / Clear to Send / Acknowledge) of alien devices, effectively silencing your devices and hence forcedly lowering your bandwidth. This problem is known as the exposed node problem. In a corporate setting this problem can be solved by synchronising the nodes. In the wild, this is not readily achievable."

"In big corporate networks it's common practice to use channels 1,6 & 11 because it is fairly straightforward (at least on a diagram) to design non-overlapping cells of coverage. As a home user you don't have the same constraints so it makes sense to experiment and look for the best channel."

"I am a Ham Radio operator. I have done extensive testing. On my Actiontec or ZyXcel, channel 1 is abysmal! Channel 11 is a close second to the death of channel 1. ACTUAL power readings put 3 and 4 as the strongest signal output and throughput. Channels 6 and 9 are the standard preset. so actually avoid 1,6,9,11. I am a DSL tech also. I have walked people through changing channels from 9-10-11 to 3 or 4. They are amazed at the doubling of the wifi signal on all devices across the board."

"Hence, I call for actually measuring one's own signal-to-noise level...The Quality value takes into account noise from overlapping channels."

The bottom line is as I said: test your own equipment in your own environment and find what works best for you.

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