Chopstick
11-22-2005, 06:05 AM
<font color="blue">I was just reading about this. I thought ya'll might find it interesting. </font color>
Wireless networking is expanding beyond the next room—or from downstairs to upstairs. Standards developers have set their sights on unused television bands to create regional-area networks. Makers of fractalshaped antennas, for their part, hope to integrate suites of wireless services unobtrusively into cars, cell phones and other devices.
The most common networks, based on Wi-Fi technology, radiate only about 100 meters from their source. Compare that with a range of kilometers for the frequencies between 54 and 862 megahertz, home to VHF and UHF television. Lower frequencies that propagate with less loss are better at penetrating foliage and buildings and are better at non-line-of-sight transmission.
Hence, frequencies less than 1 GHz are better for longer-range wireless than the 2.4 GHz or higher used in current wireless networks. In 2002 the Federal Communications Commission began soliciting public comments on the feasibility of wireless network transmissions broadcasting over the largely unused frequencies separating these TV channels. Access to these frequencies would mean a huge growth in wireless service.
Wireless networking is expanding beyond the next room—or from downstairs to upstairs. Standards developers have set their sights on unused television bands to create regional-area networks. Makers of fractalshaped antennas, for their part, hope to integrate suites of wireless services unobtrusively into cars, cell phones and other devices.
The most common networks, based on Wi-Fi technology, radiate only about 100 meters from their source. Compare that with a range of kilometers for the frequencies between 54 and 862 megahertz, home to VHF and UHF television. Lower frequencies that propagate with less loss are better at penetrating foliage and buildings and are better at non-line-of-sight transmission.
Hence, frequencies less than 1 GHz are better for longer-range wireless than the 2.4 GHz or higher used in current wireless networks. In 2002 the Federal Communications Commission began soliciting public comments on the feasibility of wireless network transmissions broadcasting over the largely unused frequencies separating these TV channels. Access to these frequencies would mean a huge growth in wireless service.