WiFi has enabled laptop users to connect to the Internet on the go. The technology is designed to spread an Internet connection over a short distance.
However, that's not good enough for these engineers and scientists at Berkeley's Intel Research Lab. They undertook a project last year to create a new kind of WiFi system that sends the signal over a long distance -- up to 60 miles. The key to that is this prototype antenna.
Alan Mainwaring, Ph.D., Intel Lab Research Scientist: "So what this basically is, is a reflector. So, the WiFi energy is radiated by this element, and it reflects off this surface in such a way that a narrow beam is formed, and this is what allows the energy to travel a greater distance."
The goal is to provide Internet connections by WiFi to remote areas of the world, affording students in the Amazon rainforest or in India to have the same access to information as the rest of the world.
The system also simplifies the process of lining up the transmitter and the receiving antenna for optimum signal strength. The technology also could have applications here at home when a natural disaster might strike.
WiFi with this new long-distance capability could be deployed quickly to restore communications.
Kevin Fall, Ph.D., Intel Lab Principal Engineer: "This we can actually roll in with a truck, put up an antenna on a tripod and do that sort of thing, and a number of cities around the country have been looking at these kinds of capabilities in order to help out the emergency response system."
Intel engineers say another key benefit is the low cost. They project the antennas they created will cost only $200 dollars.
This WiFi project is a great example of collaboration between a public university and private industry. It's now being tested in Ghana, India and Uganda.