by Jiang Congmin
So-called "Super Wi-Fi," a new kind of wireless broadband, got a boost Thursday with the announcement that the technology would become available to hundreds of US colleges and universities.Declaration Networks, a company working with colleges and non-profit groups, said it is now starting to offer the service to 500 schools around the United States.
The technology is often referred to as "Super Wi-Fi," although some wireless providers point out it uses a different frequency for transmission than what most people use in cafes and in home networks.
The service uses "white spaces" or unused portions of the spectrum that is generally available for local television broadcasts.
This wireless technology offers a bigger range than existing hotspots, is being deployed in the United States and generating interest in a number of countries, including Britain and Brazil.
Declaration has been working with a consortium of higher education institutions and nonprofits called AIR.U, whose members are interested in improving high-speed wireless access, particularly in rural and other underserved areas.
"We are excited to be accelerating the implementation of next generation networks in educational communities by creating this nationwide sustainable program that will deploy high capacity broadband networks leveraging White Spaces," stated Bob Nichols, chief executive of Declaration Networks Group.
Declaration spOKesman Barry Toser said West Virginia University is the first to deploy the service but added that "we are engaging with the other schools."
He said Super Wi-Fi requires no additional equipment for most devices and can have a range of up to five miles (eight kilometers) compared with 350 feet (100 meters) for traditional Wi-Fi.
Toser said colleges will be able to contract with Declaration for access for their campuses, and that residents in nearby communities may also sign up.
The AIR.U initiative, announced in 2012, seeks to establish white space networks in underserved campuses and their surrounding communities. It is supported by Google, Microsoft, New America Foundation and the Appalachian Regional Commission, among others.
The new deployment "responds to the need at many colleges to quickly and easily close gaps in campus broadband connectivity," said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at the New America Foundation and an AIR.U co-founder.
"Since Super Wi-Fi technology is new, we believe that these initial deployments will quickly give colleges and communities the experience and confidence to plan more extensive deployments in the future."
The end of the charger? Wi-Fi powered phones could one day make plug-in powering obsolete
Forget wireless or portable phone chargers, a pair of engineering students have created a device that could charge a phone’s battery using Wi-Fi.
The device uses so-called metamaterials that can capture energy waves and convert them into an electric current.
The amount of voltage the device creates is also said to be more powerful than that produced through current USB chargers.
It was created by Allen Hawkes and Alexander Katko from Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering with help from professor of electrical and computer engineering, Steven Cummer.
The team used five fibreglass and copper energy conductors wired together on a circuit board to create what's called a metamaterial array.
Metamaterials are engineering structures capable of harvesting various forms of wave energy.
By arranging certain materials, including copper and fibreglass but also gold, in a particular shape and pattern, the properties of those materials can combine to become an almost ‘super’ material.
Duke University's David Smith explained: ‘Imagine a fabric woven of thread. In this fabric, light is only allowed to flow over the threads.
‘If you punch a hole in the fabric with a pin, light will go around the hole and resume its original course of travel, since light can only travel over the thread. ‘
He continued that because light waves can only travel in this way, the hole is practically ‘invisible’.
Metamaterial arrays work in the same way to control how waves move around the structure, making it possible to capture and harvest them, and their energy.
Hawkes and Katko’s device was designed to harvest the energy from microwaves.
They claim their five-cell metamaterial can convert these waves into 7.3 volts with an efficiency of 36.8 per cent.
By comparison, USB chargers for phones and other small devices provide around 5 volts.
The five-cell metamaterial converts waves into 7.3 volts of electricity. By comparison, USB chargers, pictured, provide around 5 volts.
Having successfully tested their energy harvester with microwaves, the researchers claim it could be used to harvest the signal from other sources such as satellite signals, sound waves or Wi-Fi signals.
‘It’s possible to use this design for a lot of different frequencies and types of energy, including vibration and sound energy harvesting’ said Katko.
‘Until now, a lot of work with metamaterials has been theoretical. We are showing that with a little work, these materials can be useful for consumer applications.’
Katko continued that a metamaterial coating could also be applied to the ceiling of a room and used to redirect lost or dropped Wi-Fi signals.
The researchers added that a similar device could one day be fitted to phones and other small electronic devices.
This could make it possible to charge phones by connecting it to a Wi-Fi network, without the need for a charger or power point.
‘Our work demonstrates a simple and inexpensive approach to electromagnetic power harvesting,’ said Cummer.
‘The beauty of the design is that the basic building blocks are self-contained and additive. One can simply assemble more blocks to increase the scavenged power.’
What is "Super Wi-Fi?"
According to The Washington Post, the US Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) chairman Julius Genachowski "wants to create super WiFi networks across the nation, so powerful and broad in reach that consumers could use them to make calls or surf the Internet without paying a cellphone bill every month." Oh yes, and this will be "free."
This new Wi-Fi "would be much more powerful than existing WiFi networks that have become common in households. They could penetrate thick concrete walls and travel over hills and around trees. If all goes as planned, free access to the Web would be available in just about every metropolitan area and in many rural areas."
In a statement, Genachowski said “Freeing up unlicensed spectrum is a vibrantly free-market approach that offers low barriers to entry to innovators developing the technologies of the future and benefits consumers."
That sounds like the best thing ever doesn't it? It only leaves me with one little question: "What the heck is super Wi-Fi anyway!?"
OK, so I'll tell you. First, it's not as new as it might sound. According to sources at the FCC, " This is not a new idea or proposal - it’s about the availability and use of white space for unlicensed devices in the TV bands as part of the FCC’s incentive auction process. The promise of the 600 MHz band, post incentive auction, is that the guard bands would mean that spectrum for unlicensed use would be available nationwide - in all markets, including places where there is little or no white spaces today."
Guard bands would be 6MHz chucks of white space spectrum between licensed users such as TV channels. This spectrum is currently occupied by Ultra High Frequency (UHF) channels 31 to 51. These guard bands could then be used for wireless networks.
On the record, Neil Grace, an FCC spOKesperson, said, "The FCC’s incentive auction proposal, launched in September of last year, would unleash substantial spectrum for licensed uses like 4G LTE. It would also free up unlicensed spectrum for uses including, but not limited to, next generation Wi-Fi. As the demand for mobile broadband continues to grow rapidly, we need to free up significant amounts of spectrum for commercial use, and both licensed and unlicensed spectrum must be part of the solution.†These auctions, if passed by the full FCC, would begin in 2014.
So, what could we expect from this new 600MHz spectrum? That's a good question. For range, the 600 MHz "Access points" would have a range of approximately a dozen miles. For bandwidth, we should be loOKing at 20Mbps down and 6Mbps up. But, real-world results are going to vary on exactly how we end up apportioning and utilizing the bandwidth.
If we really end up getting "super Wi-Fi" it may not be super in terms of speed, but in as far as range goes it will indeed be "super."
That said, the earliest we'll see it is late 2014 and, whatever else it will be, it won't be free. Building out the Internet infrastructure to support 600 MHz Wi-Fi will taken hundreds of mllions, if not billions, of dollars and users will end up paying for it just the same way they do today for conventional Internet access and 3G and 4G wireless networking.
Virgin Media Business launches free super-fast Wi-Fi in Birmingham
Residents, shoppers, workers and tourists will be able to enjoy the benefits of free wireless broadband, by getting online on the move.
Access points have been mounted on lamp-posts and other street furniture across Birmingham centre and connected to Virgin Media Business' fibre-optic network.
This will allow users to take advantage of unlimited super-fast connectivity.
Duncan Higgins, Director of Marketing at Virgin Media Business, said the exciting new technology has the potential to "supercharge people's internet services".
"Birmingham is a prototype of the super-powered, connected city, which is not only offering free internet services to all, but also accelerating a revolution in the mobile broadband experience," he stated.
Councillor James McKay, Cabinet Member for a Green, Safe and Smart City at Birmingham City Council, said the authority is "delighted" to be able to offer free public Wi-Fi in some of the best-loved spaces in the city.
"This announcement builds on our connectivity plans for the city which aim to ensure that citizens and businesses have access to the highest quality and affordable internet services," he stated.
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