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New Phased-Array AP Boosts 802.11b Range

Posted by timothy on from the bring-it-on-quickly dept.

ttul writes "Vivato, a well-funded wireless startup, today came out of stealth mode to announce its "WiFi" switch product, a super high performance 802.11b access point that uses an array of hundreds of antennas to provide wide-area coverage to standard 802.11b clients. See stories at Wired, and The New York Times. Vivato's new AP completely changes the economics of WiFi especially for providers such as FatPort and WayPort, who now have the technology to deliver 11Mbps to your laptop even if you're miles from a location -- it's the Jetson's, folks!"

11 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    um, why is it the jetson's? I'm sure it is obvious to everyone but me.

  2. We're on a roll folks by disc-chord · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I can't believe how fast this technology just keeps advancing. I am so glad to be alive in this day and age, instead of 200 years in either direction. Just think about it for a second, if you were alive in 1802 you'd be getting some amazing technological advances at a rate of ... well pretty slow. And in 2202 we'd just be used to it all, and completely unphased. (i.e. How excited does turning your light bulb on make you today?)

    I can't wait to get my hands on one of these new toys!

    1. Re:We're on a roll folks by gozar · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually, the late 1800's was when technology affected human lives (at least in America) the most.Before that time it wasn't unusual to go for years without communication to your family that was only a few hundred miles away. Then the telegraph, steam engine, mass production, the industrial revolution began to really change things.

      It is an exciting time now, but don't kid ourselves that this is the golden age of advances. We're still doing the same thing, just slightly faster. Give me a call when we have anti-gravity devices, holodecks, and transporters.

      --
      What, me worry?
    2. Re:We're on a roll folks by hornedone · · Score: 2, Insightful
      It's a common fallacy to assume that we live in unique times. Everyone has lived in unique times, throughout prehistory and beyond.

      It's all now with a few memories and some hope for the future. And before we geeks crow about how wonderful our portion of the world is--and it is technologically exciting--remember there is a big world of human suffering out there. Or are we living in the 1939 NYC World Fair's vision of the world. Or is it Metropolis? Then there was WWII. That drove technology too, didn't it?

      I love my Zaurus running the Crow ROM.

  3. Is this a good thing? by JohnA · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What if I don't want this super-array to interfere with my local WLAN? It appears that this technology has the potential to create a "mine is bigger than yours" arms race among WiFi users.

  4. I'll beleive it when..... by Chris_Stankowitz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    it sticks around for more than a year. The old addage of I'll beleive it when I see it has fallen victim to too many technologies that didn't make it. I am cheering for this all the way. Hope it makes it and stays.

  5. Silence nay sayers, slashdot rules thee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    this isn't a repost, this is an update worthy of a new story, given the few details of the last.

    helluva lot better than CNN or nyt where they'd just revise the story and you'd never know.

  6. Question.... by hawkbug · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe somebody can answer this for me, but I see a major problem with current wireless technology. I currently have an 802.11b access point in my home. I love it, and it gets great range - in fact, so great it goes clear over onto my neighbors property. I had my laptop outside (probably looked like a dork walking around running a constant ping on my thinkpad), and I was able to walk clear onto their property and get a great signal. At first I was impressed... then I started to think about my neighbor. Wouldn't this be a problem for them if they wanted their *own* access point for their network?? I would think that my access point also interferes with 2.4ghz phones in the area. As an example, I had to sell mine because they quit working the second I got this thing. So, if you could expand the range of 802.11b to *miles* - isn't that really going to screw over Joe Blow who wants his own wireless network that just happens to be within range of a provider mentioned in the story???

  7. Not a duplicate... by Penguinoflight · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This must not be a duplicate from all the people getting modded down... not only are the 4,5, and 6th posters getting redundant, the first guy got a troll mod. Is this really not another story, and are the editors really awake?

    --
    "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
    1 John 4:14
  8. Actually... by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I think that 802.11b has a legal limitation on the antenna gain to 6 dB. This is so that devices would not interfere with other, distant networks.

    Bruce

    --
    Bruce Perens.
  9. Multiple steerable beams, for better or worse by dtmos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The advantages of a phased array AP are two:

    -Multiple simultaneous beams. The maximum number of possible beams is equal to the number of radiating elements in the array. The Pringles can, of course, has only one main lobe (beam).

    -Near-instantaneous beam switching from one direction to another or, said another way, the ability to track very quickly, since the beamsteering is done electrically, rather than mechanically, as the Pringles can does.

    The big question I've not seen answered is, how do they handle the Wi-Fi beacons? A beacon serves multiple purposes--synchronizing the network nodes and advertising the presence of the network to prospective new network members being two of them. If the beamforming is used to reach long distances, the beam is very narrow; new nodes won't be able to detect the network since it's unlikely they'll be in the beam. Conversely, if a wide beam is used to enable new nodes to join, range to existing LAN members will suffer.

    I wonder if it's significant that, in the Wired article, the tests were performed starting close to the AP, then walking away from it. It would be interesting to try the reverse...