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Pentagon and Wi-Fi Deal Reached

Posted by Hemos on from the making-things-work dept.

byteCoder writes "CNet reports that the US Military and the Wi-Fi manufacturers have struck an agreement on reducing the interference on military radars by Wi-Fi equipment. Basically, future wireless equipment will detect the presence of military radar and not transmit over the top of it. Additionally, as part of the compromise, defense officials will endorse the doubling of the number of allowed wireless frequencies--thus opening more spectrum to wireless users (as long as the FCC and Congress agree)."

7 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. Who wins? by PseudonymousCoward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Will WiFi equipment be able to tell the difference between military radar, police department radar, and other forms of non-WiFi radiation in the relevant frequency ranges? Will WiFi stop working if I wardrive near a police car? Will it stop working if a police car drives by my house?

    Does this "agreement" allow anyone who wants to suppress the use of WiFi to turn on a device that simulates 'military radar"?

    Just wondering.
    .

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  2. What about military use? by shekondar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I guess this means the military won't be using 802.11 anytime soon... It would be a little tough for them to use it if their own radars keep turning it off!

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  3. hmmm.... by Bendebecker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Isn't that a little dangerous for military secrecy? I mean, anyone can now take a wireless transmitter and modify it to detect military radar. As technology grows more and more connected, will we someday see people remotely using the cellphone transmitter on a military base or any sensitive area in order to look for flaws and holes in radar coverage? Just a thought.

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    1. Re:hmmm.... by jandrese · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If people can easily modifiy consumer equipment to detect these radar signature, than no foreign nation is going to have trouble building someing that does exactly the same thing. In fact most nations already do build devices like this, especially on fighter planes. Most of them are much more sophisticated, featuring much better sensitivity than consumer equipment along with direction finding ability (there are even missiles that seek on RADAR emissions).

      Personally, I'm estatic over the prospect of expanding the total number of completely independent channels from three to five or six.

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  4. Lawrence Lessig's Position by truthsearch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A chapter in Lawrence Lessig's latest book, The Future of Ideas, covers the topic of spectrum as a controlled commons. Many feel with modern technology it should be de-regulated and simply sold to any of the highest bidders. Interference with military transmissions has been one key arguing point. His book discusses it well and raises the argument for easing government control of the spectrum commons. I highly recommend the book for anyone interesting in the ideas of the internet as a commons and how it should or should not be controlled.

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  5. Re:Just what I've always wanted by Cy+Guy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    With detectors comes jammers

    Similarly, just by mimicking the signal of the military radar you could launch a Denial of Service attack against anyone trying to use Wi-Fi.

    It would seem this compromise results in a serious trade-off of National security versus the security of the users' own systems. It could end up being a nasty tool for industrial sabotage if you could shut down networking at competitor's facility from a van parked outside. As a result, it could limit the acceptance of Wi-Fi as a replaced for wired LANs - and keep it as a mobile only technology.

    (I know a lot of supposition went into that, but heck, I'm only posting to SlashDot).

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  6. Upcoming .. by AftanGustur · · Score: 4, Interesting


    Which electronic magazine (or Phrack ?) will be the first to publish "Build your own WiFi scrambler/silencer for under 20 bucks" article.

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