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Gas Plasma Antennas Help Wi-Fi Security
mindless4210 writes "Markland Technologies has developed a new gas plasma antenna technology which could help to secure wireless networks. The technology allows for highly directive and electronically steerable digital data transmission via solid-state semi conductor based plasma generators. A plasma antenna can reposition itself at very high speeds, as well as change it's beamwidth and bandwidth, creating spatial and spectral security features which are not presently available with conventional WiFi antenna technology."
Happy Trails!
Erick
http://www.busyweather.com/
In fact it sounds too good to be true.
Oh wait. I see. It's a press release from a startup company. Never mind.
And verify the heisenberg compensators, it could just possibly work. You might need to check out the lateral sensor array though.
So which is the solid-state part? I'm picuring a generator that creates the plasma antenna beam...close?
Hello, high voltage. It's one thing to put "phased array" antennas on naval vessels, but entirely another to put them in a house. Not to mention the voltage difference needed to generate the plasma.
Fluorescent bulbs use this sort of principle, too - surely our new gas-plasma antennas aren't to be made of glass?
Hrm. Perhaps they are.
The entertainment value when someone walks up and says, "hey whats this thing..." followed by screams as their hand disappears after touching the new flashy glowing thingy.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
My BS alarm just tripped and I can't seem to stop it.
...are nothing new. What is new is that this is a "virtual" arial. IMHO, this has wide-ranging applications. For a start, virtual radio telescopes could be of practically unlimited size, by this arrangement. No physical surface to mess up on.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
This is a great idea if it works. But if its all directional, how would you have an access point serving many clients? Unless the access point used (an) omnidirectional antenna(s), there would need to be multitudes of these to track each client.
Douglas P. Price
Who the hell are these guys?
:)
Their other products in the emerging technologies section include Acoustic Core - detecting illicit materials using their acoustic signatures, Vapour Trace - a way to search cargo for contraband materials and Crypto.Com - a double cipher keyless transmission system.
Thats a lot of cool science and technology for a relatively unheard of company, not to mention their technologies in the Border Security and Chemical Detection systems.
I had read a while back about the CIA and US Govt investing in startups - I think its quite possible that these guys are probably funded thus
Kinda cool yet spooky.
Picture of a wide-eyed 'generic business person" with big print on the billboard that reads "Got Gas? If not, you're wireless network isn't secure."
...if I eat enough Pringles.
The one place where this could have some good security uses is for undetectable transmission, which is probably interesting to the military.
Of course, directional broadcasting has a whole set of real benefits, such as getting more bandwidth by allowing more transmitters in the same region, minimizing interference, minimizing radiation output, etc. But to call this a security feature? I guess the "everything good is a security feature" is the parallel to "everything bad is terrorist" idea which seems popular lately.
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Create a WAP server
According to their site, plasma antennas are interesting for short-pulse applications, such as radar, IFF... Wifi is not mentioned, just a vague "high speed data communications" after a wealth of military applications.
So aside from being, literally, vaporware (laugh here, serious point next.), how does this technology compete with phased array systems such as those by Vivato? I understand the value of phased arrays are that they can focus the output into an extremely narrow beam and send it to just the right place. I Am Not A Physicist, but it seems like solid state electronics are a *little* bit simpler than plasma to work with!
And safer.
I just hope it won't interfere with my Vortex Field Generator or detune my Resonance Cascade.
Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
Now I won't have to get an antenna rotator to get a good OTA HDTV signal!
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
The "war on terror" is turning into a pork program.
Not rf from plasma, but audio
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
I wonder if the technology can be retrofitted to existing Neon signs. One of the main drawbacks to wifi is its relatively limited range and the cost of a decent antenna(cantennas excluded as these really aren't viable from an enterprise or business standpoint....think permenant installation)
If every neon sign could be used as an antenna...think of all the coverage we could have. Vegas could work with Intel(centrino) to become the first unwired city. Get all the hotels/casinos to chip in and boom. free wifi.
Hmm... so if the plasma antenna has variable beam width I wonder what that does for the gain of the antenna--It could replace very large traditional parabolic dishes on the transmit end. This could be great for mobile SNG satellite uplink, and also in space communications, that of course depends on the power requirements.
Yeah, so it was a long day at work..
If it is steerable, then it needs some idea of the direction to steer to. This could be done in a location-based way (eg. GPS) or by tracking signal strengths etc. But basically it means that to use this you will be giving away some idea of your position. It will be like the finger of God pointing at you: "There's the bloke viewing pron".
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Highly directive and electronically steerable digital data transmission via solid-state semi conductor based plasma generators? Is that all? Heck, I've got, like, four or five solid-state semi conductor based plasma generators providing highly directive and electronically steerable digital data transmission in my car. Highly directive and electronically steerable digital data transmission via solid-state semi conductor based plasma generators aren't that big of a deal.
Stupid like a fox!
We know how to make WiFi secure: with secure protocols and encryption. When the responsible standards bodies don't screw up badly (as they did with 802.11), it works fine. A somewhat directional antenna may or may not increase security slightly, but not at an interesting cost/performance ratio. If you really want additional security at the physical level, use laser or even quantum communications.
This company has a solution in search of a problem, and they are trying to drum up businesses. Plasma antennas are interesting for 1960's style radio transmissions and stealth, but they have little significance to 21st century wireless communications.
And the good news is that so many of these technologies have as many uses for good as they do for evil!
The CB App. What's your 20?
While it's got some cool aspects to it, the big drawback here is you'll never know if your office is somehow in the line of fire.
Hmmm. Of course, that could be useful to some nefarious people. Like setting one up so that the antenna points at your PHB and doses him with constant microwave radiation for 8 hours a day.
This could take the military concept of "fragging" to a new level (not that I'm suggesting such of course).
You can see this technology already in use aboard many fine ships of the line:
p g
http://www.bravofleet.net/pegasus/images/phas.j
You can circumvent the use of a Gas Plasma Antenna, and cost by using a simple Parabolic Antenna. It is just as effective with direction reception and broadcasting, which is all a Gas Plasma antenna can do. And being able to alter reception directions quickly does very little for security, possibly a bit of convienience, but I would like to save my money for other things.
This antenna essentially "disappears" when it is not being used, making it fairly "stealthy"
More than just disappear when not in use, it could potentially disrupt snopper while in use. While locked on to a legitimate user, the antenna could change the beam pattern in other directions to disrupt snoopers. Only a snooper that is roughly in the line from antenna to legitimate user would be able to get a consistent signal.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
An SOS message could be sent by igniting three short farts, followed by three long ones, followed by three short ones.
While the plasma may disappear when the antenna isn't in use, the housing containing the plasma doesn't. Not too stealthy...
Another minor issue -- what's a plasma? Ionized gas, right? How do you ionize gas? By passing current through it. That gives you a large plasma arc. Gee, I wonder if just possibly that arc might be generating RF on its own? Any guesses on DC to light (literally -- gas discharge lamps give off quite characteristic spectra)? That arc is a very wideband RF source.
You're telling me you're going to hook up a sensitive receiver to a gas arc, and it's going to work? Or you're going to hook up a transmitter to a gas arc, and the extra power from the transmitter isn't going to alter the characteristics of the plasma?
Kind of like playing the violin while sitting atop a foghorn...
Singed,
Teens4Satan
Imagine That!
I remember reading about making a speaker out of a candle or gas jet, I think in an old ham radio magazine from the 1950's. From what I remember, you stick two wires into the flame and drive it with a high voltage modulated with audio.
Actually they have already done this with a speaker. A gas makes a pretty blue flame, and by inserting electrodes into the base of the flame, and modulating it with a voltage, it causes the shape of the flame to change. This emits sound as it moves the air around the plasma jet.
Several designs for these have been written up and have even produced comercially in Europe. U.S. Safety laws have prevented them from being sold in Amercia, however some enterprising scientists have built their own for fun.
If the surface or volume of the plasma ball can conduct, it can be used as a radiator of RF, one that can have its shape dynamically changed by the above technique.
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
Gas Plasma antennas? The phrase "Gas Plasma" makes me think of a star trek episode where the enterprise accidentally destroys an ecosystem after venting warp plasma into a planets atmosphere :)
:D
Anyway, this would be a cool technology. Someone spying on your WiFi network? Send some gas plasma in his direction and watch the fireworks
are also nothing new. This company's been around for some time doing similar stuff.
You appear to have your cork in the wrong orfice.
The thing that is exciting about this is the field of research that it opens up. Of course, directional comm antennas have been around for quite some time, but building networks out of them is relatively new. Do a literature search on "active topology formation" and you'll see what I mean -- not a whole lot has been done here, and yet this dramatically changes how you architect networks.
The exact issues involved are what spurred DARPA to recently proclaim that it was time to revise the 7-layer OSI model into something that appears more like a mesh. And that really is what will be required -- for example, waiting 10s of seconds for OSPF to figure out whether a link is up or down just will not cut it when you can form links on the order of milliseconds.
When they are talking about 'solid state' gas plasma generators they could be talking about the kind of switching power supplies used for small neon signs. Neon technology is moving away from transformers for the high voltage and towards switching technology.
If this is mutant neon sign technology then the real trick will be replacing the glass tubing with something more robust. You need a non-conductive material that will not be degraded by the plasma inside it. I've seen an art piece that used a large diameter plexiglass tube, but it needed to be repolished on the inside every so often because the inside surface became opaque. (In this case large was 2 feet in diameter and over six feet tall.) Instead of glass they could be using ceramics if these were shock resistant enough.
Sounds cool and all, but can all that plasma be forced into a plasma cell and accelerate me through space at warp speed?
This sounds like mostly B.S.
At microwave frequencies (at which Wi-Fi operates), just about every object scatters (reflects, diffracts) incident radiation. As a matter of fact, many RF antenna designs are "parasitically" directional, but rely on backscattering to produce a more omnidirectional response.
Assuming that an adapative antenna array (which seems to be what the original press release describes) can target a specific client, sensitive near neighbors will inevitably be able to eavesdrop. Furthermore, an array of radiating slots or conductive elements with solid-state switches or phase shifters may achieve the same result without the need for using plasma.
As a side note - for those that think gas plasma is something magical, keep in mind that many vacuum fluorescent and early laptop displays used this principle economically and safely, as do a variety of commodity devices like fluorescent and HID lamps.
Methinks I need to start heatproofing my Pringles cans.
One of the main advantages here seems to be that the antennas aren't metal. That makes them physically lighter and reduces noise by bunches, and doesn't reflect incoming radar when it's turned off. This is definatelly a military app.; especially in that is can be used as a radar antenna. Sounds perfect for airborne early warning radar systems.
The mods aren't doing their jobs, the parent post should be moderated as Offtopic. If not flamebait or troll.
And can you put it on the head of a frickin' shark?
Having directional or narrow beam capabilities is of tremendous advantage ( not that this capability does not already exist to some extent, but this looks to be an improvement) :
1. You mentioned the problem of objects in the way, especially reflective ones. For transmission in both cities and non flat terrain, the path of radio signals to the recever frequently travel along paths that include reflections as opposed to straight from the transmitter. This is not changed by the directional signal; the transmitter and receiver will just focus on the best rout. As for people listening in on signals, wireless will never be free from that. If someone is determined to position a receiver to pick up the signal, then it will happen ( Even if the snoop has to park a satellite in a straight line behind the receiver as the US government has been known to do. ) However directional will allow you to cut out a significant portion of the casual snoops. It is far less likely that the small portion of your neighbors with snooping interests and abilities will regularly coincide with where your stray signal is going if you use directional signals.
2. Most users will not care much about 1, however they will care about the added bandwidth this allows. Directional signals allow for concurrent signals to be sent to different locations with less interference. Your wireless will not interfere as much with your neighbor's. At crowded locations, bandwidth will be divided across smaller areas, perhaps allowing the person a few tables or rows over to get full bandwidth at the same time you are if close enough to the wireless router.
As stealthy as a neon sign!
You had it right in the first place.
Laws are horrible moral guides, moral guides make even worse laws.
Well, I think it's a bit better than that- a base station with this technology can probably work out the distance as well as the angle- the antenna forms a spatially distributed antenna and hence can measure the phase and intensity and show where the user is.
there is the issue of power requirement - you need to create that plasma - fuel requirement - the gas you're ionizing
It's not a problem for a base station though- and that's where I see this technology going.
- and the shielding requirements.
There really aren't any- it's just like a flourescent bulb.
The main advantage of this system is that the highly directional antenna can actually permit two users to use the same bands without interference (since they are distinguished by their location, the base stations would be relatively deaf to any users not associated with them)- this greatly multiplies up the bandwidth of a WIFI network.
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"Its complete rubbish to consider that plasma antennas could be used for WiFi. All of the plasma antennas I've heard of need something to contain the gas in which the plasma is excited. So your normal antenna is replaced with a glass vessel of a size larger than the largest antenna you want to have.
Directivity comes at the cost of size. Sure you want 30dBi gain for your WiFi, I'll build it for you, but it'll be at least 10 wavelengths in size (1.25 metres for 2.4GHz WiFi). The only applications I see permitting that sort of antenna size are real infrastructure devices, not consumer WiFi devices.
The main advantage I see of plasma antennas is as a stealth technology. By their nature all antennas have a relatively large radar cross-section in at least one direction. This is true even of plasma antennas. However, the advantage of plasma antennas is that you can turn them off when you aren't using them. As long as the containment vessel for the plasma itself has a low radar cross section, you'll then be virtually undetectable.
D.
I'm not seeing a lot of technical details on the implementation here, but the key seems to be that it has dynamic properties where conventional antennas have static ones. The properties in question seem to be directionality and bandwidth, but I'm not an expert in antenna design so I can't speak to the details on the band-shifting.
Looking at it generically though, I find myself wondering if this could be used to implement a similar concept to port-knocking: have the device receving only on a particular band, then jump to another one after receiving a communcation. Repeat a few times, finally settling on the desired communications band for full conversation. Again, not being an expert in this field, I can't speak to the value of that procedure, but I figured the idea was worth mentioning.
(cue the posts telling me it wasn't)
Ok folks, first the disclaimer: I AM a physicist (waves and beams division from MIT Plasma Fusion Center). This is kind of interesting but there are any number of competing technologies out there, some of which have already been mentioned. One of the
more interesting variants is the reconfigurable holographic antenna (google for Arye Rosen and holographic antenna) which uses a slab of semiconductor illuminated by above-the-band-gap light to excite a electron/hole pair plasma in the solid to make an antenna of any shape on the fly. The plasma that these guys are making doesn't seem nearly as flexible in pattern and certainly not in update speed. Also I'm not sure how fully ionized the plasma is and therefore how high a reflectivity they can achieve.
Cheers!
Secret algorithm, "unbreakable cipher", "unprecedented levels of security", irrelevant details but no relevant ones, all the rest that you expect from crypto snake oil. No apparent knowledge of or reference to the state of the art; no understanding of why "keyless" encryption might be a bad thing; no apparent advantage over Diffie-Hellman key exchange (and D-H doesn't expand messages by a factor of 50).
This is not to say that their other products might not be worth something.
it's essentially a neon sign when it's in use. You know, that thing businesses use when they want lots of attention...