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."

Comments

Now you see it......

[erick99]

This is a very cool technology. This antenna essentially "disappears" when it is not being used, making it fairly "stealthy". And, while a traditional metal rod or dish antenna is "cut" to a specific or very narrow range of frequencies, it would appear that the gas plasma antenna can essentially reconfigure itself to rapidly change frequencies. As a ham radio operator, I can really appreciate how useful that could be.

Happy Trails!

Erick

Re:Now you see it......

[nacturation]

Queue up the "bah! security through obscurity never works" posts. :)

I agree though, this is really fricking cool. With the right controls, you could make it so that the antenna characteristics change over time according to a pattern known only to those posessing the corresponding private key. Interception is harder and, even if it is intercepted, you could theoretically use this as one additional encryption layer.

Sounds great.

[Anonymous Coward]

In fact it sounds too good to be true.

Oh wait. I see. It's a press release from a startup company. Never mind.

If you reconfigure the modulators

[Neil Blender]

And verify the heisenberg compensators, it could just possibly work. You might need to check out the lateral sensor array though.

They forgot the best feature of all

[nizo]

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.

creating spatial and spectral security features

[FreeLinux]

My BS alarm just tripped and I can't seem to stop it.

Re:creating spatial and spectral security features

[pclminion]

Just because you don't understand the "big words" doesn't mean they're meaningless.

Spatial security == the beam goes where you want, as opposed to all over the place.

Spectral security == the edges of the beam spectrum are very well defined, with very little "spill" into neighboring frequencies.

Markland Technologies

[metlin]

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.

Re:Markland Technologies

[treerex]

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 :)

In-Q-Tel makes no secret of the companies it invests in, though they are very careful with their money and perform a lot of due-diligence before making any investment. And to be pedantic, In-Q-Tel is not a Governmental agency, they just happen to concentrate their activity based on the needs of the Defense-Intelligence community. The company I work for is one of those that In-Q-Tel has invested in.

There are lots of programs in the Department of Defence that companies can apply to in order to get research money: you just need to know which back to scratch and get yourself noticed.

I can see it now

[MilkmanIAC]

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."

Lamest security claim of the century?

[ChiralSoftware]

What good is a directional beam if it hits some radio-reflective object and bounces somewhere else? Also, even if the beam is 99% directional, sensitive or very close receivers could still pick up the 1% that leaks. A security system that is 99% effective is not much better than a system which is 10% effective. Without solid encryption and authentication built-in to the protocol, directional broadcasting is useless. With solid encryption and authentication built-in to the protocol, directional broadcasting doesn't add anything.

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.

-----------
Create a WAP server

Re:My brain hurts

[erick99]

They do a pretty good job explaining it here.

Happy Trails!

Erick

Vaporware

[Wise Dragon]

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.

Re:Vaporware

[Tlosk]

Because of the speed with which they can revert to nonplasma state they can prevent ringing and other artifacts inherent to metal antennae, increasing the fidelity and reliability as well as the signal processing logic on the receiving end.

There's also the weight and size issue, with the plasma coming in both lighter and smaller to an equivalent conventional one.

But you're right of course that it will be a while or perhaps never that it will be just as easy or easier to work with plasma. So you might not see one on a $10 walkman, but that's not to say that there aren't a lot of applications where the benefits would afar outweight the difficulty.

So how do you steer it???

[EmbeddedJanitor]

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".

Re:Directional arials...

[pclminion]

Why do you say "virtual?" The antenna is just as real as a metal wire, the only difference is that the positive charges in a plasma are free to move, whereas in a metal the positive charges are locked in the lattice.

Just because it's not a solid doesn't make it spooky or virtual...

virtual radio telescopes could be of practically unlimited size, by this arrangement.

Not really, since the plasma has to be kept "hot" and at low pressures in order to prevent it from recombining back into "normal" uncharged matter again. A device capable of maintaining such a large plasma would require enormous amounts of power and maintainence.

Is that all?

[AaronStJ]

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.

solution in search of a problem

[hak1du]

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.

Oil of Snake

[sillivalley]

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...

Re:My brain hurts

[pluvia]

Dangit, I forgot to correct the link in my previous comment, sorry.