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2.4GHz Wi-Fi Detector Ring Project
mohrt writes "The Wi-Fi detection ring was developed to give mobile computer users the ability to detect 802.11b/g signals, while providing a unique, fashionable and ultra-portable product package.
The prototype circuit collects and rectifies an RF signal in the 2.4GHz range, whereafter an Atmel Tiny microprocessor, detecting the presence of a DC voltage, thusly engages a flashing LED.
For those of you who have no excuse to wear a ring, well here it is."
The last time a ring was this cool was with a decoder and a whistle and came in a cereal box.
i see you, too, have the schwartz
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The maximum detection range appeared to be roughly 40 feet (line of sight), which is not exactly great, but this can likely be blamed on the antenna...
He doesn't mind
However, who would want to detect a Wi-Fi if he's not going to use it? If you're already a mobile user, it might be easier to just use your device's auto-detection software.
I agree that there are times when I wish I could have detected the signal before I take out my laptop, but I usually solve that problem by starting up my PDA first.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
In brightest day, in darkest night
No Wi-Fi shall escape my sight
Let those who worship broadband's might
Beware my power, my ring's LED light!
It also can tell you if your microwave oven is working! (and how much leakage you're absorbing by standing in front of it)
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
Just plant a 2.4ghz bug on him?
Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
One ring to detect them all...
Although one wonders if 802.11g should be illegal as well -- if it can light up an LED with the juice it's pouring into the air, what else might it be doing that we're not aware of yet?
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
The perfect nerd wedding ring!!! Now all I gotta do is find a girl that'll be ok with that.
(Not shown on the underside: a crystal and tiny on/off switch.)
That is completely functional.... hopefully you do not have to ever close your hand.
...but I'm sure she'll prefer one of these!
Its not going to tell you if there's an available hotspot. Just because there's a signal doesn't mean it isn't WEP or 802.1x secured (yes WEP and Secure is an oxymoron, but still...). If its not then it's probably not free or is not one from a provider you may be subscribed to.
Use a hotspot search engine instead like Dowza or WiFi 411. You'll have much better luck finding a usable hotspot with those kinds of things... Yeah I'm missing the point about geek factor...
I think it's great. My laptop is not very portable, and my PDA is from the stone ages. It'd be cool to see where the hotspots are, whether I've got a device with me or not -- just for future reference. =) What would be really neat is if hotspots were visible on a map that I could access from anywhere. Does anything like that exist yet?
MakePassword.com Mp3 Blog
Wouldn't cordless phones set this thing off constantly?
Im gonna make one for my girlfriend.. I'm sure she will love it :)
wow that ring is sweet! let me guess, forged in the fires of mount doom?
Well you better go catch it!"
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
...in the heart of Mount Doom by microwaving it with a bag of popcorn.
Wow, the concept pictures look nothing like the prototype. Hopefully they can work on making it aesthetically pleasing. Maybe they should call up Apple?
Ear-, nose- and belly button- rings will be available soon!
From the article: "Due to the simplicity of the circuit design, the prototype unit does not discriminate between other sources of 2.4GHz RF, eg. "leaky" microwave ovens, cordless phones, etc. Future production units would feature surface-mounted components to decrease the detector profile and microcontrollers that discriminate between other RF sources, as well as indicate whether the Wi-Fi nodes are open/closed/encrypted, etc."
Yes, but they're going to fix that.
Due to the simplicity of the circuit design, the prototype unit does not discriminate between other sources of 2.4GHz RF, eg. "leaky" microwave ovens, cordless phones, etc.
Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
Pardon me for pointing out that this is overly complicated. You've got a tuned-circuit detector looking for a particular frequency. That's rectified into a DC voltage. Why didn't they use an analog comparator chip to light the LED? You can't tell me that the A/D plus CPU-and-software is a simpler solution.
They mention a future revision doing interpretation of the open/closed/encrypted state of the WiFi node, but that's going to need a real front-end, not just a diode power detector. If they decoded the packets, I'd be impressed. So far, I'm not.
What about marriage?
Never mind...
Perfect for the geek who wants to be married to technology rather than another person.
Nothing says commitment to your true love technology like one of these rings.
it looks great too!
Rather than signalling to women around you that you've already got someone willing to spend the rest of her life with you, this ring indicates (and guarantees) that pretty much that no woman will ever want to be with you.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
The designers should consider making this a watch instead of a ring. That way they can also design a UI for the watch's display, and you would have more room for bulk on your wrist than on your finger.
This can be the reverse-wedding ring. As a wedding ring indicates that you're taken, this ring can indicate that you are most definitely single. After all, no sane girlfriend/fiance/wife would allow you to step out the door with your "WiFi detecting ring" no matter how cool you thought your witty references to the Lord of the Ring were.
Atmel's AVR Tiny is a microcontroller, not (just) a microprocessor. Small but important difference!
Finally, a resolution to all those wedding ring & diamond related discussions on slashdot.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
Man just use Dowza www.dowza.com It doesn't make you look like a borg and you'll find more hotspots.
This is TRES KEWL!
geezze just might give one to my girl!
Gizmos Gagets For Ninjas
Now I don't know what sort of PCB the maker means in the layout, but the ring better not use this kind--it's known for pollution.
Is it a printed circuit board as I think and hope it is? Looks like it...
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
oh my god, that one is soooo gay. *smile*
...is that the Eye will find you and send out the ringwraiths when you wear it. Bummer.
That'll look real nice right next to my Java ring. :-)
[Insert pithy quote here]
-b.
A perfect gift! First, I give my girlfriend the ring... then I finally have an excuse to sing the famous song from Napoleon Dynomite. Why do you love me? Why do you need me? Always and forever... We met in a chatroom, now our love can fully bloom... Sure the world wide web is great, but you, you make my salivate... I love technology, but not as much as you, you see... But I STILL love technology... Always and forever. Our love is like a flock of doves, flying up to heaven above... always and forever, always and forever... Why do you need me? Why do you love me? Always and forever...
Nice idea but is it really practical. What about the security risks? Is this also going to be involved with the 802.11i protocol? If these concerns are addressed then it is truly the master ring. Which will find them all and in the darkness bind them.
...it's better than this secret decoder ring I've been using since I was 8.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Offtopic, perhaps. But that chick's got the nicest ass I've seen all week. Thanks for the link. :)
Method of processing duck feet
Scenario: A man and a woman are getting married, they've picked out the wedding rings.
During the ceremony she puts on his ring... he looks down and sees Wifi is available!
"Sweet! I can get wireless here"
Man proceeds to dig out his laptop and posts online to the world that he just got married while chatting with a few of his buddies on AIM and announcing to his guild members in World of Warcraft.
This marriage will last shorter than Britney Spears' Vegas get-a-away.
Let me guess what frequency it blew, Cap'n...
Amen, my thoughts exactly. Have they ever heard of a 555 timer, I wonder?
More visible then the cook ring. The wifi ring gives your average joe six pack the ability to pick out teh ghey with little or no effort.
Why does some mildy usefull device cause the masses of geeks to post bad comments on slashdot. (including this one). Why do we think we're funny, and wanna post something funny, not know what it is we think is so funny about it, and then make something stupid up. Now I realize how geeks could be used as a derogitory term (that usage of the term was never apparent to me until now) In any case, If I had to have on ring that infomed me of anything in my area, it would be a pencil sharpener indicater. I can't seem to find these anywhere!
I'm married. I need a reason NOT to wear a ring!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
ubergeek is when you go around calling it "my precious".
there's no place like ~
Due to the simplicity of the circuit design, the prototype unit does not discriminate between other sources of 2.4GHz RF, eg. "leaky" microwave ovens, cordless phones, etc.
It's the one ring to detect them all?
FLR
You can get attiny11s microcontrollers at a lower cost than most (not all, admittedly) 555s. They'll run on an internal RC oscillator and don't require external components to set timing intervals. For many applications it wouldn't surprise me if people used that as an alternative to a 555.
I might not be the only one who'd like to build someting similar.
where's all that Karma?
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them (Wi-Fi networks)
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. ( Download porn! )
Considering WiFi networks are just one type of device running on 2.4 Ghz, expect many false positive. In a urban setting, the ISM band is pretty much saturated so your LED will most probably stay a solid green.
Also, I have doubts about the sensitivity of their antenna design.
:wq
To be able to add the future ability to differentiate between a hotspot and a microwave?
I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
I sure hope this guy got a patent on this thing... or, in the true spirit of Open Source, he should publish the parts list and build instructions... Neat idea...I can see it now...a Detector Ring for the UNSECURED wi-fi network...Detector Ring to identify A/B/G networks, or networks on 900mhz, 2.4, or 5.8 ghz... Endless possibilities...
--E--
Normally using an excessive amount of technology to achieve something pointless is something we love to see here..
Finally another form of birth control for males.
There shouldn't be any limits to immigration for hot brazillian chicks. I mean, we need more maids that look like that.
Amy
Jewelry worth wearing! Forget form - it's all FUNCTION!
And all it really needs is to be encased in tinted epoxy (yes - it means dead battery = dead ring)
Time to order some parts online!
Visualize Whirled P.'s
... blink the uc(SSID) in Morse code..
On second thought... She'd never leave...
"Yes, I have a Disaster Recovery Plan. It's called my Resume"
I would have thought the proto type would have been surface mount to reduce size. And 2 prototype been on flex board ie glued on. Note I would have never stuck a brick like that on my finger just for a prototype. Hmm someone the steath wifi network detector. Yep looks like a standard watch just with a wifi detect option.
802.11 was designed for LAN's. Hot spots will be obsolete in a couple of years when 802.16 hits the market.
Why not just use a keychain that does that?
The prototype shown in TFA can also recharge a tiny battery. Well, that must be the reason why there's a battery in the ring...
A watch that detects wifi is curious, maybe even useful to some dorks, but it's not cool. A keychain that detects wifi is curious but not cool. A PDA that detects wireless isn't even curious.
This ring is cool because it's a ring. Ever hear of a secret decoder ring? Why do you think it keeps coming up here? Were you never a kid? Are you not even a nerd?
Amy
no wi-fi signal shall escape my sight. Let those who worship IE's might, beware my power...
Dammit, I need to stop drinking.
..is that the Eye will find you and send out the ringwraiths when you wear it. Bummer.
:-)
I was not aware we were calling network security folk Ringwraiths now.
However, I have to admit that it does not seem totally out of line...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I really like this from the cool factor point of view, but it raises a practical question for me.
I have never understood the keychain access point finders. Since they can't tell me if the net is open (much less if it's a protected one I have a key for) it isn't much more than, well, a radiation detector.
Worse, because of (3-space) registration issues, interference, etc. it can find access points that are from a practical standpoint electrically inaccessible to my laptop.
But this ring, that's something different, and very cool.
q: are you maried?!
a: no, it's just my "2.4GHz Wi-Fi Detector Ring"
Anyone notice how in the comments there's like 10,000 references to the One Ring from LotR and maybe one or two references to engagement rings or wedding rings?
Looks like there's a difference between what most people think about and what the Slashdot crowd thinks about...
If I need network access, I either want to have it right at the moment or at least know where to go to get online for sure. I can not imagine lugging a notebook all over the place just in case I get lucky. Better to get bluetooth interface to a GPRS phone in addition to WiFi. But then the ring will only be marginally useful. Of course maybe it's intended just as a curiosity anyway.
that fuckers gonna be a big ass bitch slapping pimp ring... http://images.google.com/images?q=pimp+ring&hl=en& btnG=Google+Search
"Mood Rings"
by Reliant K
we all know the girls that i am talking about
well they are time bombs and they are ticking
and the only question's when they'll blow up
and they'll blow up; we know that without a doubt
cause they're those girls, yeah you know those girls that let their emotions get the best of them
and i've contrived some sort of a plan to help my fellow man
let's get emotional girls to all wear mood rings
so we'll be tipped off to when they're ticked off
cause we'll know just what they're thinking
cause what they're thinking...
she's so pretty but she but doesn't always act that way
her mood's out swinging on the swing set almost every day
she said to me that she's so happy it's depressing
and all i said was "someone get that girl a mood ring"
if it's drama you want then look no further
they're like the real world meets boy meets world meets days of our lives
and it just kills me how they get away with murder
they'll anger you then bat their eyes; those pretty eyes that watch you sympathize
and i've contrived some sort of a plan to help my fellow man
let's get emotional girls to all wear mood rings
so we'll be tipped off to when they're ticked off
cause we'll know just what they're thinking
cause what they're thinking...
she's so pretty but she but doesn't always act that way
her mood's out swinging on the swing set almost every day
she said to me that she's so stressed out that it's soothing
and all i said was "someone get that girl a mood ring"
cause when it's black (it) means watch your back because you're probably
the last person in the world right now she wants to see
and when it's blue it means that you should call her up immediately
and ask her out because she'll most likely agree
and when it's green it simply means that she is really stressed
and when it's clear it means she's completely emotionless (and that's all right i must confess)
we all know the girls that i am talking about
she liked you wednesday but now it's friday and she has to wash her hair
and it just figures that we'll never figure them out
first she's jekyll and then she's hyde....at least she makes a lovely pair
mood ring oh mood ring
oh tell me will you bring
the key to unlock this mystery
of girls and their emotions
play it back in slow motion
so i may understand the complex infrastructure known as the female mind
[speaking:]
heh...that's terrible
This is great for bullies, now if someone is looking to beat up a nerd all they have to do is set up a wireless network and wait for a nerd to home in on it. Almost like a fish finder.
Me: Will you marry me? It is a 802.11b/g wifi single finder!
Her: You bastard, I use 802.11a
Oh well, I guess it was never meant to be, we are totally incompatible
Actually, you might discover (through experimentation, or whatever) that inserting a processor in-line with an 'LED flasher' circuit can actually save significant power over just blinking the LED itself.
This is due to some esoteric details of how an LED is most efficiently driven. I learned when I was developing firmware for some small hand-held medical devices that used a Microcontroller (an NEC 4-bit controller) that you can actually get greater efficiency (more light output per power consumed) by driving LEDs with a VERY high current for a very short duty. Drive them to 100 mA or so at a 1% duty cycle, for starters, and experiment with high drive current and duty cycle. There is a dramatic current savings over driving an LED with a DC level to get equivalent brightness.
The power saving achived by this means will likely be more than enough to power the processor, if it's one of the tiny micro-power processors. Use one of the little 8 pin PIC parts or what-not.
There- interesting (hopefully) topic drift.
"What's the frequency Kenneth?"
None of you have any idea how little power you get from the 2.4 GHz carrier. Unless you're talking about sticking your hand in a microwave.
Do not eat Wi-Fi Detector Ring
Doing it this way you might be able to get the circuit down to a couple transistors, necessary resistors for biasing, and a battery.
Now, the problem with doing things this way is that it will pick up any RF - I think the microchip is used to tune to 2.4GHz and only trigger on that frequency band. The chip and supporting components are probably a bit smaller size than what you'd get if you tried to construct a simple RLC bandpass filter with discreet components, too.
"Ad infinitem et ultra!" - Buzz Lightyear
That thing makes an awfully ugly ring, but would be a perfect set of cuff links to go with my circuitboard business card case.
i can see something like this being useful to hikers, or campers or anyone like that who would get lost. I know wi-fi is way to limited for this type of thing, but maybe someday when they figure out how to get a better signal. The ring could show people the way if they get lost. Meh, just a thought.
You could also say "all month", especially today ;) : /.ers on my fan list :-D
OK, this was a spam I received and I thought it'd add value to my FP (seems that I just clicked a 1 sec too late).
I just forgot to check the post anonymously box but "heck"
This got me 3
I thought I saw Angelina Jolie wearing one of these at the awards shows...
This has to be the height of Geek Moron...
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Actually, what I am looking for is USB memorysticks (or similar) that can be worn as earrings.
Any suggestions? They can make that stuff really small, right?
You don't need to see my
Thank goodness there's a processor in that thing. How else could it sense a DC voltage and light up an LED?
Ubergeeks are so cool...
jesus people. "security risks"? it's an RF detector. end of (very poor) story.
It needs a microprocessor to "detect the presence of a DC voltage" ???
(sick i know)
I wore a new ring It is green with a signal Found a cordless phone
Warning, knife is sharp. Please keep out of children.
So you would use a microchip to go from RF noise to detecting that close to 2.4Ghz there is a signal. Using a standard chip not designed specially for that purpose. Maybe think about how you would design the circuit to do that?
What in fact is used to tune to 2.4GHz is the crystal it mentions being hidden round the back of the ring, as per standard.