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High-Gain Patch Antennas Boost Wi-Fi Capacity In Crowded Lecture Halls

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-all-comes-down-to-focus dept.

An anonymous reader writes "To boost its Wi-Fi capacity in packed lecture halls, Georgia Institute of Technology gave up trying to cram in more access points with conventional omni-directional antennas, and juggle power settings and channel plans. Instead, it turned to new high-gain directional antennas. They look almost exactly like the bottom half of a small pizza box, and focus the Wi-Fi signal from the ceiling-mounted access point in a precise cone-shaped pattern, covering part of the lecture hall floor. Instead of the flaky, laggy connections, about which professors had been complaining, users now consistently get up to 144Mbps (if they have 802.11n client radios). 'Overall, the system performed much better' with the new antennas, says William Lawrence, IT project manager principal with the university's academic and research technologies group. 'And there was a much more even distribution of clients across the room's access points.'"

4 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. More like Slashvertisment by infernalC · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is a parroting of a marketing-derived press release. Move along. I think I'm going to move along. Thanks for the memories, Slashdot.

  2. $591.25 a pop, for the antenna alone ! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I read TFA, and did a search on that "bottom of pizza box" antenna.

    Found it @ http://www.terra-wave.com/shop/font-colororangenewfont-245-ghz-14-dbi-high-density-panel-antenna-with-nstyle-jack-connectors-p-2993.html

    The only problem is the price.

    The cost of the antenna alone is $591.25 a pop.

    Perhaps Georgia Institute of Technology has a big endowment, that they can afford to install such devices all over their campuses.

    For most private enterprises, on the other hand, it's simply not affordable.

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:$591.25 a pop, for the antenna alone ! by wadeal · · Score: 5, Interesting

      (Involved in various facets of WiFi Projects for approx. 50 commercial sites).

      Any commercial grade AP is going to cost you around the $500 mark. At the least.

      Your point?

    2. Re:$591.25 a pop, for the antenna alone ! by evilviper · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I read TFA, and did a search on that "bottom of pizza box" antenna.
      [...]
      The cost of the antenna alone is $591.25 a pop.

      So just because the first place you found the antenna, is selling it for $600, you assume that's actually the going rate they paid for it?

      I wonder how many people bought this $23 million book about flies:
      http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant