Wireless network for any fireman

Small ideas, at the time of appearance noticeable only to a narrow circle of relatives and colleagues of their creators, often pull a whole layer of changes in everyday life. Such a fate seems to await the development of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) USA. Her latest issue is described by Technology Review. This is a method of rapid deployment of a wireless data network based on an algorithm that effectively calculates the required distance between network nodes to maintain a confident signal level. Thus, the node itself will tell you where to install it.

The need for such technology has arisen in emergency services: firefighters and, for example, groups of capture of police special forces in their work today to the fullest use modern communications equipment and information gathering. But there is often no hope for centralized data transmission channels due to difficult conditions. In this case, a private network is being established. But here too there are difficulties: it is necessary to install network nodes at random in places like the intersection of corridors and staircases, and in obviously excessive quantities for insurance against poor reception. All this takes away precious time and nerves from people.

The idea of ​​NIST is that the node itself tells the person where to put it. For this, he constantly measures the signal-to-noise ratio. Depending on the model, the node flashes with an indicator when the values ​​become critical, or shows the remaining distance to the optimum setting point on the display. All modern similar sites only exchange pings, which is why the installer often misses the right place and he has to return.

Of course, in the future, technology may find a lot of other applications. Starting from the military program DARPA LANdroids (see here , for example) to the deployment of temporary wireless networks at some field conferences.