Scientists of the Novosibirsk State Technical University NETI have created a directional Wi-Fi antenna that gives a stable Internet signal in crowded places.
According to Maxim Stepanov, head of the Radio Receivers and Radio Transmitters Department, NSTU NETI, one of the features of the developed antenna is its high directivity, combined with compactness.
"This is an antenna for Wi-Fi networks operating in the frequency bands of 2.5 GHz. It implements the MIMO 4x4 technology in each frequency range. In general, there are eight antenna arrays of 4 for each frequency range and one service dual-band antenna. The antenna is unique, firstly, because of its design that takes into account rather rigid dimensions as well as high technical requirements for the directivity of the antenna. This is quite a serious problem that we have been struggling with for a long time. The antenna is compact. Secondly, another innovation is that it is produced in a single technological cycle. Analogs require the additional assembly of several structural elements. The antenna provides high repeatability and good directional properties. It can be used at access points in places where a large crowd of people may gather: metro stations, stadiums, etc.," Maxim Stepanov said.
According to him, the developed antenna creates spatial differentiation of various access points. Though there are analogs of the antenna in the world, NSTU NETI scientists managed to achieve high technical characteristics and surpass foreign developments in several parameters.
Reference: MIMO technology (Multiple Input Multiple Output) is a method of spatial encoding of a signal that allows increasing the bandwidth of a channel in which two or more antennas are used for data transmission and the same number of antennas for reception. The transmitting and receiving antennas are spaced so as to achieve minimal mutual influence on each other between adjacent antennas. MIMO technology is used in wireless communication networks Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LTE to increase bandwidth and use the frequency band more efficiently. In fact, MIMO allows transmitting more data in one frequency range and a given frequency corridor, i.e. increasing the speed. This is achieved by using several transmitting and receiving antennas.