Deciding where to place a Wi-Fi router at home to minimise signal black spots is a fine art. But a physicist has attempted to tacklelo the problem by mathematically working out the optimumii position for a router. He studied how walls and reflections affected signal strength and concluded that, as common sense might suggest, theres just no beating the centre of a house for router location.
決定在家里的什么位置放置無線路由器來最大程度減少盲點是一門藝術。一位物理學家最近試圖用算法來規(guī)劃出路由器的最佳位置。他研究了墻壁和反射對WiFi信號強度的影響,得出一個似乎是顯而易見的結論:沒有比房子正中間更好的位置了。
The “complex” research was carried out by Jason Cole, a PhD physics student at the John Adams Institute at Imperial College London. Frustrated at finding numerous Wi-Fi black spots around his flat, Mr Cole turned to mathematics to find out how he could improve his internet connection. He found that, the waves were hindered not only by walls and closed doors but also when they went around corners. This, he says, is because the signal loses strength when it bounces off objects.
這項“復雜”的實驗由杰森·科爾,來自倫敦帝國學院約翰·亞當斯研究所的物理博士進行。在自己的公寓發(fā)現(xiàn)了太多WiFi信號盲點,科爾選擇采取算法提高網(wǎng)絡連接速度。他發(fā)現(xiàn)WiFi的信號流不止被墻壁和門阻擋,同樣也會在角落里減弱。他認為這是因為當信號接觸物體之后會減少一些能量。
“I found an equation which approximates the be haviour of high-frequency electromagnetic waves such as Wi-Fi, and tried to solve it by placing a virtual router in the floor plan of my flat. After crunching numbers for a few minutes I was able to generate maps of Wi-Fi signal strength inside the flat, showing poor signal near my computer.”
“我發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個方程式,它能計算出WiFi這類高頻電磁感應信號的運動軌跡,我在公寓地板平面圖上設置了一個虛擬路由。在測試一段時間的信號之后,我就能夠繪制出WiFi信號在公寓內強弱的圖表,發(fā)現(xiàn)電腦旁邊較弱的信號?!?/p>
By showing how weakened the signal can be when it moves across the flat, Mr Cole found that no matter where his router was placed at one side of the flat, there would always be blackspots else where. Instead, he suggests that the only solution to ensure as few black spots aspossible is to place the router in the middle of the flat.
通過移動虛擬路由器的位置,可以看到信號強弱的變化。科爾發(fā)現(xiàn)無論將路由器放在公寓的哪一邊,其他地方都會有盲點。因此,他覺得盡可能減少盲點的最佳方式就是把路由器放在公寓中間。
“There is also some reflection of the signal around corners, but engineers tell me reflection sare bad too. In my case, the best position was as central as possible, preferably near opendoor ways. He says he hasnt tried any physical tests of the simulation yet, but has been given suggestions by commenters on his website. There have been many other helpful comments which will no doubt improve the methodology in the future, and a surprising number of people asking for an app to test their own houses or offices, so theres plenty of work to do.”
“角落里同樣也有信號反射,但是工程師告訴我反射很弱。因而,最佳的位置是在房間的盡可能中心位置,最好離門口近些。他說他還沒有進行任何物理實驗,但是網(wǎng)站上有人給出了建議。這些建議有的會為未來的方法論提出更好的改進措施,而且令我們驚訝的是,很多人希望能有一款測試自己家里或者辦公室里信號強弱的應用,所以我們還有很長的路要走?!?/p>