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Linksys WRT 1900AC. Curvier, and with four antennae.

Telling someone to have off their tinfoil hat isn't typically a compliment; it implies that a person subscribes to diverse conspiracy theories regarding aliens, telepathy, brain-implanted chips, and/or the healing powers of aluminum foil. Seriously–Google "Aluminum foil electrosmog" if you want to take a beautiful trip downwards Crazy Lane. At present, researchers from Dartmouth and Columbia have released a new report on how ordinary aluminum foil can be combined with 3D press to create a directional antenna that improves Wi-Fi performance.

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If you've always lived in an flat building or closely packed neighborhood, you're probably familiar with the Wi-Fi connection bug that can plague such living spaces. The number of people with wireless modems has risen sharply in the past decade, while the number of devices connecting to those modems has risen exponentially. To solve this trouble, the research team proposes WiPrint, described as follows:

A new computational approach to control wireless coverage by mounting point reflectors in advisedly optimized shapes on wireless routers. Leveraging 3D reconstruction, fast-wave simulations in acoustics, computational optimization, and 3D fabrication, our method is low-toll, adapts to different wireless routers and physical environments, and has a far-reaching bear on by interweaving computational techniques to solve central issues in wireless communication.

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Translation: Thermoplastic + aluminum foil = better, more secure Wi-Fi.

To examination its theory, the research team used a Linksys WRT54GL modem and tested overall signal propagation forcefulness both from the 'native' Wi-Fi (no directional antenna) and with the directional antennas shown above. The antennas and their shapes were called based on a careful 3D modeling of the space in which the antennas would operate. The modeling approach the team took was like to that used for caustic design, only with ray traced radio waves as opposed to visible light. As the scientists point out, other solutions, similar the antennas commonly institute at the dorsum of a modem, offer merely coarse-grained adjustments to betoken force.

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The event from the tests was quite positive. Not only did the fake model of signal propagation closely friction match experimental results, the corporeality of Wi-Fi signal leaking into other, less-desired points of the room was reduced too. The total toll of materials for the test (not counting the 3D printer itself) came to virtually $45, compared with $9,000 for a directional antenna.

It'southward not clear when this type of engineering science would or could come to market–the wide availability of such solutions would depend on both 3D printing becoming widespread and the development of consumer-friendly radio ray tracing applications that could brand a floor program in a 1-3 story building, including a potential basement.