Invisible Wi-Fi signals caught on camera

[Zeno Swijtink]

Invisible Wi-Fi signals caught on camera
17:36 9 March 2011
Technology
Sandrine Ceurstemont, video producer

[Go to the NewScientist link for the video. I tried to embed it here but it don't work. - Zeno]

Computer icons can give you an idea of your Wi-Fi signal strength. But now Timo Arnall and a team of designers from the Oslo School of Architecture & Design have created a device that can produce a large scale visualisation of the fluctuating Wi-Fi signals around a city (see video above).

Their latest prototype is a four-metre-tall rod, lined with LEDs, that incorporates a microcontroller and a Wi-Fi connector, used to detect surrounding networks. Once the team chooses a network to focus on, a computer program uses the Wi-Fi module to reveal its signal strength, which is displayed by lighting up an appropriate number of LEDs.

The signal reading is updated every three seconds so a changing bar made of lights is produced as the user walks around with the rod. By setting up a locked-off camera with a long exposure, a light painting that looks like a bar graph is produced over time.

The goal of the project is to create Wi-Fi visualisations that match the scale of the surrounding architecture. "It's a continuation of our exploration of intangible phenomena that have implications both for design and for how products and cities are experienced", says Einar Sneve Martinussen, a member of the team. In a previous project, the team built an instrument that could detect and visualise the radio field around an RFID reader, similar to the ones used in electronic travel cards.

A full length version of the video is available here.

If you enjoyed this video, you might also like to watch a light show that depicts collisions in the Large Hadron Collider.