With the rapid advancement in the field of wireless communication, wifi technology is getting more and more popular. The computer related magazines today are filled with various articles on wifi technology. Since it is easy to install, it is also very cheap networking technique. People these days are getting more curious to know about the emerging field of wifi technology. Being an inexpensive technology it is very popular among laptop users. The various laptop manufacturers make it a point to always include built in wifi technology for their laptops. Due to the popularity of wifi networks, many corporations have started installing hotspots, so it is easier for a user to log on to the network even if he is far away from his home. These days the hotspots are installed in various public places, where people can connect to the network. Following are places where wifi hotspots are located:
Library
Within a last decade or two, the world has witnessed the explosion in the field of internet, it has become the source of infinite knowledge base.
The library is a place of learning and the availability of hotspot make it easier for the people to log in to the internet and search for various ebooks, websites etc.
In order to promote the wifi technology the library are providing free wifi hotspots to its members, now the members can enjoy the benefit of the internet in the library.
College campuses
Today many colleges are setting up wifi hotspots in their campus so that the students are able to log in to the network anytime at any place. Whether it is a classroom or the labs in the college the wifi technology is extended everywhere allowing the students to access internet for their studies.
Coffee Shops
Coffee shops is another favorite place for the people to hangout and interact with other people. By providing the wifi connection in the coffee shop the people are able to access internet even when they are away form their homes.
In order to attract more customers especially the business customers who are busy accessing the network for their work, coffee shops such as Starbucks have installed hotspots in their shops so that these people can continue their work in internet and enjoy the coffee at the same time. Wifi technology is very popular in coffee shops, by acknowledging its importance many shops are setting up wifi networks.
Hotels
By providing wifi network in their hotels, they try to attract more and more customers. Due the setting up of hotspots in the hotels, the travelers, especially the businessmen are able to enjoy the benefit of broadband connection even when they are away from their home or office. They get the broadband service of internet anywhere in the hotel.
Other public places
The wifi hotpots are setup in other public places where large numbers of people are expected every time such as parks, gardens, etc. Many cities are installing wifi hotspots to most of these places. The setting up of wifi networks in the cities have become a good field to do business. Now the hotspots are set up and charged so hat people are able to connect the internet by paying small amount of money.
“Wi-Fi” or 802.11x(IEEE standard for wireless LAN setup), has become the most popular worldwide standard for the wireless communication in LAN..Nowadays work is being done to make various devices like mobile phones, mp3 players etc to be wi-fi enabled.
In order to enhance the wireless capabilities the antennas are developed and available in the market, though they are easy to install but these antennas are very expensive.
But it is also possible to design and make our own antennas from very cheap and readily available things like cans, wires etc.
Firstly we need a can, which can be of soft drinks, coffee cans, etc. But care must be taken that the can selected for making the antennas should have a smooth surface else a rough surface would produce distortions in the wireless signals. Also longer cans are preferable since it can have a better reception of signals. So the selection of proper kind of can is important in order to design a smooth working wi-fi antenna.
We would also require various connectors like N-type Female Chassis-mount connector, which help in connecting the cable to the antenna.In order to attach the connector to the can we would need to solder on the wire, nuts and bolts of connectors, we would also need to find out an optimal place to solder the connector to the cable.
For the ones who always try to develop things in a different way, we provide an alternate design, different from one which was built by can. Instead of the can we can buy other things( which are also comparatively cheaper) like small, thumb-shaped USB wireless dongle; a TypeA-to-TypeA, male-to-female USB extension cable of enough length; and a mesh-covered dish, such as a wok, sieves, steamers, discarded DirecTV dishes, or mesh-covered umbrellas.
Next what we need to do is to connect USB dongle to the top of the mesh-covered dish,and one end of the cable to the dongle, and the other end to your wireless device.Since the Wi-fi communication is directional, what is left is to just focus the dish towards the source of the wi-fi signal, a point from where the signals are getting transmitted.
Advantages of designing our own antennas:
The construction of our own antennas provides various advantages to us. Apart from being cheaper than the antennas available in market they are also easy to configure into our system. So instead of investing huge amounts of money in antennas we can better manage that money by adding them to buy better Laptop systems.
There is also time factor involved in making our own antennas system. Since it is easy and faster to make and install our own antennas, it saves lot of time.Hence designing and making our own antennas would provide a better facility to the total cost involved in configuring the communication system.