Communications of the ACM
Software Upgrades Could Produce Self-Tuning Wireless Access Points, Researchers Say
Airshark can identify Bluetooth and ZigBee devices, cordless phones, wireless video cameras, and Xboxes with at least 91 percent accuracy.
Credit: Courtesy of elasmodiver.com
University of Wisconsin, Madison researchers have developed Airshark, software that enables wireless access points to automatically detect radio-frequency interference and make adjustments to preserve the quality of Wi-Fi connections.
The Madison researchers say the software could eliminate the need for separate spectrum analyzers that discover interfering devices but do nothing to counter the interference.
Airshark can identify Bluetooth and ZigBee devices, cordless phones, wireless video cameras, and Xboxes with at least 91 percent accuracy, depending on the signal strength. Airshark uses a wireless card's application programming interface to gather data about radio frequencies in the surrounding area.
The researchers say the program's performance is comparable to a commercial signal analyzer. They also note that if wireless access points were embedded with the Airshark software, systems could start using interference-mitigation mechanisms. In a Wi-Fi environment employing multiple access points, Airshark could physically locate interfering devices by collaborating among the access points to triangulate on its signal, according to the researchers.
From Network World
View Full Article
No entries found