Stanford Researchers Design More Effective WiFi Networks For Crowded Buildings

When it comes to wireless connectivity, getting connected and staying connected can be a challenge in a building. Researchers from Stanford University have been working on making more efficient WiFi networks for use inside crowded buildings. The new network allows all users in the building to share connectivity.

The team says that normally inside a building with lots of WiFi networks interfering with each other, connectivity can be worse for all network users. The researchers are developing a single dense WiFi infrastructure that allows each resident in a crowded building to use a single network, but manage it like their own private network.

The sharing system the researchers have developed is called BeHop. BeHop networks can be centrally managed for performance and efficiency. Each of the network users can be assigned their own SSID, passwords, and other settings according to one researcher. That should mean that the user's data is safe even though they share a network with multiple users.

The Stanford project makes the sharing of access to one large network possible using cheap and available consumer-grade access points and other gear. The Stanford system allows all users to make their own network just as they would if the wireless router was plugged into their own room. The team says that they have no performance numbers for the network to share at this time, but will have performance data to share in the coming months. The test system was set up using access points provided by NetGear.

SOURCE: NetworkWorld