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| X-Ray Vision: WokFi |
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Hard Hat Area July 2007 • Vol.7 Issue 7 Page(s) 44-45 in print issue |
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X-Ray Vision: WokFi It’s Not Just For Dinner Anymore |
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Next time you want to boost a wireless signal, you could go to your local electronics store. You could shop the Internet for a satellite dish or antenna. Or, better yet, you could go into your kitchen, find a metal strainer or wok, and make your own device. The idea of the WokFi—a parabolic reflector device that uses a wok and USB Wi-Fi adapter to strengthen a Wi-Fi signal—has been around for a few years. Some people even used metal cans to boost a wireless signal before that. But the wok device received renewed attention in the early part of 2007 when a volunteer at a startup New Zealand television station in Oamaru used a wok to create a makeshift antenna for the station, rather than spend several thousand dollars on a direct link between the station and the standard TV antenna. The wok device beams the signal to a dish antenna south of Oamaru, and the standard TV antenna then beams the signal to the town. Stan Swan, a New Zealand educator and Wi-Fi enthusiast, has created the premier Web site devoted to information on creating a WokFi. Swan, who now calls himself “semi-retired” after decades of teaching technical and scientific education at Massey University (New Zealand’s largest university), outlines his experiments with WokFi at his Web site. “My slant has become very ‘can do’ in recent decades, somewhat to inspire youngsters who see no money in future ‘off-the-shelf’ tech careers, but also to pass on appropriate technology to the world’s less-developed regions,” Swan says. That “can do” attitude shows through in the idea of WokFi. “I’ve had numerous interviews since this whole WokFi approach, initially part of a wireless networking class, took off three years back,” Swan says. “In spite of the idea now being pretty well established, the resource site is more popular than ever, with about 50,000 hits this month (March).” Matt Westervelt, founder of Seattle-Wireless and owner of Metrix Communication LLC, has outlined his experiences with WokFi and other wireless DIY devices on his blog at the SeattleWireless Web site. He suggests anyone planning to create a WokFi should approach the project with the idea of having fun. “Since you’re just tossing some parts together, you don’t get any sort of guaranteed gain (in signal), a known beam pattern, or anything else you’d get out of a commercial antenna,” Westervelt says. “What you do get is generally more signal than you started with. You can also get less if you don’t put things in the right places, or if you don’t point it in the right direction.” Westervelt and Swan say you can use Netstumbler (netstumbler.com) to measure the gain in power and determine the best positioning for the WokFi. “WokFi construction is a breeze . . . and performance typically is 12 to 15 decibels gain above the raw USB WLAN dongle,” Swan says. “A large part of the satisfaction gained relates to feedback from ‘$1-a-day global regions’ that it works!” Keep in mind that when constructing a WokFi device, you are not creating an antenna; you’re simply using the wok to concentrate the Wi-Fi signal for the tiny antenna that already exists inside the USB Wi-Fi adapter. Once you’ve collected all of the parts, Westervelt says you can construct the WokFi within a couple of minutes. You might need a few more minutes for adjustments. “All you’re really doing is putting a device in front of a parabolic reflector, so you just need to experiment with the placement and how you’re going to keep it there,” he says. You can construct the WokFi quickly, easily, and inexpensively. Best of all, if you can’t make the device work well or if it doesn’t help your situation, you can try to return the wok to its intended use—cooking food. Depending on the size of the hole you drilled in the wok, though, it might be tough to plug it completely. Don’t try cooking again unless you’re sure the hole is plugged, or you’ll spill cooking oil everywhere, lose most of your dinner, and likely be hungry again one hour later.  FOR MORE INFORMATION Stan Swan’s Web site SeattleWireless Web site Matt Westervelt’s blog by Kyle Schurman
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