Wifi Internet
From SolidStateDepot
Contents
Goal
Provide wireless access to the Space.
Basic Requirements
- must be able to both send and receive data from a nearby wireless network
- must be able to interface with a repeater or another wifi hub in our space
- should be hacked or something that can be done on the cheap IMHO
WTH (wonderful to have)
- highpowered USB wifi stick
- inhouse server
- remote motor controls so the antenna can be pointed to specific coordinates
- webcam to aid in pointing
Basic Design Thoughts
Stick something on the roof that can pick up signal and either have the antenna be attached to a router that acts as a repeater or to a server that then shares the connection over the wifi router in the space. Because of the amount of signal loss that occurs over coax given the power considerations we probably want to go the router route and have the router mounted up on the ceiling.
Antenna
There are three basic approaches I know of to DIY wifi antenna
-
Cantenna - directional
- This could work but the the end result is going to very directional
-
Requires
- Can
- coax
- The right connectors
- A drill
-
DIY Biquad antenna
- This is still directional but is more broad in its scope AFAIK (just found out about how to do it yourself
-
This basically requires
- Copper tubing
- Coax cable
- The right connector
- A copper plate / metal plate
- Heavy soldering
- Some metal machining
-
Re purpose a Satellite dish
- This will give us the best "range" but also takes the most time/work and materials. Engadget was able to connect to wireless access points over 8 miles away (line of sight)
-
Requires
- A dish (we have one)
- Some sort of antenna (can, biquad, built-in one on a USB wifi stick)
- Wood studs (hooray for pallets)
I'm leaning towards the biquad antenna because the omnidirectional one I tested outside the door was 11db and with a biquad we should be able to get 14+ while cantenna are more variable in what you end up with (depends a lot on the can / connections etc).
