Wi-Fi connections alternate high speed to impressive slow data transfer, failing consumers’ expectations about their fastest Internet connection service. In certain moments, the Internet connection seems to be not working at all.

“Most people think it’s a mystery […]. They get upset at their routers. But what’s really happening is that your neighbour is watching Netflix “explains Aleksandar Kuzmanovic, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering.

People often are not aware of the fact that Internet connections can interfere with each other, influencing speed and quality of the data transmission. Neighbours connections can cause disturbances, especially in a highly populated areas or block flats with many apartments.

Dr Kuzmanovic and his PhD students Marcel Flores and Uri Klarman focused on the problem, trying to find a solution suggesting the use of FM radio to mitigate the problem and to help keeping a good quality connection. Mr Flores has presented the work on the 10th of November 2015 at the 23rd annual IEEE International Conference on Network Protocols in San Francisco.

“Our wireless networks are completely separate from each other,” explains Flores, the lead author of the study. “They don’t have any way to talk to each other even though they are all approximately in the same place. We tried to think about ways in which devices in the same place could implicitly communicate. FM is everywhere.”

The innovative technique is called “Wi-FM” and represents a useful choice that exploits FM radio signals to allow improved communication among existing wireless networks. There are several reasons behind the choice of focusing on FM radio signals: most of the actual mobile devices, such as smartphones, already carry a FM chip in their structure; when it comes to overcome obstacles, FM radio signals succeed to pass through building’s walls without getting obstructed and slowed down; to exploit the new technology, the upgrading process of the electronic devices wouldn’t be too hard, allowing the devices to benefit from the innovative transmission after just minor software upgrades.

The use of WI-FM overcomes the problem of crowded Wi-Fi connections’ areas. In the traditional Wi-Fi use, when data packs are sent simultaneously, they interact bumping in each other. Then the data packets waste time backing off and stopping moving toward their destination, with a consequent delay in data delivery and the suddenly slow Internet speed. The Wi-FM overcomes the bumping problem by giving the connection a smart feature, allowing the device to analyse the network and ‘listen’ to it, enabling it send the data in the quietest time slots suggested by FM radio signals.

“It will listen and send data when the network is quietest,” Flores explained. “It can send its data right away without running into someone else or spending any time backing off. That’s where the penalty happens that wastes the most time.”

Dr Klarman helped to understand the topic giving an example of his real life experience, dealing with the problem first hand in his apartment, in a urban area with 30 different networks with regular slow Internet speed issues.

“Even if I configure my Internet to choose a channel that is least likely to overlap with my neighbours, the problem cannot be avoided,” Klarman said. “You can’t find a quiet channel when there are 30 other networks in the same building. My speed is 10 percent of what it should be.”

Wi-FM potential resides in the capacity of analysing the network, identifying the usage patterns of the other connections around to detect the different times with heaviest and lightest traffics. Then, according to the information acquired, Wi-FM is capable of harmonising the network by transferring data in the less busy slots, avoiding interferences and making life easier for all the people using the network. Finally, the new technology offers flexible characteristics, being able to adapt to the changes in usage patterns of the networks.

“Our system can solve these problems without involving real people,” Kuzmanovic added. “Because are you going to knock on 30 doors to coordinate your wireless network with your neighbours? That is a huge management problem that we are able to bypass.”

Written by: Pietro Paolo Frigenti

Source: Flores, M., Klarman, U., Kuzmanovic, A. (2015). Wi-FM: Resolving Neighborhood Wireless Network Affairs by Listening to Music, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, Northwestern University.