The WiFi connection has become a necessity in homes, and also in the new places we arrive. Who has not ever asked for the password to connect to the Internet? A situation that has been made because we seek to remain connected to the network of networks for as long as possible, and if it is wireless, much better. But, would you know how old this invention is?
Whether at a friend’s house, in a restaurant or a waiting room, asking if there is WiFi and what its password is is almost a new routine to ensure that we can be connected to the internet at all times. But have you ever wondered where it comes from and when it came into our lives?
WiFi, devised by Lamarr in 1942 and formulated in 1997
The reality is that we are facing a connectivity that we use every day and that little by little has become almost as essential as water or electricity. It is, therefore, a technological concept with which we are more than familiar… but perhaps not many know who invented this network and what its origins are.
In a nutshell; The WiFi we use today is a means of providing broadband internet to one or more devices through wireless transmitters and radio signals. Thus, when a transmitter receives data from the internet, it converts it to a radio signal that compatible devices can receive and read. From there the transmitter and the device can already exchange information.
However, its invention is attributed to the hands of Hedy Lamarr , a famous film actress who combined her work with that of an inventor. Lamarr lived between 1914 and the year 2000. The daughter of a Jewish couple, Lamarr wanted to develop military technology to help the United States government.
Thus, in 1942, he patented a secret communication system, which became what we know today as frequency hopping. Years later, in 1997 , the first WiFi standard, IEEE 802.11, was created at the hands of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and from which it receives its name. This allowed data to be transferred at 1 Mbps.
How were its origins?
As such, and although the ideologue of this type of communication was the aforementioned Austrian actress, it was named the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, which gave birth to what we know today. Lamarr traveled to Washington in 1942 to give the patent to the United States Army for free, but the Roosevelt administration did not take him seriously.
Although never used during World War II, the invention was rescued during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. It was not until 1997 that it gained public recognition , being awarded a Bulbie by the Electronic Frontier Foundation .
It occurred to him during a talk with his Hollywood neighbor, the composer George Antheil, in 1940. The idea of a communication through a constantly changing frequency synchronized between transmitter and receiver had crossed the minds of some inventors and scientists in the past, like Nikola Tesla. But none had been able to create a device capable of making it come true.
As we say, these precursors of this network system devised transmission technologies through radio waves. But the first attempts to use these waves for computing purposes were made in 1971, when a computer network created by the University of Hawaii, ALOHAnet, connected several Hawaiian islands by sending data packets over the UHF waves , which were used for TV channels. Some of the protocols used by ALOHAnet are the basis of Ethernet, and WiFi itself.
This idea ended up being a key piece in the technologies
Lamarr’s idea of using ever-changing frequencies to avoid interference has become a key part of many of the radio technologies we use today. In fact, along with WiFi, we also have it with Bluetooth itself, both of which use this technique to avoid interference caused by other nearby devices.
Thus, beyond radiofrequency, this technology owes its birth to a standard protocol designed to allow local wireless networks. This is the aforementioned 802.11, which is responsible for us having wireless internet in homes, public places… among its many tasks, what it tries to do is unify criteria and other technical aspects to facilitate integration between technologies.
Constantly evolving, its technology improves and becomes more efficient over time. In fact, among its positive aspects is that it is becoming more secure . Very easy to install using access points, this network can be used to provide access to an internet connection, expanding its reach, but also to connect various devices internally with the advantage of not needing cables to transmit data or files.
Currently its range depends on the antennas and repeaters , where domestic connections (through the router ) reach about 25 meters, while with professional devices it is possible to reach 30 kilometers away.