Digital connectivity is becoming as important as utilities like water. For example, travel to a foriegn country, and suddenly you are cut off in public spaces. The only option is to break out the paper map and travel books, like living in a pre-internet age.

Newly founded company iPavement is set to change all this with their wireless connectivity sidewalk. Replacing sections of a public sidewalk in Madrid, Spain. Sections of pavement 15.75" x 15.75" x 2.76" (inches) will be replaced with iPavement's 24kg tiles. Inside will house a microcontroller dishing out 801.11s WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1. Each tile will consume 1000W and dish out up to 5GB at any one time. The onboard Viacities OS (2.0, Linux based) will be able to shell out the data to all popular operating systems and their respected browsers.

How open and free this connectivity will end up is still in debate. What is clear is cloud based services from the manufacturer is included within the OS (ViaMaps, ViaCoupons, etc). Languages, for apps, only support English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Two versions of the tiles bring a standard, always on, connection or one that senses vibration to increase bandwidth (and advertisement stream). The tiles can withstand -10 to 45 degrees Celsius while operating, -20 degrees when off. connectivity can be maintained up to 20 meters from each tile. With a radius like that, it wouldn't take many iPavement tiles to cover a city block (about 16 per block).

Useful and unobtrusive technology like iPavement's tiles is a perfect example of the future of digital connectivity. Travelling will be almost stress free when we know where to go.

iPavement tiles (via iPavement)

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TV static to become WiFi

A bill passed recently by the U.S. Congress will allow the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to auction off part of the television spectrum. The bill passed is intended to be an extension of payroll tax, allowing workers to keep more of their money when they receive their paychecks. In turn, the government’s cut of the money from the auctions will help compensate for the tax break. The auction is speculated to bring in $25 billion USD. (Someone has to pay for everything.)

The TV spectrum is a 700 MHz band previously used for broadcasting to analog television sets. However, the dawn of the digital age gave birth to a superior way of viewing television. The digital broadcasting replaced the former TV band, ushering in a "higher quality" viewing experience. After the fiasco of switching every analog TV to digital via a converter box, the TV spectrum has remained relatively dormant.

As a result, many specific bands formerly used for television broadcasting can now be used to speed up wireless carrier networks, or expand high speed internet coverage. Many corporations are seeking to purchase a part of the spectrum to construct a long distance Wi-Fi system, possibly replacing home or company modems. Other parts of the spectrum, specifically the D block, a 10 MHz portion is going to allocated to the government for emergency response teams. The goal is to establish a national broadband network for police and fire departments and other public safety organizations. Although the bill has just been passed, it may be a year or up to two years until the auctions actually take place.

Looks like the strict rules over the spectrum on the White Space Coalition may lighten up.

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Picture concept from Intel's patent US 2011/0277023

Intel has patented an idea that would allow Wi-Fi devices to connect to their router simply by sounds. Televisions and other devices have lengthy codes which must be added to the router’s list to ensure a secure connection. However, entering this code can be time consuming and a challenge for people that are visually or physically impaired, so instead, the Intel team has proposed a future change to the Wi-Fi Protected Setup.

This change comes in the form of Wi-Fi devices that use sounds as authorization ID codes to allow connectivity between the device via a microphone-equipped router. The team says that the sound could be anything from arranged clicks, to music or even a synthesizer voice as long as it is unique to the device attempting to connect, effectively replacing its printed ID code.

Of course, security issues could arise if the sound is heard by people who should not have access to the router. One of their main development goals will be to assure the sound does not penetrate walls. If the project proves to be secure, Intel hopes to change the standard Wi-Fi Protected Setup now used by Wi-Fi routers. (Ultrasonic is always an option.)

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Engineering On Friday takes on the possible use of Sound-WiFi

Hedy Lamarr (via archive photography)

Major technology contributions and motion picture acting rarely go hand-in-hand in someone's career path, but screen actor Hedy Lamarr pulled it off and gave the world the earliest form of spread spectrum communication.

In 1933, Lamarr married Fruedrich Mandl a Vienna-based arms manufacturer. Mandl kept her from pursuing much in life. The controlling nature of the marriage found her either locked up in castle Schwarzenau or at Mandl's side. He would bring her to meetings with arms clients, military leaders, and technology talks. In which she learned about issues with guiding torpedoes via radio while protecting against jamming. In the autobiography 'Ecstacy and Me," parties hosted by Mandl had Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler as guests. She had to escape.

Reports offer a few ways in which she escaped Mandl. One has her disguising herself as a maid. The other is a far more movie-like  plot. She asked Mandl is she could dress in all of her expensive jewelry for an up-and-coming  party. At which, she drugged Mandl and escaped covered in the riches. Either way, she escaped to Paris in 1937. She promptly filed for divorce and moved to London. 

Louis B. Mayer, a film producer, hired Lamarr. At the time Lamarr was going by her original name Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler. Mayer insisted she change her name to Hedy Lamarr, in homage to the silent era actress Barbara LaMarr, who died from an overdose in 1926. (As for actor's lives, I see not much has changed.)

Later in life, Lamarr met composer George Antheil at a dinner in Hollywood. Antheil is famous for his cacophonous 'Ballet Mécanique' and the open-top pianola that could teach keyboard techniques. How it came to the subject of torpedoes; no one will ever know, but the conversation steered in that direction. Together they developed an early form of spread spectrum wireless communication.

Lamarr said that wireless communication could be protected from jamming by varying the frequency of transmission. In the duo's design, the communication system would switch between 88 different frequencies unpredictably. The idea was to make sure the enemy has no idea which frequency to block. Antheil contributed coordinating the transmitter and receiver by controlling a switch that would move different channels in two piano rolls running at the same speed. Soon after, US Patent 2,292,387 was granted to the pair on June 10, 1941 under the name "Secret Communication System." Unfortunately, the pair never earned a dollar from the effort.

Functional drawing of the system (via USPTO)

Antheil died in 1959 never to see the ultimate value of his thoughts.

Portrait of George Antheil, and cover of a 1995 Col Legno published album

Later, in 1962, the idea was used in military warships during the blockade of Cuba. The patent was expired by that time.

The idea was forgotten until 1997 when the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave an award to Lamarr for the contribution. Following in 1998, Wi-LAN inc "acquired a 49 percent claim to the patent from Lamarr for an undisclosed amount of stock," but since it was expired, no money may have actually exchanged hands. However, it was a dignified gesture to honor the early creators.

Although Lamarr was never able to directly help in military efforts during WWII. She wanted to join the National Inventors Council, but was told she could do more for the effort by selling bonds. She followed their suggestion, and during one such fund raiser event, she sold $7 million in bonds. (Which is $791 million in 2011 dollars, adjusted for inflation.)

Unfortunately, Lamarr passed away on January 19, 2000, but her legacy lives on. The concept is now part of everyday life. The concept keeps all out wireless communications, be it cell phones or WiFi, from interfering with each other. Next time you make a call remember, you are using a "Secret Communication System."

More Hedy Lamarr (via archive photography)

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Read more about Hedy Lamarr in the following books:

Ecstasy and Me: My Life as a Woman

Beautidul: The Life of Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr and a Secret Communication System

Spread Spectrum: Hedy Lamarr and the mobile phone

Hedy's Folly