Smart antennas might make web surfing faster and safer
By Regina Nuzzo
Idaho National Laboratory
May 25, 2005
Wireless hotspots are cropping up nearly everywhere these days. Coffee houses and college campuses, large office buildings and living rooms — even entire towns are being rigged with access points that blanket an area with wireless Internet access.
But covering large swaths of land with network access isn’t always efficient or even desirable. Instead of using one large umbrella over an entire area, designers may prefer an access point that can hand out the equivalent of personal raincoats, giving network coverage that follows individual users — while leaving hackers unprotected and out in the storm.
