I Need to See through Walls

Overview

Objectives/Goals My Project was to determine how electromagnetic waves were attenuated through various materials and figure out how to make the WiFi in our house faster. Methods/Materials A wireless router was placed in the bottom of an open top wooden box with material coating the sides to absorb reflected waves. Samples with different thicknesses of materials were placed on top of the box. A WiFi receiver was placed on a frame at a constant distance from the source and the signal was read from a computer in dBm and compared on a chart. Results My actual results are plotted in my science fair display. Metal attenuated the signal. Paper, wood and glass had significant attenuation in the range of 35%. Water had high attenuation that amounted to about 80% as did the human body. Conclusions/Discussion The attenuation of the human body is probably due to the high water content. I was surprised at the amount of attenuation of wood and paper. Library shelves and walls could give unexpected attenuation. I expected water to have significant attenuation, but it was far higher. It almost blocks WiFi. Water attenuates visible light, but you can still see 20 feet into the water. Water goes through our walls for radiant heat and should be avoided.

Awards (1)

• Fourth Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2015 Materials Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1315

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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