Are you a smartphone user? It must be familiar, not with the name Wifi. Smartphones and Wifi are a complete package of daily needs that are hard to leave.

The existence of Wifi is straightforward for humans to access the internet. Both in the world of education, work, to entertainment. Do you know who invented Wifi? Yup, she is a woman named Hedy Lamarr, whose real name is Hedwig Kiesler. Cool, isn’t it? Imagine if he didn’t find Wifi technology what would happen now?

In theory, Wi-Fi is a wireless network technology that uses radio waves in the 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz range to provide high-speed wireless internet access. Smartphones and all devices with Wi-Fi features can also access internet services.

The name Wifi was first used as a commercial name in 1991, to be precise, in August. The originator of the Wifi name is Interbrand Corporation, a brand consulting firm employed by the WiFi Alliance. Interbrand Corporation has been appointed directly by the WiFi Alliance to create a trademark as a replacement for IEEE 802.11b, which is considered very difficult to remember by consumers and the general public. Therefore, with the emergence of a new trademark, namely Wifi, it is hoped that it can become a well-known trademark among the public and indeed easy to remember.

HISTORY OF WIFI

Hedy Lamarr was born on November 9, 1914. He is better known as a popular Hollywood artist for starring in a film called Ecstasy during the golden age of MGM.

Besides having a beautiful face, he also has a very genius brain. Was proven in 1942, Hedy Lamarr succeeded in patenting a product called a secret communication system that uses radio frequencies to exchange data. The product is considered a solid and essential foundation in communication technology.

After two years of the invention of wifi, Hedy Lamarr obtained his patent as someone who invented wifi technology. Initially, the name of the concept of the invention was named Frequency Hopping. However, the name has been changed to spread the spectrum with the same basic idea.

Then in 1997, Hedy Lamarr received an award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Then three years later, on January 19, 2000, Hedy Lamarr died. But until now, wifi technology is still being used and developed. Almost all gadgets that exist today, ranging from laptops, smartphones, tablets, and even game consoles, are equipped with the wifi feature as a tool used to connect these devices to the internet. Therefore, many places such as airports, shopping centers, offices, restaurants, hotels, and others provide wifi facilities for the public. Usually, the wifi facilities provided are called hotspots.

WIFI DEVELOPMENT

The following is a brief history of the development of wifi, including:

• 1997: Established a wireless network named 802.11 by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
• 1999: The emergence of Wireless B, which has a data transfer rate of up to 11 Mbps. But it still has a weakness, namely where the operating frequency is at 2.4 GHz, which is also widely used by the frequency of household appliances such as microwave ovens, so the signal is easily disturbed.
• 2003: The advent of Wireless G with a maximum data transfer rate of up to 54 Mbps. It can still operate at a frequency of 2.4 GHz.
• 2009: The advent of Wireless N supports data transfer rates up to 300 Mbps (2 antennas) or 450 Mbps (3 antennas). This network has a broader access range than the Wireless G signal.
• 2014: The emergence of Wireless AC which has a speed of 500Mb/s – 1 Gb/s. Operates at a frequency of 5 GHz.

WIFI FUNCTION

– Connecting the device to the internet network

WiFi can connect electronic devices such as PCs, laptops, or WiFi-compatible smartphones to the internet network without using cables, which is more practical and faster!

– As a file or data sharing media

Devices that support WiFi allow sharing files or data with each other more quickly and easily without the need to use cables. Especially if the file sent is large, it will be very easy.

– Connecting Between Devices

With the presence of WiFi, connecting your smartphone to a computer or laptop device without the need to use USB, but with the condition that both devices must support wireless devices.

– Using a smartphone as a modem

Not only as a WiFi signal receiver, but your smartphone can also be a portable modem, radio signal transmitter, or hotspot. So, if it is connected to another device compatible with WiFi, that device can access the internet.

– Printing on Printer

Using a wifi network can also print data quickly from a laptop to a printer that already has a wifi network. That way, there is no need to plug in a USB from the printer just to print documents.

– Transfer Photo or Video From Digital Camera

Through WiFi, we can directly transfer photos or videos from our work to a PC or laptop.

HOW WIFI WORKS

In short, WiFi or Wireless Fidelity operates using the help of radio waves. Radio waves are a medium for sending data requested or sent by WiFi users. The signal from the radio waves will later be sent to a router which functions as a code translator or is usually referred to as a decoder. After being translated by the code translator, the data will be sent to the internet network. WiFi technology works with a two-way system, where data obtained via the internet simultaneously will pass through the router to be used as a code. It is then sent back to the wireless computer adapter in the form of a radio signal.

WIFI advantages and disadvantages

Wi-Fi advantages:

• Can save more costs. Especially for laptop and smartphone users and also workers who use the internet who use wifi a lot for various purposes. Because if you use cellular data, of course, it will cost a lot. Unifi malaysia.
• It can be said to access the internet network at a more stable speed than cellular data.
• Can reduce the use of cables, especially when the cable can not be used in a certain place or room.
• More practical when accessing the internet, doing file sharing, and so on at any time as long as it is still within a certain radius that hotspots can reach.
• There are not many configurations like in an office with several rooms that only need one wifi network configuration in each room.

Lack of Wifi:

• In terms of security, it is said to be not very good, so the wifi network must be considered, for example, using a password to prevent unauthorized people from accessing the wifi network.
• The signal distribution process occurs unevenly, influenced by distance limits. A wifi repeater is usually used to optimize signal strength to extend the range or distance.
• Wifi signal tends to be highly affected by climatic and weather conditions.
• Not suitable for data transfer activities that are too large.

Those are some explanations about who invented WiFi, its development history, its functions, and how it works. In this increasingly sophisticated era, WiFi technology will certainly always be helpful to help all kinds of work and our affairs anywhere and anytime. So, it is appropriate for us to thank the people who have created and also developed this technology.