什么东西看不见摸不着，但是却很重要！

文艺青年--爱情！

普通青年--空气！

我————WIFI！


Who doesn't love free WiFi?Although we use it often, we rarely think about how it works. If you've everwondered, here's how...

谁不喜欢免费的WIFI，虽然我们经常在使用它，但是人们却很少去想象他如何工作（本苦逼WIFI工程师除外），如果你也曾经想知道过，下面就是WIFI的样纸！

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Wifi is an energy field that is transmitted aswaves. The waves have a certain height, distance between them and travel at acertain speed. The distance between wifi waves is shorter than that of radiowaves and longer than that of microwaves, giving wifi a unique transmissionband that can't be interrupted by other signals. This p_w_picpath shows an idealizedwifi data transmitted over a band that is divided into different sub-channels,which are shown in red, yellow, green and other colors.

WIFI是种带有能量的电磁波，但是不同于普通电磁波的是WIFI是种经过调制的具有固定的振幅，载波与传输速率。WIFI传输距离要比FM/AM等广播波距离短，比微波距离要长点（此处指的是3GHz以后的微波，编者纯粹以理论来撰写），（FCC）赋予了WIFI专门的工作频段，所以WIFI能够尽量避免被其他信号干扰（编者写的是can't,不对）。下图是一个理想情况下的一个频段内的WIFI通过不同子信道传输（还是应该翻译成一个信道内的各种不同的子载波，编者写的东西太文艺了，本青年完全读不明白），被显示为，巴黎红，东京黄，伦敦绿和腹黑色。

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The wifi pulses are shown here as multicoloredspheres radiating out from the source, near the right of the p_w_picpath. Wifitransmitters are basically an antenna equipped with a transmission protocolthat splits the frequency band into several segments, referred to as channels.Data can be transmitted over each channel or in order to send and receivegreater quantities of data at faster rates. Although color represents its ownunique, visible segment of the electromagnetic spectrum, we use red, orange,yellow and other colors to show the invisible wifi channels that make up theoverall wifi signal. Wifi fields are usually spherical (like the one here) orellipsoidal and extend about 20-30 meters, assuming a typical off the shelfwifi box.

WIFI电磁波是从图中右边的中心点射出来了然后显示为多彩多壳的蛋蛋。WIFI信号在一个频段内被分割成一个个信道，然后经过天线进行传输（一个天线传一个信道），每一个信道都能承载数据，为了传输更多的数据，WIFI可以用高速率帧来进行数据传输。我们呈现了一个WIFI的整体形状，这个蛋蛋由用红成黄等色来颜色来装扮不可见的不同信道WIFI的电磁波的信道（上文应该写的就是信道了）。WIFI信号被从一个发射器里射出来样子通常是个球或者是个椭球，并且会扩展20-30m。

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Wifi waves travel through space as rapid, dataencoded pulses or waves. A freeze frame of these pulses would show that thepulses are about 6 inches apart (as shown by the lightly colored bandstraveling through space in this p_w_picpath). Wifi routers are basically antenna thatcan send data over multiple frequencies all at the same time. These multiplefrequencies are shown as blue, green, yellow, and red colors that pervade thespace around the mall. The data from these multiple frequencies swirls aroundin space as shown here, but can be translated using a common tag systemunderstood by wireless devices.

WIFI信号通过空间快速的传输着数据，一个静止的无线帧将会呈现无线传输时的样纸，一个无线脉冲波之间大概间隔6英尺的距离（375px，2.4GHz的波长明显是5英尺300px），无线路由器长着2个小揪揪天线，传输数据时可以复用多个信道，这些信道被显示成蓝绿黄和红弥漫在了林荫道中。下图就是无线啵啵的样子，这些信号都能被WIFI联盟认证的设备来接受。

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Wifi routers or antenna can be attached to trees,buildings, lamp posts and otherstructures. A typical outdoor router can project its signal 300 feet or morefrom its location. Objects such as trees can obstruct the signal such thatit has to be augmented by multiple wifi routers placed in differentpositions. Multiple routers can create a field that extends all the wayacross Washington DC's National Mall as shown here. This p_w_picpath shows datainstantaneously transmitted over different frequencies from a wifi antenna asblue, indigo and yellow fields.

WIFI 陆游器或天线能够被装在树上，大楼上，马路边的灯竿上或者其他一切能装的且有人的地方，一个室外的无线AP能够把它的信号射到300码（274m）之外，但是有一些物体比如树叶会吸收WIFI信号，所以需要一些增强型的WIFI AP被放在不同的地方好让大家都能上网。高级的AP能够挂在白宫外面，发射信号让奥黑能坐在小树林旁的板凳上拿着手机发twitter。下图是白宫上方的彩虹。

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Wifi routers affixed to buildings, lampposts and other object create a circular data field around them. Theseantenna have an omnidirectional signal that extends equally in all directions,shown as the circular bands. Wifi broadcasts at a frequency between radioand microwaves, meaning that the waves or pulses are about six inches apart, asshown by the colored, circular bands.

WIFI AP被安装在屋顶，灯杆和其他尖尖的上方，信号如同水波一样一圈圈围绕着他们，这些天线都是全向天线。没配图。WIFI的信号是2.4GHz或者5GHz，波长6英寸。

The illustrations were produced with thehelp of M. Browning Vogel. She has a Ph.D. in Astrobiology, worked atNASA Ames for five years, and now teaches science at the Universitylevel.

这些图像都是在M.Browning Vogel的帮助下构架出来的，她是个天体太空学家，曾在NASA工作了好多年，现在在大学教书。

Please email nickolay@mindworklabs.com for high resolution p_w_picpaths.

发邮件到pppoe@139.com以了解更多WIFI知识。