A new app that lets you map the Wi-Fi signal around your house can help you work out the best place to put your router.
Jason Cole, a Physics PhD student from Imperial College London in the UK, was concerned with optimising the Wi-Fi reception in his flat, so he decided to tackle the issue with mathematical precision.
Cole began the process by mapping his apartment floorplan, assigning refraction values to the walls, and then applying Helmholtz equations to model the electromagnetic waves the router emits.
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He further modified his model to account for the absorption in wall materials such as concrete and stopped perfect reflections from forming standing waves, resulting in an outcome that more precisely mirrors Wi-Fi signals.
He concluded that the further away from your router you are the more you'll have to jockey for tendrils of signal.
Cole has compiled his math into an app that allows users to map their Wi-Fi signals as he has done for his own apartment.