The current WiFi and the rest of the electromagnetic waves of the technologies that we use every day are perfectly safe. These signals have a negligible power , and are within the spectrum of non-ionizing radiation, so they cannot generate modifications in our electrons or in DNA. However, a group of researchers has just created one that does use nuclear radiation. Is it safe?
Specifically, the researchers used californium-252 for this breakthrough. This radioactive isotope is produced inside nuclear reactors, and was first discovered in 1950 by bombarding curium with alpha particles. To perform the measurements, they used a specialized detector and recorded it on a laptop.
Californium-252 creates perfect WiFi if there are walls
To transmit information, the researchers encoded the content in the neutron field modulation, and the output was decoded with the laptop, which retrieved the encoded information. What they sent was a word, the alphabet, and a randomly generated number.
Submissions were made with a double-blind test , where the number sent was derived from the random number generated without it being known to those who were uploading it. Subsequently, it was transmitted and decoded , where they had a 100% success rate in all transmissions.
With this, the researchers want to show that it is possible to use fast neutron radiation to transmit content over wireless communications. This can be useful in situations where transmission via conventional electromagnetic waves is not possible, or is severely limited.
Nuclear WiFi: Better Going Through Walls
Specifically, this type of transmission has the advantage of better penetrating walls and other obstacles , including those containing metal. Metal and walls are the main enemies of current WiFi, since the signal is so weak that with a couple of walls between the emitter and the receiver we can no longer have a signal.
The researchers detail cases in which these types of signals would come in handy. For example, when establishing communications with a nuclear reactor, vaults or the hull of ships and submarines that separate the inland areas from the rest of the sea.
In these situations, the number of holes that must be made in the metal and in the structures to be able to pass communication cables can be reduced. With neutrons, information can be passed through these structures without having to drill into anything to pass cables. Finally, they also highlight the advantage of being able to use it in emergency situations with limited coverage, as well as to use mixed signals and that there are devices capable of receiving electrons and neutrons, with which their integrity can be verified.
The small drawback of these types of signals is that they do use ionizing radiation . The amount that can reach the bodies is negligible, since the ionizing radiation that we receive in the body from nature itself will probably be greater, such as that we receive from the Sun in the form of ultraviolet radiation, when eating a banana (whose potassium is radioactive ), or simply from the walls or floors of our houses. Therefore, it is to be expected that this will only be used in very limited environments. The researchers claim that the transmissions were made using a power lower than the maximum required by law, and with radiation levels lower than legal. In the case of using it in real applications, the radiation used would be much less than that of the experiments.
