Underwater wi-fi will soon be a thing.
A team of researchers from the University of Buffalo have successfully tested an “underwater network architecture” that might be able to provide underwater wi-fi in the not-too-distant-future.
But don’t think you’ll be able to use it to post selfies from your deep-sea adventures to Instagram. The researchers say the underwater wi-fi will be used to monitor ocean life, detect tsunamis and earthquakes earlier than current technology and even assist police in tracking drug traffickers.
“A submerged wireless network will give us an unprecedented ability to collect and analyse data from our oceans in real time,” said Melodina in a statement. “Making this information available to anyone with a smartphone or computer, especially when a tsunami or other type of disaster occurs, could help save lives.”
The challenge is to find new forms of transmitting the wi-fi signal. On land wi-fi is transmitted using radio waves but like your phone, they too drop out under water. Sound waves, on the other hand, travel great in water – which is why submarines use sonar for navigation. The researchers took this principal and applied it to their wi-fi theory and it worked.
They tested out their wi-fi system in Lake Eerie which flows through Ontario, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania to some success.
The researchers dropped two 18kg sensors into the water and attached them to a buoy bobbing on the surface that then converted the wi-fi radio signal into soundwaves.
They shortly began detecting “a series of high-pitched chirps” which “ricocheted off a nearby concrete wall”, according to a statement released by the university.
You can read the study for yourself here.
The demand for waterproof phones just hit the roof.
This story originally appeared on News.com.au.