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Want to display 2.4ghz on a Plasma at a Convention — Parallax Forums

Want to display 2.4ghz on a Plasma at a Convention

AndrewAtImpactAndrewAtImpact Posts: 2
edited 2007-09-14 06:23 in General Discussion
Hi, I am trying to create an in-booth activity for a tradeshow where a participant enters there name and some other information and they get to see it wirelessly transmitted to a printer.· My original intention was to use a USB-interfaced oscilloscope to display the data on a plasma screen, however, the relatively inexpensive version Parallax puts out only goes up to 200khz.· Does anyone know of an economical alternative that can measure the 2.4ghz wifi bands?

Thanks!

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2007-09-13 16:14
    A couple thoughts come to mind. You could get a cheap Wi-Fi Sniffer, disassemble it, and find a demodulated signal to display on a regular scope. But I fear that in a convention environment, you're going to be out of luck no matter what you try. Think of all the other booths that will have Wi-Fi equipment running — maybe even the booth next to yours. How will you be able to separate your signals from all the other RF chatter flitting about?

    My experience with trade shows has taught me that things that work at home don't always perform the same in a convention hall, be it from weird lighting, RF interference, you name it. I've also found that trade show goers are less likely to participate in a booth display than you might hope. That latter observation comes from industrial shows, however. If yours is attracting a geekier crowd, that might not be the case.

    -Phil
  • AndrewAtImpactAndrewAtImpact Posts: 2
    edited 2007-09-13 16:47
    well my hope was to place the transmitting computer and the reciever in very short proximity and tune down the sensitivity on the oscilloscope.· Is there a way to perhaps shield the reciever so other signals are blocked?· Forgive my scientific ignorance, but would lead do the trick, it blocks x-ray radiation?· I realize they're on completely different wave lengths, but there's got to be an effective, inexpensive·shielding material that would help me isolate just my signal.
  • DufferDuffer Posts: 374
    edited 2007-09-14 02:16
    You might want to check out http://www.metageek.net· They're Wi-Spy product isn't o'scope quality output, but it does a pretty good job of "visualizing"·wireless network activity by channel (helps to eliminate interference on other channels)·and·has some spectrum analysis displays. I have the original Wi-Spy 2.4 and the latest Chanalyzer software. It's pretty impressive for $200.

    Steve
  • inakiinaki Posts: 262
    edited 2007-09-14 06:23
    Probably the best solution would be to look at the network traffic on the receiving PC·side and display this activity instead of trying to 'hook' the wave itself. If you are using Windows, it·provides some counters that you can read to simulate network activity on a display (as an example look at the Task Manager network traffic display).

    Note that·your PC network card does all the work for you: it catches the signal and filter the right data.

    If you insist in using hardware to·read the signal, aside form Wi-Spy there are other cheap solutions. One of them is Prisma PCMCIA wireless cards that ares sold cheap on eBay, but have the problem of being very slow at·sweeping,·even when they concentrate on·the 2.4ghz·band only.

    Mid-level spectrum analyzer·do reach 2.4Ghz. Some of these have VGA output so displaying the wave is easy, although pretty boring. You·might rent one for the show.

    I think·the PC itself displaying the network traffic would·be much more interesting.

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