Luminous WLAN: artist makes the wireless chaos in the neighbourhood visible
The artist and technology tinkerer Rootkid has built a lamp that makes electromagnetic radiation visible. His installation transforms the invisible radio noise of his surroundings into an impressive, flickering play of light.
The human eye perceives light rays and can therefore see «» . However, the light spectrum recognisable to the eye is only a very small part of the radiation that whizzes through the space around us: electromagnetic radio signals such as WLAN, mobile phones and Bluetooth, plus infrared remote controls, motion detectors and UV lamps or air purifiers - the modern world is powered by radiation that we cannot see.
But what if we could? That's what technology fan «Rootkid thought», who presents projects on his YouTube channel in which he merges art and technology. His latest idea is a lamp that recognises rays from the electromagnetic spectrum and makes them visible.
LEDs reflect radio activity
The lamp, which he calls «Spectrum Slit», is made up of 64 luminous LED filaments. Each filament represents a specific section of the measured frequency spectrum. The brightness reflects the local electromagnetic intensity.
Rootkid shows in the video how the lamp also signals the presence of neighbours: While it still flashes quite restrainedly during the day, it seems to wake up in the afternoon. The neighbours come home from work and activate their devices. In the evening, they stream - and the lamp displays the frequencies and radio activity brightly and flickeringly.
According to Rootkid, the lamp thus becomes a «contemporary portrait of digital collective behaviour, shaped by the rhythm of daily life.» You can see what this looks like in the video from around minute six.
How does the lamp work?
Rootkid uses a software-defined radio (SDR) to measure the signals. Such devices can receive a wide frequency bandwidth of around one megahertz to six gigahertz. It continuously scans the frequency bands in the 2.4 and 5 gigahertz range, which are commonly used by Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices. It specifies the range of the signals at around 30 metres.
The self-written software processes the data and controls the LED filaments connected to circuit boards on the back. Each of the 64 filaments can achieve a brightness of 130 lumens - a total of more than 8000 lumens is therefore possible. This is a multiple of conventional LED lamps. According to Rootkid, the high brightness is intentional: it is intended to symbolise the literally «dazzling activity in the radio wave spectrum».
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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