The History and Future of Wi-Fi (Infographic) Its history goes back further than you'd think.
By Maggie Kimberl Edited by Dan Bova
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The average household has five internet connected devices, and the more people in the household the more connected devices there are on a network. Current Wi-Fi technology only connects to one device at a time, sending and receiving small packets of information before moving to the next device. The result is a slower overall connection as a Wi-Fi router struggles to keep up with all the internet-of-things devices modern families can't live without. Wi-Fi6 is now rolling out and it will be capable of connecting to multiple devices at a time, greatly improving the speed of connected devices.
The history of Wi-Fi goes back much farther than you think. Developments in the technology that led to wireless internet were theorized by Nikola Tesla in 1929 when he predicted people would one day be able to communicate with each other wirelessly in an instant with devices that could fit inside a vest pocket.
Hedy Lamarr created and patented the Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum technology in 1941, which skipped signals over multiple frequencies in a predetermined pattern. Her technology was used to guide torpedoes without being detected during WWII, but it wasn't until decades later the technology was used for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee and more.
It has taken decades of smaller developments, such as intranet and internet, ISM Band, WaveLAN and more to get to the point where there are now multiple devices that depend on a steady connection to the internet. Now there are internet connected doorbells, air conditioners, light switches and more. Thanks to Wi-Fi6, these devices are going to be running much more smoothly with less interference to other devices.
Learn more about the history and future of WiFi from the infographic below.
