Verifying the inverse square law using WiFi signal

Keywords: Radio waves, WiFi signal, inverse square law, antennas, power measurements.

Level and stream of the experiment: UG/PG (Science)

Level of difficulty: 2

Pre-requisite knowledge for the experiment: Electromagnetics, radio waves, and wave
propagation

Requirements:

A) Hardware:
1. Smartphone with hotspot or WiFi router (as a transmitter)
2. Laptop/smartphone or any other similar portable device that can be connected to WiFi
and has provision to show WiFi signal strength (as a receiver)
3. Measuring tape for distance measurement

B) Software:
Based on the device to be used as the receiver, installation of the following software/app
will be required.

1. Mac OS/ Linux/Unix: Wireshark - https://www.wireshark.org/download.html

2. Windows OS: Vistumbler - https://www.vistumbler.net

3. Linux : Prakash’s python routine using inbuilt resource:

https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1ha55yAXNBkyUUSyo0zgFVOZWU2Ar1EUx?authus
er=1

4. Android OS: WiFi Analyzer -

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=abdelrahman.wifianalyzerpro

Installation process of these softwares can be found by following the link below.
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1WY2NLyO3-nxU7ztSe0LqS5SJZ1OGfR74

Theory: The inverse square law states that intensity of the radiation received at a distance
from a point source will decrease inversely proportional to the square of the distance. This
can be readily appreciated from geometrical considerations illustrated in Figure 1, shown
below. The flux density or the intensity of the radiation at any given distance r is the source
strength divided by the area of the sphere with radius r.

If the total intensity radiated by an isotropic source is I0, then the intensity I(r), seen at a
distance r from the source, is given by
I(r) = I0/4πr2
2
where 4πr is the area of a sphere of radius r.

Figure 1: A geometric illustration of intensity reduction with distance.

Intensities associated with fields other than electromagnetic fields, such as electric field,
sound, gravitational field, also obey the inverse square law, implying correspondingly reducing
intensity with increasing distance.

The "inverse square law" followed by electromagnetic waves can be examined through a
simple experiment using radio waves.
For this purpose, a suitable radiator (or transmitter) of radio waves is needed, along with a
(portable) device or receiver capable of measuring intensity of the radio signal received at
different distances from the transmitter. In the experiment described below, use of WiFi
signals is considered, noting the wider accessibility of the two devices needed, one for
transmitting radio signals and the other for receiving them. A WiFi router or WiFi hotspot-
enabled devices like smartphone/tablet and laptop offer elegant solution as a transmitter.

Similarly, a smartphone, tablet or laptop having connectivity to WiFi, along with suitable WiFi
signal measuring software/tool installed, are usable as a portable receiver. The basic setup for
the experiment is shown as a schematic in Figure 2.
Figure 2: A schematic showing the basic setup and wave propagation.

Preparation of the setup: Important considerations and steps.

a) The line of sight between the transmitter and the receiver needs to be clear, so that any
undesired blockage/reflection or absorption of the signal, and also any human/animal
movements, across the sightline are strictly avoided.

b) Importantly, possibility of significant reflections from surroundings (side-walls,

floor/ground, roof, furniture, metal surfaces/structures, etc.) is to be reduced as far as
possible, since these will unavoidably interfere with the direct path signal, and contaminate
the signal measurements depending on the strength of the reflected signals. Therefore, for
better results, this experiment may be carried out in out-door/open-ground areas, or at least
the possible reflections in any indoor-setup are minimized (and made a note of for use in
understanding the nature of contamination). In either case, to reduce adverse effect of ground
reflections, it is advisable to keep the transmitter and receiver devices above a certain height
(>50 cm) above the ground, using preferably non-metal supports (see an illustrative
arrangement in Figure 3).

c) If using a smartphone as a receiver, it is crucial to ensure that its "data connection" is turned
"off", to reduce the power fluctuation due to "data" transfers.

d) To avoid fluctuations similarly in the radiated power due to data packet transfers, and other
cell activities, keep the smartphone in airplane mode if you are using its hotspot, or remove
the external network connection from the router, for use as a stable power radiator.

e) The WiFi devices may have option to operate at a center frequency of about 2.4 GHz or 5
GHz (each with a few MHz of bandwidth). The central frequency is slightly different for every
WiFi device depending on the "band". One can select the frequency band based on the
availability of the device at the receiver side, so as to choose a compatible band and common
center frequency at the both ends.

f) It is not only useful, but also important to have information on the physical location of WiFi
antennas in the respective devices, for use as reference positions for measuring distances
more accurately, and also to ensure that the corresponding sightline remains clear. The
accuracy in distance measurements become more important at small distances, where the
transition between near field to far field occurs for small radiators/receptors, below which the
signal intensity may deviate from the law that governs far field behaviour.

g) Finally, a major component of the preparation for the experiment is to ensure that the
device, to be used as the receiver, is equipped with appropriate software/application for
measurement of the received WiFi power, following the details /links given in the beginning
of this document. The software will enable viewing the signal strength in dBm, along with
transmitter device information, such as the operating frequency, bandwidth, etc. The values
in dBm units refer to 10log(P/1mW) to the base 10, where P is the power, as also in the
example shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3: An example of transmitter/receiver locations relative to floor and walls.

Procedure of the experiment and setup:

1) Ensure your router is on, or create a WiFi hotspot on the mobile phone.
2) Connect your receiving device (laptop/smartphone) to the hotspot/WiFi.
3) Disconnect the mobile phone or router from data/Internet. Put the mobile phone in Flight
Mode or disconnect router network input.
4) Measure and note down, both the distance and the corresponding received power, and
repeat this for at least 8-10 different distances in range starting from as small as a wavelength,
and up to maximum feasible distance for reliable measurement.
5) Plot the signal strength vs distance on a log-log plot and fit an appropriate curve to the
data. Check the residuals. Interpret the results.

Tips :
1) Keep your mobile phone and laptop charged.
2) The WiFi power detector device might take a few seconds to settle down on a reading.
Make sure not to disturb the receiving setup during this time.
3) A lower limit to the signal strength that can be measured reliably could be between -80
dBm to -95 dBm, hence measurements below -80 dBm are best avoided (thus limiting the
maximum distance).
4) For plotting, you may pick any tool/mode of your choice, including Python, Matlab, Origin,
Excel, etc.

Measurements:
Observation Distance (cm) Power (dBm)
No
1 5 cm (example) -10 dBm (example)
2
3
4
.

.
n

Results: Plot the graph distance vs power and examine the 1/R2 law

References:

1. https://www.education.com/science-fair/article/wifi-signals/
2. https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-
ideas/CompSci_p047/computer-science/what-materials-can-block-a-wifi-signal

Figure 4: An example of a plot of measured power vs distance, shown as

black square dots. The coloured line shows the best fit.
Authors: Jameer Manur (jameer@iucaa.in) and Ashish Mhaske (ashishm@iucaa.in)

Acknowledgements: This experiment was first tried out enthusiastically by the 2020-21
batch of the Astronomy and Astrophysics special paper students of Savitribai Phule Pune
University, Nilesh Bhoge, Rushikesh Bhutkar, Ashish Gupta, Ankita Gurav, Himank Kavathekar,
Kajal Mahajan, Rahul Musale, Akshay Shinde and Garima Verma, in discussion with us as
well as with Prakash Arumugasamy, Avinash Deshpande and Dhruba J Saikia.

Date: 2021 May 10