What if you could see what Wi-Fi looks like? Well Luis Hernan, a PHD student and artist at the University of Newcastle in the UK, has brought the connectivity to life in colourful photos.
With the help of a machine called the Kirlian Device, Hernan was able to measure the signal strength of Wi-Fi signals in its immediate vicinity, translating them into colourful LEDs.
The result reveals Wi-Fi ‘ghosts’, or what he terms ‘wireless spectres’, showing colour images from red through to blue as the device moves through space.
Photo source: Luis Hernan
"The device is moved through the space, which is then registered in a long-exposure photograph," Hernan told Discovery News.
"This process lasts for several minutes, and due to the brightness of the device, my figure is ghosted away in the process. In some pictures you can see my feet or even my blurred head underneath the light strikes."
The source code for the device is available, allowing anyone to make their own device, and Hernan has also developed a free Android app so that users can check the colours out for themselves.
But this isn’t the only time someone has showed what Wi-Fi looks like. Nickolay Lamm, an American artist, also used Wi-Fi coverage data from networks in Washington DC to create colourful representations.
