00:00 Tilt
up in modern office atrium
Exterior,
modern office building
Pan
across windows in building
Wide
exterior, University of Warwick
c.u.
Warwick banner
Dr
Christos Mias fitting tuneable panel in apparatus
c.u.
tuneable diode
c.u.
Dr Christos Mias
c.u.
hands sealing apparatus
Medium
wide of above
c.u.
looking up at Dr. Mias
Over
shoulder; Dr Mias and Assistant look at printed FSS
Reverse
of above
Micro-wave
oven in FSS space
Wide,
Dr Mias and assistants
Closer
of above
Over
shoulder of scientists looking at spectroscope
Guide Voice: Windows – modern office
blocks have lots of them, keeping office space light and airy; but
what else are they letting in, or out?
Secrets that zip across offices through wireless computing
networks can also zip through office windows into the hands of
competitors – now researchers at England's University of
Warwick have devised a method of producing opaque tuneable surfaces
for windows that can selectively block signals from wireless
networks, preventing them from spilling out of the office.
The concept of frequency selective surfaces, or FSS as they're
known, is not new, but current technology has the potential to
create signal proof spaces. This means that electromagnetic
emissions are blocked, so that cell phones, for example, could
become unusable in such an environment.
00:50 SOT: Dr. Christos Mias, Electrical and
Electronic Division, School of Engineering, University of
Warwick - "Frequency Selective Surfaces have been
around for many years – decades. Initially they have been
used in the military but now that the wireless communications and
devices proliferate people have started thinking about their
potential applications in wireless communications; the aim of our
group is to install, to create, tuneable frequency selective
surfaces to be able to adapt to a variety of wireless communication
devices".
01:29 Wide
of experiment set-up
Medium
shot of FSS in opaque panel
c.u.
and pull out on above
Guide Voice: Dr Mias and his team in the
University's School of Engineering have developed a "dipole
grid based frequency–selective surface" that has the
potential to be embedded in any glass window and then tuned to
block a selected frequency.
01:44 SOT: Dr Mias – "Up to now
the majority of Frequency Selective Surfaces created were passive,
that is non-tuneable. They were also switch-able but not tuneable.
We have developed surfaces that are tuneable based on low cost
technology".
02:04 Wide,
research assistant inside soundproof room
c.u.
computer screen
Hand
on dial of programmable psu, pan and tilt to screen
Assistant
placing transmitter unit on stand
Reverse
of above
c.u.
hand attaching cable to unit
Look
up at research assistant
c.u.
opaque panel with circuits
Guide Voice:The possibility of tuning a circuit
within a window is a major breakthrough. It allows for different
window material variations– normally the variations in the
type of glass used would mean that you would have to develop
specific blocking circuits for each window – by having a
tuneable system it's possible to have a one size fits all set of
circuitry which is simply tuned to match the glass type.
More importantly, it means that the circuit can easily be
altered to block a different frequency when requirements change,
without having to remove the window or the embedded circuits.
02:38 SOT: Dr. Mias -
"Imagine, for example, a long corridor with many windows
on either side of the corridor and lots of information leaking
outside. If one covers the windows with Frequency Selected Surfaces
and properly designs them it can, the Frequency Selected Surface,
block bluetooth radiation from escaping the office, while allowing,
at the same time, other frequencies to pass through such as
television signals and mobile phone signals".
03:15 Man
at computer (file footage)
Wide,
woman approaching desk (file footage)
c.u.
PDA being placed in cradle (file footage)
Exterior
– building with multiple windows
Guide Voice: Office privacy and the need to
secure data flow are increasingly important. The future of Warwick
University's research may well ensure that "silence is
golden!"
03:25 End
of cut piece
Additional Material
03:28 Various
shots of Dr Mias setting up to conduct tests on non tuneable
glass
04:01 END
