{"id":862,"date":"2017-04-14T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-04-14T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/eagle\/blog\/?p=862"},"modified":"2023-09-26T10:55:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T17:55:32","slug":"wireless-technologies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/wireless-technologies\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Love Wireless Technologies? You\u2019ve Got Torpedoes, Hollywood, and World War 2 to Thank"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do You Love Wireless Technologies? You\u2019ve Got Torpedoes, Hollywood, and World War 2 to Thank<\/h1>\n

Wireless technologies are everywhere. You\u2019re likely reading this blog post thanks to WiFi. And I was able to write all of these words with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. And who knows, maybe you\u2019re reading this on your tablet, halfway around the world without a WiFi connection in sight, all thanks to cellular data. The truth is, it\u2019s hard to imagine what life would be like these days without all of these wireless technologies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wireless technologies extend way beyond the realm of consumer gadgets. The rocket that <\/span>SpaceX managed to land on a platform in the middle of an ocean<\/span><\/a>? Wireless technologies were key. Or our ability to see Mars closer than ever through the eyes of the Mars Rover? Wireless technology again. The question isn\u2019t how much wireless technologies affect our lives today, but how they even came to be. And that story starts with torpedos, Hollywood, and World War 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

A World Conflict Brews<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s 1940, and the next great conflict of humanity is underway in Europe. Germany is delivering some pain to the Allied forces with their U-Boat submarines. <\/span>And this was the year that Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said that he considered having Britain surrender<\/span><\/a>. The German Navy wasn\u2019t just attacking other naval ships, they were going after unarmed merchant ships, and those onboard trying to flee the Nazi invasion.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A German U-Boat, just one of 46 operational for WW2. (Image source<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

At the time, Britain\u2019s Royal Navy didn\u2019t have a way to protect their merchant ships during their journey across the Atlantic. And so Germany saw an easy target. In 1940 alone there was a total of 2.6 million tons of shipments destroyed by German U-Boats, and that total would only climb. The Allies needed a solution, but where would they get it?<\/span><\/p>\n

From Hollywood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hedy Lamarr: Enters Stage Right<\/h2>\n

Hedy Lamarr<\/span><\/a> was a famous Hollywood actress and was all over the big screen, but what you might not know about her is that she was also a brilliant inventor.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hollywood actress and brilliant inventor, Hedy Lamarr. (Image source<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Her story stretches back to her first marriage to a weapons manufacturer by the name of Friedrich Mandl. During his time dealing arms, Mandl had Lamarr by his side, teaching her everything he knew about military technology. Lamarr soaked in all of this information, and when the time came to end her marriage and flee from an impending Nazi invasion, she took everything she learned and escaped to America to begin a new life.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lamarr\u2019s first husband, Friedrich Mandl who taught her all she knew about military weaponry and technology. (Image source<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

It was during this time that Lamarr found herself breaking into the Hollywood scene, but despite all of the fame and glory she lived, the war in Europe was always sitting in the back of her mind. How could she help? At a party, she met the Hollywood composer George Antheil, and the two joined forces to figure out how to help the Allies win World War 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem that Lamarr and Antheil addressed was one about torpedoes. While the Allies had their submarines that they could use to combat the German U-Boats, they had one little problem – their radio-controlled torpedoes could be jammed. And so Lamarr and Antheil thought of a brilliant idea, using music and piano as an inspiration. It went something like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

If you could use piano keys to jump around from note to note, couldn\u2019t you also use this same jumping sequence to steer a torpedo towards its destination without being tracked or jammed?<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The idea was golden. By making a torpedo\u2019s transmitter and receiver of a radio signal jump around from frequency to frequency like piano keys, German U-Boats would never be able to track and jam them. All because they would have no idea where that torpedo was going to be at any given moment. What Lamarr and Antheil created then was a kind of unbreakable code that could help them defeat the German U-Boats, and ultimately push the war forward for the Allies. But would the Navy use it?<\/span><\/p>\n

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The patent submission for Lamarr and Antheil\u2019s frequency jumping invention for a torpedo. (Image source<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Lamarr and Antheil presented the idea to the Navy, featuring a version of the idea that embedded piano-like keys in the torpedo body to control the hopping of frequencies between transmitter and receiver.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Navy\u2019s response? You could never fit a player piano inside a torpedo, duh. The Navy completely missed the point, failing to see that the piano keys were just an example of how the frequency hopping could work when the actual parts inside could be much smaller.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so while both Lamarr and Antheil received a patent for their invention in 1942, the idea never came to be used in World War 2. It was only during the Cuban Missile Crisis in1962 when naval ships finally implemented this technology, and so the wireless communications revolution was born.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the real kicker – it took the world over three decades to finally give Lamarr and Antheil the credit they deserved. In 1997 the duo was eventually honored with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Pioneer Award. Lamarr also went on to become the first female to win the <\/span>BULBIE\u2122 Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award<\/span><\/a>, which is basically an Oscar for inventors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defining Our Wireless Age<\/h2>\n

Today, we\u2019re in the midst of our wireless era. These days, the frequency hopping invention that Lamarr and Antheil proposed now defines the very basis for every wireless communication, including Bluetooth, WiFi, and cellular networks. How does it work? Let\u2019s take our beloved Bluetooth as an example to understand.<\/span><\/p>\n