Deciding where to place a Wi-Fi router at home to minimise signal black spots is a fine art. But a physicist has attempted to tacklelo the problem by mathematically working out the optimumii position for a router. He studied how walls and reflections affected signal strength and concluded that， as common sense might suggest， there’s just no beating the centre of a house for router location.
　　 决定在家里的什么位置放置无线路由器来最大程度减少盲点是一门艺术。一位物理学家最近试图用算法来规划出路由器的最佳位置。他研究了墙壁和反射对WiFi信号强度的影响，得出一个似乎是显而易见的结论：没有比房子正中間更好的位置了。
　　 The “complex” research was carried out by Jason Cole， a PhD physics student at the John Adams Institute at Imperial College London. Frustrated at finding numerous Wi-Fi black spots around his flat， Mr Cole turned to mathematics to find out how he could improve his internet connection. He found that， the waves were hindered not only by walls and closed doors but also when they went around corners. This， he says， is because the signal loses strength when it bounces off objects.
　　 这项“复杂”的实验由杰森·科尔，来自伦敦帝国学院约翰·亚当斯研究所的物理博士进行。在自己的公寓发现了太多WiFi信号盲点，科尔选择采取算法提高网络连接速度。他发现WiFi的信号流不止被墙壁和门阻挡，同样也会在角落里减弱。他认为这是因为当信号接触物体之后会减少一些能量。
　　“I found an equation which approximates the be haviour of high-frequency electromagnetic waves such as Wi-Fi， and tried to solve it by placing a virtual router in the floor plan of my flat. After crunching numbers for a few minutes I was able to generate maps of Wi-Fi signal strength inside the flat， showing poor signal near my computer.”
　　 “我发现了一个方程式，它能计算出WiFi这类高频电磁感应信号的运动轨迹，我在公寓地板平面图上设置了一个虚拟路由。在测试一段时间的信号之后，我就能够绘制出WiFi信号在公寓内强弱的图表，发现电脑旁边较弱的信号。”
　　 By showing how weakened the signal can be when it moves across the flat， Mr Cole found that no matter where his router was placed at one side of the flat， there would always be blackspots else where. Instead， he suggests that the only solution to ensure as few black spots aspossible is to place the router in the middle of the flat.
　　通过移动虚拟路由器的位置，可以看到信号强弱的变化。科尔发现无论将路由器放在公寓的哪一边，其他地方都会有盲点。因此，他觉得尽可能减少盲点的最佳方式就是把路由器放在公寓中间。
　　“There is also some reflection of the signal around corners， but engineers tell me reflection sare bad too. In my case， the best position was as central as possible， preferably near opendoor ways. He says he hasn’t tried any physical tests of the simulation yet， but has been given suggestions by commenters on his website. There have been many other helpful comments which will no doubt improve the methodology in the future， and a surprising number of people asking for an app to test their own houses or offices， so there’s plenty of work to do.”
　　 “角落里同样也有信号反射，但是工程师告诉我反射很弱。因而，最佳的位置是在房间的尽可能中心位置，最好离门口近些。他说他还没有进行任何物理实验，但是网站上有人给出了建议。这些建议有的会为未来的方法论提出更好的改进措施，而且令我们惊讶的是，很多人希望能有一款测试自己家里或者办公室里信号强弱的应用，所以我们还有很长的路要走。”