Radio frequencies make it possible to live a technologically-advanced lifestyle and continue developing emerging technology. Every device that uses radio frequency waves operates within its own band. Therefore, the hundreds of devices that use RF technology coexist and millions of people can use devices simultaneously.
1. Cell phones
The cell phone you use on a daily basis runs on RF or radio frequencies. Cell towers utilize radio transmissions in order to communicate. There are receivers and transmitters inside of your cell phone operating on a number of frequencies. The reason why you would hear some interference when placing your cell phone near an actual radio, because the frequencies are conflicting with each other.
Cell phones work by using a system geographical zones referred to as cells. Every cell has a base station that emits and receives radio waves. When you place a call on your cell phone, the signal goes from your cell phone antenna to the antennae of the cell’s base station. This base station response and assigns a radio frequency channel that is available. Radio signals are transmitted and received once this assignment occurs, then voice information is able to be sent between the base and the cell phone.
2. TV broadcast
Radio frequencies are also responsible for making TV broadcast possible in your house. The receiver on your TV used to be much more visible but has become masked into the TV design in modern times.
No matter how TVs are visually modified, they still run on the same radio frequencies. In some rare cases, a TV channel is the same as the RF channel but they are usually different. TV stations on channels 2 through 6 operate on 54 to 88 megahertz while channels 7 through 13 operate on 174 to 220 megahertz.
3. Home alarm system
Regardless of brand, the alarm system in your home operates on radio frequencies to keep your home safe. Home alarm systems usually use several sensors with built-in RF transmitters and a main control panel.
Wireless alarm systems don’t require running wires throughout the home and are easy to install. A wireless home alarm system secures entry points using sensors. The system confirms that an entry point is secure when two different parts of the sensor join together creating a circuit of security.
Wi-Fi is certainly radio frequency technology that nearly everyone is exposed to on a daily basis. Wi-Fi is a reference to a signal that operates at different frequencies. Wi-Fi works using the same technology as other Wireless devices. Essentially, it uses radio frequencies to transmit and receive signals from device to device. Wi-Fi frequency is typically between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.
5. Bluetooth radio
Bluetooth works by transmitting data through low power waves. It typically operates on 2.4 on 5 gigahertz, a frequency band that has been singled out for medical, scientific, and industrial use. This band is referred to as the ISM band. An important part of the Bluetooth design process is ensuring that Bluetooth technology doesn’t interfere with any other devices that operate using frequencies within the same band. To ensure their Bluetooth devices don’t interfere with other systems, the devices only send out extremely weak signals that are limited to a range of about 32 feet or 10 meters.
6. Weather radar
Doppler radar utilizes radio frequency technology to help us understand and set expectations for weather patterns. Radio frequencies allow us to “listen” to high frequency waves if precipitation is moving towards the radar and lower frequency waves if the precipitation moves away. The original intention of radar was to detect aircraft.
However, precipitation often caused issues. The precipitation “noise” that the military detected became the signal for meteorologists. As with all RF devices a radar system consists of a receiver and a transmitter. the transmitter sends out pulses of microwaves or radio waves in a circular fashion. Precipitation spreads the waves, sending energy back to the transmitter where the receiver detects the waves. Radar echo is a term used to indicate how intense precipitation is.