Study finds best times for radio signals

LEICESTER, England, May 21 (UPI) -- British engineers say they've found a specific window exists when mobile radio signals are "super strength," allowing them to be clearer and travel farther.

University of Leicester researchers studied the signal strength of radio waves traveling over the sea and identified late afternoons and early evenings in spring and summer as a time when enhanced signals occur.

The research led by Salil Gunashekar as part of his doctoral studies has yielded results that have implications for the design of cellular telephone networks operating in marine and coastal regions

"In today's world, radio waves are an indispensable means of communicating information 'without wires' from one place to another, be it for radio broadcasts or cell phones, television transmissions or airport radars," said Gunashekar. "When radio waves travel for long distances over the sea their strength can be affected by the weather.

"The constantly changing weather conditions over the sea mean that marine and coastal environments, in particular, are prone to unusual atmospheric phenomena that enable radio waves to travel longer distances and have higher strengths than expected."

He is to present his key findings June 4 during a presentation at the university's Ken Edwards Lecture Theater 3.