You never know what you'll find when digging through the US
Patent files, and it has been discovered that Samsung has filed
one of their own in hopes of using the atmosphere as an antenna.
Researchers and employees in Korea are devising a method to use
the ionosphere -- the layer of the atmosphere at around 50
kilometers above the Earth's surface -- as a medium for "long
distance communication" without the need for expensive
satellites. The ionosphere already plays a role in
communications as a "radio reflector" that bounces low frequency
radio signals from sea to shining sea. But by launching UHF
signals behind a 1GHz carrier signal, scientists hope to alter
the behavior of the ionosphere to create an alternating current,
which can then be modulated at a particular frequency in order
to create an antenna of global proportions. While the precise
utility of such an antenna is not yet clear, we're glad it's in
the works, as this sounds like just the thing to solve those
dropped call blues -- or not.  [Via Textu