Xbox 360 found to radiate intrusive RF signals
Students and staff at Morrisville State College had recently discovered areas of the campus where Bluetooth headsets would not sync to their cell phones. Baffled by this occurrence, the IT department brought in specialized radio frequency analysis software to pinpoint the cause of this problem, finding that the culprit was Microsoft’s Xbox 360.
Using Cognio Spectrum Expert, an RF analysis software, Morrisville IT staff noticed a strange signal around campus.
“We had problems syncing our headsets to our phone where this signal was strong,” says Matt Barber, the college’s network administrator. “The signal really stood out. In some places it was so strong we thought it might be affecting the air around it.”
However this signal’s source was unknown by the RF analysis software, classifying the signal as an “Unknown emitter.” The unusual signal was “jumping all over the spectrum band,” according to Mr. Barber, and covered a good range of the 2.4Ghz band.
Using a little intuition, Barber suspected that the unknown signal was originating from the Xbox 360′s on campus. Bringing his own console to the analyzer confirmed his hunch; the Xbox 360 was radiating the exact ”unknown emitter” frequency in question.
To be positive, the IT staff covered the console with a static discharge bag, simulating a Faraday cage. Upon doing so, the software showed a substantial drop in this “unknown emitter” signal strength.
The signal emitted from the Xbox 360 is unusual in that it’s not fine tuned to a specific frequency, covering a great range of the 2.4Ghz spectrum and causing interference in other external devices.
Barber claims this signal is active immediately after the console is plugged in, despite not being powered on, and wants to perform further testing before he points any fingers.
“We want to get several consoles together with a bunch of WLAN clients, to create a busy environment, and do some measurements.”
Source: Network World
Related Posts:
4 Responses to “Xbox 360 found to radiate intrusive RF signals”
Leave a Reply:
You must be logged in to post a comment. Don't have an account? Register today!
December 16th, 2007
Great Job Microsoft
December 16th, 2007
Hmm…
I would expect the radiated signal to be of a tight bandwidth around 2.4GHz for the controllers. The fact that it is so wide-band around 2.4GHz surprises me. Then again, those 360 units could have been a defective batch. I would assume that if all 360s had this phenomenon, then there would be alot more complaints from 360 owners about its interference with Wi-Fi, phones, and other 2.4GHz devices. I highly doubt that all 360s are manufactured like that, as it would raise alot of compliance issues with the FCC.
December 19th, 2007
doesn’t this violate some FCC standards or something? most electronics have a thing that says something like “this product does not cause interference with other devices and also ignores any interference received”.
February 13th, 2008
Doesnt surprise me, I have an inductive amplifier for tracing electrical lines and you should listen to the amount of “noise” cell phones and networking hubs and switches make. It may not cause interference with other electronics but there has to be some kinda health risk.