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Wireshark-dev: Re: [Wireshark-dev] [tcpdump-workers] What's the difference between NdisMediumBa

From: Joerg Mayer <jmayer@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 14:19:44 +0200
On Sat, Apr 09, 2016 at 12:32:34AM -0700, Guy Harris wrote:
> -100 dBm is 1/10,000,000,000 milliwatts, which is .1 picowatt; I'm not a radio expert, but I suspect there might not be any radios capable of detecting that low a power level except in specialized physics or radio astronomy cases.  (It's 1/10th the power consumption of an average human cell:
> 
> 	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(power)#Picowatt_.2810.E2.88.9212_watt.29
> 
> so it's not much power.)

The minimum sensitivity of wireless radios is -96dBm, i.e. standards compliant radios must be
able to differentiate signals better than -96 dBm from noise. Some years ago I looked at the
datasheet of an Atheros base Wifiadapter that claimed -106 dBm sensitivity.

Ciao
    Jörg
-- 
Joerg Mayer                                           <jmayer@xxxxxxxxx>
We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that
works. Some say that should read Microsoft instead of technology.