Repeater

The burning of a wireless repeater.

Complex of radio and TV repeaters.

In telecommunications, the term repeater has the following standard meanings:

• An analog device that amplifies an input signal, regardless of its nature (analogue or digital).
• A digital device that amplifies, conforms, refreshes or performs a combination of any of these functions on a digital input signal for your transmission.

In the case of digital signals, the repeater is often called a regenerator because, in fact, the output signal is a “regenerated signal” from the input signal.

The nature of the repeater arises from the impossibility of transmitting a signal from a transmitter to a receiver/res that are at very far distances or from the need to overcome orographic obstacles such as mountains or mountain ranges.

Within the term repeater we can refer to different concepts in terms of the type of device or installation we are talking about, we can refer to a simple device whose function is repeat the signal it receives, as in the case of Wi-Fi repeaters or repeaters installed on the seabed to repeat the signals of transcontinental cables or we can also refer to the facilities or complex of facilities that repeat radio and television signals, which are repeated by mobile phone signals (which in this case we would call a cellular repeater) or other types of radio signals for police communication systems, emergency services or gas and electricity companies; in all these last cases with the term "repeater" we are calling the entire set of facilities (buildings, towers, electrical and electronic equipment, antennas, etc).

Regarding the nature of the signal with which they work, we can find three types: electric, radioelectric or light signal (as in the case of fiber optic repeaters) and in all cases we continue to call them by the same name. manner.

A repeater is usually part of a transmission system. In the OSI reference model, the repeater operates at the physical layer.

A subset of these are repeaters used by radio amateurs.

Likewise, repeaters are used in point-to-point telecommunication links through radio links that operate in the microwave range, such as those used to distribute television signals between production centers and the different transmitters or those used in networks of telecommunication for the transmission of telephony.

Telephone repeaters consist of a receiver (headset) mechanically coupled to a carbon microphone, they were used before the invention of electronic amplifiers equipped with vacuum tubes.

Repeaters are often used on transcontinental and transoceanic cables because attenuation (signal loss) over such distances would be completely unacceptable without them. Repeaters were formerly used in copper cables carrying electrical signals and currently in fiber optic cables carrying light.

In optical communications the term repeater-regenerator is used to describe an item of equipment that receives an optical signal, converts it to electrical, regenerates it, and retransmits it again as an optical signal. Since these devices convert the optical signal to electrical and back to optical again.

Wi-Fi repeater

Wifi repeater for outdoor use

A Wi-Fi repeater or also called a Wi-Fi amplifier complies with the functionality characteristics of a repeater, so it collects the signal it receives and amplifies it in order to extend the range of the signal.

The peculiarity of these devices is that they are intended to propagate the Wi-Fi signal received from a transmitter, usually a wireless router.

Its use extends both in open and closed spaces, such as within the home, an industry, a shopping center or offices.

In this way, within the scope of closed spaces, it deals with receiving the signal emitted by the router and propagates it in order to cover the areas where the signal does not reach.

To comply with this functionality, the Wi-Fi repeater must be within the range of the signal emitted by the router in order to receive and replicate it.

The installation process is quite simple and is simplified by plugging the amplifier into a socket and then synchronizing. Normally this process is done automatically, although sometimes it may require additional configurations.

The use of these devices is widespread since by extending the range of the Wi-Fi signal it allows connection to the Internet from any part of the closed space with the mobile devices that we currently use, such as smartphones, tablets, etc.