3G cellphone networks might quell some of the fears people have about phone masts, says Ogier Electronics of Hertfordshire (GB 2367188). As more masts are built, their beams interact, and there will soon be so many that physically positioning antennas at outlandish angles to avoid creating “hot spots” won’t work. But beams can be directed accurately, says Ogier, if you make the antenna from several dozen tiny antennas, and use computers to stagger the voltage and phase of each one. Coupled with precision measurements to determine accuracy, this will give precise control of where the beams land, and therefore avoiding hot spots.
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