Illini 411: Is there research at Beckman Institute that interferes with Bluetooth?

Beckman Institute (Image by Fred Zwicky and Adobe Stock)

A: I’ve also wondered about this, after noticing that every time I drive past Beckman, my Apple CarPlay malfunctions. I did some asking around on the north side of campus, which led me to the computer science professor Kirill Levchenko, ’01 LAS, who also observed the phenomenon and oversaw a series of tests to determine the cause. His data were inconclusive, but he did confirm that the issue is not related to research at Beckman. Levchenko’s best guess is that the very strong WiFi near Beckman and the Perkins restaurant across the street overwhelms the i-Phone’s signal, causing CarPlay to drop out for a (very annoying) moment. Why that doesn’t happen in other parts of town is a mystery, for now. If Levchenko discovers the cause, I’ll publish it in a future column.

Have questions about U. of I. history, traditions and legends?

Write to Illini 411 at rross2@uillinois.edu. The most delectable questions will be selected for publication.