A distributed communications system comprises a substrate coated with a coating comprising a plurality of particles dispersed therein, the particles being tunable in response to an electric field applied to the substrate; a sensor distributed near the substrate; and a central hub in communication with the sensor and the substrate. The central hub is embodied in a computer structure having non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon executed by a digital processor to analyze data received by the sensor, determine a magnitude of the electric field based on the data received by the sensor; and activate the electric field.
