The
Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But
for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is
still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem.
There are
many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity—jungles, archipelagos,
mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in
most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet
connection is more than a month’s income.
Solving
these problems isn’t simply a question of time: it requires looking at the
problem of access from new angles. So today we’re unveiling our latest moonshot
from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access.
We believe
that it might actually be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying around
the globe on the stratospheric winds, that provides Internet access to the
earth below. It’s very early days, but we’ve built a system that uses balloons,
carried by the wind at altitudes twice as high as commercial planes, to beam
Internet access to the ground at speeds similar to today’s 3G networks or
faster. As a result, we hope balloons could become an option for connecting
rural, remote, and underserved areas, and for helping with communications after
natural disasters. The idea may sound a bit crazy—and that’s part of the reason
we’re calling it Project Loon—but there’s solid science behind it.
Balloons,
with all their effortless elegance, present some challenges. Many projects have
looked at high-altitude platforms to provide Internet access to fixed areas on
the ground, but trying to stay in one place like this requires a system with
major cost and complexity. So the idea we pursued was based on freeing the
balloons and letting them sail freely on the winds. All we had to do was figure
out how to control their path through the sky. We’ve now found a way to do
that, using just wind and solar power: we can move the balloons up or down to
catch the winds we want them to travel in. That solution then led us to a new
problem: how to manage a fleet of balloons sailing around the world so that
each balloon is in the area you want it right when you need it. We’re solving
this with some complex algorithms and lots of computing power.
Now we need
some help—this experiment is going to take way more than our team alone. This
week we started a pilot program in the Canterbury area of New Zealand with 50
testers trying to connect to our balloons. This is the first time we’ve
launched this many balloons (30 this week, in fact) and tried to connect to
this many receivers on the ground, and we’re going to learn a lot that will
help us improve our technology and balloon design.
Over time,
we’d like to set up pilots in countries at the same latitude as New Zealand. We
also want to find partners for the next phase of our project—we can’t wait to
hear feedback and ideas from people who’ve been working for far longer than we
have on this enormous problem of providing Internet access to rural and remote
areas. We imagine someday you'll be able to use your cell phone with your
existing service provider to connect to the balloons and get connectivity where
there is none today.
This is
still highly experimental technology and we have a long way to go—we’d love
your support as we keep trying and keep flying! Follow our Google+ page to keep
up with Project Loon’s progress.
Onward and upward.
Posted by
Mike Cassidy, Project Lead
Related Articles:
Backed by the Net, Infoladies help rural women
" ... Now I give you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are leading the way.... "
" ... I gave you a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy. For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?... " Read More …. "The End of History"- Nov 20,2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
No comments:
Post a Comment