Google mulls broadband 'weather balloons'
Google mulls broadband 'weather balloons'
Search engine giant Google has turned the technology world on its head with its plan to “bring the Internet to the world using weather balloons”.
The pilot project – which is entitled 'Project Loon,' kicked off a test run on New Zealand's South Island earlier this week. Google plans to send thousands of weather-balloon style devices into the sky, which would move as the wind takes them, and be steered and controlled by being moved into air-streams moving in certain directions.
They would fly at an altitude of 60,000 feet, meaning that there would be no danger of them colliding with passenger jets, which fly at heights of around 30,000 feet.
The devices would carry Google-designed solar-powered radio kits which would be capable of delivering “3G-like” speeds to Internet users by way of an antenna, within a 40 Km footprint. Each device will also be able to communicate with each other and also with stations based on the ground.
The balloons would be charged up using solar panels, with further power stored in a rechargeable battery. A GPS would also be present on each balloon in order to track its location.
Google explained more about the project on its Project Loon page: "Winds in the stratosphere are generally steady and slow-moving at between 5 and 20 mph, and each layer of wind varies in direction and magnitude. Project Loon uses software algorithms to determine where its balloons need to go, then moves each one into a layer of wind blowing in the right direction. By moving with the wind, the balloons can be arranged to form one large communications network.
The project is now working on how to make the balloons stay in the area where they're wanted. Not surprisingly, it's solving this with "some complex algorithms and lots of computing power”.
The search giant aims to expand the Project Loon pilot into other countries which sit at the same latitude as New Zealand.
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