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74
C AB L I NG CONNE CT I ON
AUTUMN 2 01 5
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Stratospheric internet ambitions
G
oogle is trialling a new internet
delivery system that is built
around what is one of the oldest
forms of long distance transportation – the
hot air balloon.
The most recent test of Google’s ‘Internet
Balloons’ was in December 2014. The tech
giant flew 20 of its Project Loon balloons
in Western Queensland in partnership
with Telstra, which provided the ground
infrastructure with which the balloons
communicated.
The balloons sail 20km above the earth’s
surface, in the Stratosphere – above weather
events and aeroplanes. They move on
stratospheric winds, each layer of which
varies in speed and direction. Using wind
and weather data, Google engineers plot an
optimal path and deliver each balloon onto
one layer of wind. The ultimate aim is that at
any one time 400 or more internet balloons
will be circling the globe, carefully arranged
and moving with the wind, to form one
large communications network.
The Project Loon team explains: “Loon
balloons can arrange themselves to provide
good coverage on the ground. But in order
for any given balloon to get to the right
place at the right time, it will need to surf
a wind blowing in the right direction. Like
travellers who use a train schedule, Loon
balloons require a sort of wind schedule that
they can reference to see what winds are
leaving fromwhere, when.”
Each balloon provides connectivity to
a ground area of about 40km diameter
using Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless
technology, more commonly known as
4G, and is designed to support roaming
internet access by mobile phones and
handheld devices.
“To use LTE, Project Loon partners with
telecommunications companies to share
cellular spectrum so that people will be able
to access the internet everywhere,” explains
the Project Loon team.
“We’ve enabled people to connect to the
balloon network directly from their phones
and other LTE-enable devices. This signal is
then passed across the balloon network and
back down to the global Internet on earth.”
Google’s aim is to reach those parts of the
world lacking internet as well as provide a
complementary service to existing networks
by providing coverage in black spots.
The balloons may also have applications
in areas hit by natural disaster and for use in
developing nations, where the installation
of internet infrastructure is cost prohibitive.
Initial trials for The Loon were held in
Christchurch, New Zealand in June 2013,
followed by further trials in rural Piaui in
Northwest Brazil. While Google has not
committed to commercialising the project,
as the technology advances, it has hinted
that the project is creeping closer to
becoming a reality.
During the initial Christchurch trials, the
longest a Loon balloon stayed in the air for
was 11 days and 22 hours. In November 2014
Project Loon confirmed that the majority of
its balloons now last 100 days or more, with
the longest having lasted 130 days.
“It’s one thing for our balloons to last
longer, but to build a ring of connectivity
around the world we’ll also need to get more
in the air,” explains the Project Loon team.
“Other challenges include designing the
balloon to withstand the extreme variations
in temperature, which can reach as low
as -80ºC in the stratosphere, intense UV
radiation, as well as air pressure that is just
1% of that at sea level.”
Google’s Project Loon could
see internet delivered by
balloon to even the most
remote corner of the globe.
Tech giant Google is running trials to measure the efficacy of internet-enabling hot
air balloons in remote areas of Australia and New Zealand.