Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Monday July 13 2020, @07:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the 35-luftballons dept.

Four years ago, three big tech companies had plans in the works to beam internet down to Earth from the sky, and each scenario sounded wilder than the next. SpaceX requested permission to launch 4,425 satellites into orbit to create a global internet hotspot. Facebook wanted to use solar-powered drones and laser-based tech to shoot wifi to antennas. And Google's Loon was building giant balloons to house solar-powered electronics that would transmit connectivity down from the stratosphere.

[...] Loon balloons made their (non-emergency) debut in Kenya this week, with 35 balloons transmitting a 4G signal to 31,000 square miles of central and western Kenya.

[...] Specially-developed software uses predictive modeling of stratospheric winds and decision-making algorithms to shift the balloons as needed for a more reliable connection down below (balloons need to be within 40 kilometers of users for the service to work). The software constantly learns to improve the balloons' choreography and thus the network's quality, and the system can function autonomously.

The electronics inside the balloons get a wifi signal from a local telecoms partner at a ground station. In Kenya, Loon partnered with Telkom Kenya, the country's third-largest carrier. The signal gets relayed across multiple nearby balloons that transmit it back down to peoples' phones and other devices. Each balloon can cover an area of 5,000 square kilometers (a little under 2,000 square miles, or about the size of the state of Delaware).

A field testing session in Kenya in late June registered an upload speed of 4.74 Mpbs, a download speed of 18.9Mbps, and latency of 19 milliseconds. For comparison's sake, the average speed in the US is 52 Mpbs upload and 135 Mbps download; so service will be a bit slower in Kenya. One other small problem: since the electronics in the balloons are solar-powered, they only send down a signal during daylight hours; service is currently available from 6am to 9pm.

-- submitted from IRC


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 2) by inertnet on Monday July 13 2020, @09:53AM (3 children)

    by inertnet (4071) on Monday July 13 2020, @09:53AM (#1020200) Journal

    Apparently they're prepared to spend huge amounts of money in their efforts to control all of the world's internet traffic.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday July 13 2020, @10:05AM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday July 13 2020, @10:05AM (#1020203) Journal

      If they really want to spend huge amounts of money to control all of the world's internet traffic, they could start by expanding Google Fiber nationwide. Should cost $100 billion or more.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 2) by inertnet on Monday July 13 2020, @11:52AM

        by inertnet (4071) on Monday July 13 2020, @11:52AM (#1020235) Journal

        Nitpicking, but that's only for one nation, not worldwide. Unless you mean that all of the world's traffic already ends up on American servers somewhere somehow.

    • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday July 13 2020, @06:33PM

      by krishnoid (1156) on Monday July 13 2020, @06:33PM (#1020557)

      So that's their evil plan!

      • Design wifi-mesh balloons to enable Internet access over areas without deploying fixed infrastructure
      • Deploy balloons over distressed and poor areas
      • Provide information access and stuff
      • In the meantime, collect statistics on what people in the middle of nowhere can't buy with money they probably don't have
      • ...
      • Profit!

      It's so terrifyingly diabolical. Or maybe beneficient. I can't really tell.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by RandomFactor on Monday July 13 2020, @11:45AM (1 child)

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 13 2020, @11:45AM (#1020233) Journal

    It just averages about 14400000ms ping time.

    --
    В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday July 13 2020, @12:22PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 13 2020, @12:22PM (#1020250) Journal
      I calculate 16200000 ms myself. Methinks you're exaggerating the latency of the service!
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 13 2020, @05:38PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 13 2020, @05:38PM (#1020519)

    buy more foil for headgear.

  • (Score: 2) by turgid on Tuesday July 14 2020, @10:24PM

    by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 14 2020, @10:24PM (#1021510) Journal

    Where I come from, in Teuchter Land, a loon means a boy (and a quine is a girl). Mannies and wifies are men and women respectively. The term "loon" is often applied to a junior farm worker. The full term is "orra loon." This implies someone employed in general farm labour. When one is out taking one's daily constitutional, should one encounter a loon, the customary greeting is, "Foo's yer doos 'e day?" To which one can expect the reply, "Chavvin' awa'" often abbreviated, "Chavvin'!"

(1)