Drones and laser for internet access: the project takes shape from Facebook
(AFP) – Access to the internet through a network of solar drones and lasers: the slightly crazy project Facebook begins to take shape, with technological advances now allow trials vol.Le American social network announced Thursday it had completed construction of the first of these drones full scale.
Designed in the UK and named Aquila, it is essentially a large wing carbon fiber, similar in scope to that of a Boeing 737 but weighs less than a small car, not more than 450 kilos once onboard communications equipment .
“An important step” has been taken in parallel with the laboratory design of a system of “laser communications that can reach tens of gigabytes per second, about 10 times better than the most advanced currently “said Yael Maguire, the engineer at the head of” Connectivity Lab “, the Facebook team in charge of research on new ways to access the internet during a presentation at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park.
These lasers could also receive a 10 cent coin to almost 18 km away. This high accuracy is necessary because Facebook wants to use them to relay communications between ground equipment and drones flying at a distance and at very high altitude (between 60,000 and 90,000 feet, from 18 to 27 kilometers), and between the drones themselves, creating a true network.
“There are a lot of moving parts that must move together to ensure that it works,” admitted Yael Maguire. But the result looks like “a frame internet with lasers in the sky”
-. Launch by balloon –
The team plans flight tests during the second half this year, probably in the United States.
The drone should be launched …
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