INTERNET FOR ALL – PROJECT LOON
Akash James
Engineering Student,
Reva Institute of Technology and Management.
ABSTRACT:
Connectivity to the Internet is a vital technological requirement. It’s arguably one of the best and most transformative technological advancements of our species. However, approximately 4.3 billion people who still live in rural and remote regions where telecommunication is scarce or absent are not gifted with a connection to the World Wide Web. These are mainly due to terrestrial hurdles like dense forests, deserts, mountains, etc. These restrict construction of cell towers, radio antennas and other connectivity based infrastructure. This is a problem, isn’t it?
To eliminate this problem, straight out of Google X lab,…show more content… The unofficial development on Project Loon began back in 2011 at the Google X lab. This led to the invention of high-altitude stratosphere balloons, equipped with a radio antenna, GPS system, sensors and other equipment that was designed to stay up for long durations of time and travel around beaming signals down at the receivers. The first experiment was carried out in 2013 in New Zealand. 30 balloons brought connectivity to about 50 people and the balloons travelled in an area of 10,000 km2. It proved to be successful and it was plausible for a global level launch. To understand the functioning and technology gone into Project Loon better, let’s break it down into…show more content… This will always remain a big hurdle. Nature can change and the wind paths can be erratic.
3. Recovering worn out balloons:
Worn out balloons can land anywhere and everywhere. Recovery can be a daunting task as it can require extraction of these balloons from inaccessible locations. Also, since the balloons don’t have a very long lifetime, they will require frequent service halts.
V. CONCLUSION
Project Loon is very promising and can be the next big technological break-through if implemented globally. It has a wide variety of applications which give more meaning to the word ‘Internet’. Yes, it does have its hiccups, but the people at Google are working really hard and they have come really far. Once implemented globally, connectivity issues will no longer prevail.
References:
1. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loon
2. 10 breakthrough technologies 2015: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534986/project-loon/
3. Neighbours shocked when Giant Google Balloon falls from Sky: