Project Loon: Balloon-Powered Internet For Everyone

Many of us think of the Internet as a global community. But two-thirds of the world’s population does not yet have Internet access. Project Loon is a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill coverage gaps, and bring people back online after disasters. If you have read about Google’s Project Loon then you may know that Google is planning to send helium balloons around the world and deliver Internet to users in remote areas. The project was started in June 2013 by the top secret Google Division X and now is going for beta phase.

Project Loon balloons float in the stratosphere, twice as high as airplanes and the weather. In the stratosphere, there are many layers of wind, and each layer of wind varies in direction and speed. Loon balloons go where they’re needed by rising or descending into a layer of wind blowing in the desired direction of travel. By partnering with Telecommunications companies to share cellular spectrum we’ve enabled people to connect to the balloon network directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices. The signal is then passed across the balloon network and back down to the global Internet on Earth.

According to the latest news from Google, it will be conducting Project Loon trials in Australia, New Zealand and Latin America. Mike Cassidy from Google says that Google will be using its own manufacturing facility and automated systems to deliver a balloon in hours instead of days. He further stated that the company is now ready to launch thousands of balloons in the skies.

Google has tied up with leading service provides like Telstra in Australia, Telefonica in Latin America and Vodafone in New Zealand for end point connectivity.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ah5rs_google-to-test-its-project-loon-balloons-over-australia_tech?start=16