Project Loon

nmop_apisdn

Not sure if suitable for here but anywho...

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/06/google-flies-internet-balloons-in-stratosphere-for-a-network-in-the-sky/


http://www.google.com/loon/how/

Project Loon currently uses ISM bands (specifically 2.4 and 5.8 GHz bands) that are available for anyone to use.

Awaits wattys analysis!:D

watty

It's pointless Google PR to make them look like a Cool Tech company. They are an Advertising company.

Range is very high with such a high platform. (For more capacity on Mobile you use LOWER masts and less power). So what ever band it uses it dramatically reduces performance/capacity as the Balloon passes within range. It's irresponsible. As is Google's so called "White Space".

Such Balloons are technically a HAP (High Altitude Platform). The recommended bands are 200GHz and/or 400GHz I think as only that high a frequency is there enough capacity for such range/coverage. It's ridiculous to use ISM for such a platform.

However they will be short lived as the Helium will leak out.

clohamon

watty wrote: »

However they will be short lived as the Helium will leak out.

What goes up must come down, and maybe it's not too off-topic to remember First World War flying ace Friedrick Ritter von Roth whose idea of a good balloon was a balloon heading earthward, in flames, after a burst from his machine gun.

Balloons were bit more edgy in those days, hydrogen rather than helium,

Mr_Man

Hi,

came across this article about what some of the Tech heavyweights are doing to bring broadband to rural areas of the world. Perhaps we should ask Google to float a few of their balloons over Ireland?.

M

watty

The Ballon thing is a cynical piece of publicity. Even more pointless than the NBS.

Google is really an Adverts company pretending to be a tech company.

Rucking_Fetard

Google’s Balloon Internet Experiment, One Year Later

gctest50

nmop_apisdn wrote: »

Project Loon
Not sure if suitable for here but anywho...

Its like the b@stid offspring of Ubuntu and Iridium satellite stuff

watty

Iridium actually works and is licensed
Ubuntu works and does what it's supposed to.

Project loon OTH is aptly named.

Rucking_Fetard

Google’s Internet “Loon” Balloons Will Ring the Globe within a Year

watty

Pointless publicity campaign.

INPUT INNPUT

Not As Loony As It Sounds

slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/12/project_loon_how_google_s_internet_balloons_are_actually_working.html

watty

Garbage news report.

It's purely a piece of PR nonsense and irresponsible to boot.

dlouth15

Source

That loony project where Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) launches balloons into the stratosphere to provide Internet connectivity to the unconnected all over the world? Turns out, the program's achievements are surprising even the program's director at the same time Googlers are calling out some of their best-performing balloons.

According to Slate.com, some 75 Google balloons are airborne, hovering somewhere over the far reaches of the Southern Hemisphere, automatically adjusting their altitudes based on complex algorithms in order to catch wind currents that will keep them on course.

Provided it stays on course, Google believes that by next year, it will be able to create a continuous, 50-mile-wide ring of Internet service around the globe. Project Loon Director Mike Cassidy told Slate that he anticipates the first customers in rural South America, southern Africa or Oceania will be able to sign up for cellular LTE service provided by Google balloons by 2016.

What are the chances this can really happen? "When I first started on this project, I would have said, like, 5 percent," Cassidy told Slate. "But we're getting further and further, and what's amazing is that we haven't found anything that could keep it from working yet." While nothing in life is 100 percent, "it's looking pretty good."

Last month, it was revealed that Google is teaming up with Telstra to test 20 Loon balloons in Australia, with the telco giving Google access to wireless spectrum and terrestrial base stations. Google is running similar tests with Britain's Vodafone in New Zealand and Spain's Telefonica in South America.

watty

Pure hype and nonsense. This isn't the solution the Developing world or anyone else wants. Google propaganda.

Meanwhile more LEO OB3 satellites are being launched.

_Jumper_

Elon Musk’s satellite plan: Project Loon without helium or latency

gigaom.com/2015/01/19/elon-musks-satellite-plan-project-loon-without-helium-or-latency/


SpaceX Sells 10% Stake to Google, Fidelity for $1 Billion

bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-20/musk-s-spacex-sells-10-stake-to-google-fidelity-for-1-billion.html?hootPostID=e032d9a22131660ad2c3ecfaa1639a46

dlouth15

Project Loon looks to win out in those latitudes where it will operate over those LEO satellite technology links mainly because the baloons will transmit directly to mass-market LTE handsets and the technology will evolve as time goes on.

With the LEO solutions, an operator has to set up a base station then retransmit via LTE, Wifi or whatever to individuals. Even after all the satellites are in orbit, it will take time to set up these ground stations. And the technology, once in space, is fixed.

I think the LEO satellites may have had a chance if they were able to get there first but that doesn't look like being the case. If they come in after Loon, then they will cater to institutions (schools, government offices) rather than individuals.

I can see that people might think satellites with their predictable orbits a more elegant solution than balloons following atmospheric currents and only lasting a limited period of time, but it does look like those problems are being solved.

However, Loon will only be operating at certain latitudes and this might create opportunities for satellites.

INPUT INNPUT

Getting closer to a roll out now...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOndhtfIXSY

http://www.cnet.com/news/take-a-look-behind-the-scenes-of-project-loon-googles-lofty-plan-to-bring-the-internet-to-everyone/

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Can you still track the balloons on flightradar?

croo

Dumb question maybe but... What will the situation be with licences in the countries the balloons pass over? Is it a case that you only need licences if you have fixed masts on land? Only I always thought they were frequency related. But then the spectrum used by satellites is not licenced, or is it?

watty

The need for licence applies to anything and everything.
It's an arrogant and stupid project.

The Balloons are an inefficient use of spectrum and Google are using the wrong band. Backhaul is an issue too. It's an expensive to run system too.

OB3 is the better alternative.

But Fibre + mobile is cheaper in long term and rolling out in the third world.

_Tombstone_

The Promise and Peril of Universal Internet

_Tombstone_

After Nearly Going Pop, Google’s Project Loon Heads Into Carrier Testing This Year