Skip to main content

GOOGLE TESTS SOLAR-POWERED '5G' INTERNET DRONES

By

Google is pushing forward in the race to deliver universal Internet access, testing solar-powered drones capable of beaming high-speed Internet back to Earth.




The secretive Project Skybender, The Guardian reports, aims to use high-frequency millimeter wave transmitters that could be used to provide next-generation 5G wireless Internet access.
The experimental technology has previously been used in airport body scanners. But by using what’s called a phased array, millimeter waves could theoretically be used to transmit data 40 times faster than the fastest 4G systems used today.
A network made up of thousands of autonomous drones, powered by solar energy, would then be used to deliver high-speed, reliable Internet around the world.




“The huge advantage of millimeter wave is access to new spectrum because the existing cellphone spectrum is overcrowded. It’s packed and there’s nowhere else to go,” said Jacques Rudell, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle who specializes in this technology.
Google is testing the millimeter wave system at Spaceport America in New Mexico, using solar-powered drones built by the firm’s subdivision Google Titan.
Project Skybender joins similar efforts from Facebook to produce a sky-based Internet, as well as Google’s own balloon-based Project Loon.
Through Internet.org, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to use drones and satellites to spread connectivity.
The push by major tech companies like Facebook and Google to deliver universal Internet access has been praised for its potential to connect the two-thirds of the planet without access to broadband, but critics have suggested it is solely motivated by private gains.
“We shouldn’t celebrate Facebook’s efforts to ‘bring the Internet to all’ because that is not what they are doing,” transparency advocate David Sasaki said in a blogpost published shortly after the unveiling of the Internet.org foundation.
“When Zuckerberg says that access to the Internet is a human right, what he means is that access to Facebook should be a human right.”




Source: Newsweek
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Silent headset lets users quietly commune with computers

By
Advances in voice recognition technology have seen it become a more viable form of computer interface, but it's not necessarily a quieter one. To prevent the click-clacking of keyboards being replaced by noisy man-machine conversations, MIT researchers are developing a new system called AlterEgo that allows people to talk to computers without speaking and listen to them without using their ears. At first glance, the AlterEgo headpiece looks like the product of a design student who didn't pay attention in class. Instead of the familiar combination of an earpiece and microphone, the device is a cumbersome white plastic curve like the jawbone of some strange animal that hangs off the wearer's ear and arcs over to touch the chin. It might look strange, but it's based on some fairly sophisticated technology. Inside the Alterego are electrodes that scan the jaw and face from neuromuscular signals produced when the wearer thinks about verbalizing words without
1 comment
Read more

Qualcomm showcases the Snapdragon S4 ahead of Mobile World Congress

By
We’ve already heard about Qualcomm’s latest processor, the Snapdragon S4 , which will be quad-core and utilize LTE. Qualcomm took the time to give us some details ahead of Mobile World Congress. The new SoC now supports up to three cameras (two in the back for 3D and one front-facing), 20-megapixels, and recording video at 1080p (30fps). We can also expect zero shutter lag, 3A processing (autofocus, auto exposure and auto white balance), and improved blink/smile detection, gaze estimation, range finding and image stabilization. Last but not least, it supports gesture detection/control, augmented reality , and computer vision (via Qualcomm’s FastCV). Hit the break for a couple of videos featuring image stabilization and gestures.
Post a Comment
Read more

Water purification: Running fuel cells on bacteria to purify water

By
Researchers in Norway have succeeded in getting bacteria to power a fuel cell. The "fuel" used is wastewater, and the products of the process are purified water droplets and electricity. This is an environmentally-friendly process for the purification of water derived from industrial processes and suchlike. It also generates small amounts of electricity -- in practice enough to drive a small fan, a sensor or a light-emitting diode. In the future, the researchers hope to scale up this energy generation to enable the same energy to be used to power the water purification process , which commonly consists of many stages, often involving mechanical and energy-demanding decontamination steps at its outset. Nature's own generator The biological fuel cell is powered by entirely natural processes -- with the help of living microorganisms. "In simple terms, this type of fuel cell works because the bacteria consume the waste materials found in the water," explains SINTEF
1 comment
Read more