Google plans to beam 5G internet from solar drones

A new Google project is testing the use of drones for high-speed Internet delivery.

The tests involve multiple drones and 5G millimeter wave wireless transmitters, according to the report, which obtained information about the effort through a public records request. There is one major downside though; transmission using millimeter waves could have a more limited range compared to mobile phone networks.

While most of us in Thailand are still waiting for 4G internet to become officially available, Google engineers are already developing technology that will deliver high speed 5G internet. Google is also setting up a flight control in this area for better coordination. Google says that some parties worry that radio frequency (RF) from Project Loon testing will harm plants, animals and humans, who are in the vicinity where the test is conducted.

Project Skybender comes to us from the same folks behind the tech titan’s earlier Project Loon initiative.

Google’s Project Loon wants to cover the world with internet, even in places where internet access has not yet been established, thanks to the use of hot air balloons. According to the Guardian, project is codenamed as SkyBender.

Yudhi Mahatma/Antara Foto/ReutersGoogle cofounder Sergey Brin and a Project Loon balloon.

As for what might happen when it rains, when it’s foggy, or when some other weather condition affects the transmissions (or the drones themselves), we don’t yet know-and Google might not either, given that the weather isn’t likely to get very insane at the New Mexico spaceport where the company is testing out these transmissions.

Each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 km in diameter using LTE.

Google has been working with the University of Washington over this, and the university has said – “the huge advantage of millimetre wave is access to new spectrum because the existing cellphone spectrum is overcrowded”.

Google filed documents with the FCC this week claiming that its planned tests of a balloon-based wireless communications system pose no health or environmental risks and won’t interfere with other users in the E-band. Startup company Starry recently rolled out an internet router, which also makes use of millimeter waves for faster connections.