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AT THE BEGINNING of the month, there were rumours that Facebook’s big plan was to use aircraft drones to bring internet access to remote parts of the world
Now the project has been made official as Facebook confirmed that engineers are working on developing a fleet of solar-powered drones that can beam internet access down to people in remote regions of the world.
The organisation behind it, Internet.org, will use these drones for suburban areas in limited geographical regions, while for lower density regions, low-Earth orbit and geosynchronous satellites will be deployed.
The idea is that different locations require different solutions if they are to get internet access.
To deal with the challenges faced, Facebook bought Ascenta, a UK-based company with expertise in designing and building high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) aircraft, for 20 million (€14.5 million). Orignally, Facebook was linked with Titan Aerospace,
Other organisations involved with the project includes NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames Research Center and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory.
These groups come together to form the Connectivity Lab team, which will develop new platforms for connectivity on the ground, air and orbit.
As for improving data communication from the air, the orgiansation is looking at Free-space optical communication (FSO), a method that uses light to transmit data through space using invisible, infrared laser beams. If the ides is successful, it would boost the internet speeds offered by both drones and satellites.
(Video: Internet.org/YouTube)
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ahhh here. Things getting a bit outta hand. Facebook this,facebook that…turning people into zombies, looking at phones all day. i beginning to detest facebook.
I’d be happier if I could comment on Journal.ie non-Facebook or twitter. Those buggers are sucking our brains dry and have probably started uploading their own commercial agendas as replacement
More credible than Ireland’s broadband strategy.
Is facebook like bebo?
The beginning of the end. The machines are going to take over ?. As was said in the film ” Critters “, time to invest in canned goods and shotguns !!!, :-)
And so the process of monitoring everybody on the planet takes another step forward
Im not against this but I think one negative effect of an internet dependant Western world is that we are all becoming the same (or in my honest opinion ‘americanised’) we are all beginning to use the same vocabulary, a generation of South Dubliners speaking with faux American accents, we have access to the same clothing, products, we watch the same tv programmes, we are absorbed by the same trends . . . I think that we are loosing our cultural individuality if that makes scence and I can only imagine that the same will eventually happen to these remote areas.
Facebook sponsored by the CIA FBI and those little rascals the NSA.
Orwellian connectivity.
Jobs will be lost if they start hiring bees
Yeah because the people in 3rd world countries would much rather facebook than food and water…..
I’m sure the internet connectivity would massively accelerate development in these areas
No such thing as a free lunch……….
24/7 surveillance and the human implantable microchip on the cards………
http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/dd395-NSA-site.jpg
Any chance they could beam it down to South Wicklow?
Google are way ahead in this field with O3B – a fleet of Medium Earth Orbit Satellites funded with HSBC and a wider consortium. O3B is in place to bring high speed internet to the “Other 3 Billion” who do not yet live in a connected society.
In 2011 there was 700 years worth of video surveillance taken of Afghanistan alone – UAVs (drones) are commonplace around the world.
This project is neither far fetched or even original, it is only notable because it is being funded by a consumer brand rather than satellite operators (Intelsat, SES etc.) or military (US DOD).
It should still be recognised as a significant step forward (or backward depending on whether you wear a tin-foil hat or not…..)
At last, the lost tribes of Irish living remotest Donegal are going to get broadband that works
“Thank you very much Mr Zuckerberg”
That’s Roscommon sorted
Skynet?
Let the hacking of personal info hit an all time high , Mark Zuckerberg has lost his ever loving mind with the need for greed
This idea is stolen surely!!! I read thus last year about an American company who planned on providing world wide free WiFi… Their a year away from launching hit and just require access to the ISS… Suppose this is the newest and biggest investment, world wide wifi instead I’d just smaller national companies
This is gonna sound stupid but..
I want to know how or if flying high altitude aircraft will affect the ozone layer.
have your say