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Broadband Blimps
mcabiling writes "SansWire Networks will demonstrate their "Stratellite" technology next week. For those of you who aren't familiar with SansWire, they plan to build a wireless network with balloons or "airships" as they call them.
"A Stratellite(TM) is a high-altitude airship that when in place in the stratosphere will provide a stationary platform for transmitting various types of wireless communications services currently transmitted from cell towers and satellites. It is not a balloon or a blimp. It is a high-altitude airship."
Looks like a blimp to me..."
A Stratellite is similar to a satellite, but is stationed in the stratosphere rather than in orbit
Sounds like an attempt to overcome the runaway expenditures of Teledesic's failed LEO project. The problem with these high-altitude sender/receivers is that--while they offer a technology solution--there is a corresponding weakness in application.
For example, latency in these systems make it unattractive for many internet applications (who wants to play FPS's over a spread-slotted Aloha CDMA system?).
And then there is the monstrous launch and maintenance expense...
Sigs cause cancer.
The idea of blanket wireless internet access for all is enticing, but what kind of battery life are you going to get in your Laptop/PDA when you need a PC Card that can transmit signals over Seventy Six miles to this thing? (Based on the Altitude of 13 miles and an expected wireless coverage radius of 75 miles)
Not sure about anyone else, but I lose an hour off my battery life for a wifi signal that barely reaches 100 feet.
Urge to post... fading... fading... RISING!... fading... fading... gone.
What additional constraits will be applied to companies that want to float zeppelins over cities? Given the recent restrictions applied to amateur rocket groups, I question whether their business model will...take flight.
Our subscribers will be able to sit in their home on a laptop computer while connected to the Internet at high-speed. If they need to go to the office or across town, they simply close the laptop and take off. When they get to their destination, they open their laptop and they are still on the Internet. If they need to travel to another city, they simply take their laptop with them and when they get to where they are going, they open their laptop again and they are still connected.
And
clear line-of-site to approximately 300,000 square miles
Now a rough calculation puts its radius of coverage at about 300miles
radius = sqrt( Area / Pi )
r = sqrt (300,000 / 3.14)
r = sqrt (95541)
r = 309miles
So the distance between a device and this airship is at least 300miles.
With that kind of range, is it realistic to have the gear in a laptop/cellphone?
Would it not kill the battery? I get shorter battery life just using wi-fi.
Would you need some kind of directional arial?
I'm sure they have thought of all this, but it does feel like they might be over-hyping the usefulness.
Paul Leader
Maybe, but what if we get hit with a major disaster (like you-know-what), which prompts those in charge ground all of the planes?
If anybody's depending on that network for anything, this could be Bad.
vk.
I admire your ability to get modded funny by merely quoting someone else's joke. Bravo!
Like that is a real matter. They are already flying at 35-45K with just a relatively thin metal shell between themselves and radiation. At the equator it is not a big deal, but the furthor north/south that you go, the higher the dose.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
...or you can just get an AP that supports Power over Ethernet.
WTF? 6 onboard GPS receivers? What's wrong with one good one. Surely a =10m precision is enough, and if it isn't they could try a differential GPS setup with two receivers, but six?!
I don't think it is a precision issue so much as it is a maintenance issue. If you only had two GPS receivers and one failed, how quickly (and expensively) are you going to be able to get up there and fix the broken before the remaining one failed and you're SOL? I'm guessing five extra GPS receivers is a lot cheaper than three deployments to repair one. With six (or more) GPS receivers you can take a couple failures before repair is necessary thus reducing cost/risk.
Speak truth to power.
I'd also point out that there is this concept called "redundancy" which is pretty popular among engineers who build fault-tolerant systems. Look into it.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
It'll make a hell of a lightning rod, too, unfortunately.
Microsoft Windows is, fittingly, the official Desktop OS of Olig
The problem with fiber to the door is that it has to be to every door. If you put up one blimp, you get coverage to everybody within line of site. Rural areas are not cost effective to provide service to because you have to run so much cable to cover only a few customers. One blimp and you are good to go.
Now, in areas where fiber is already to the door, this brings in a benefit: competition. Your local bell or cable company can't extort you for access to that fiber because you've got an alternative overhead. Furthermore, you can fit many blimps into the same coverage area, which means, you can have a lot of people competing for your dollar.
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The most damning error is in consideration of dimensions v.s. displacement on the same webpage. Given that length x height x width = cubic feet (displacement), or L x H x W = D, and the website gives us everything except for width (W), then we have:
( L x H ) x W = D
W = D / ( L x H )
W = 1.3 million / ( 245 x 145 ) = 1300000 / 35525
W = 36.6
Imagine, if you will, an object 245 long by 145 high by 37 feet wide. Indeed "it is not a balloon or a blimp"; to me it sounds like a giant lighter-than-air GARAGE DOOR!
The same calculations with a guessed width of 370 feet provides for almost 13 million cubic feet displacement. Maybe somebody more cynical than I can calculate if 1.3 or 13 million cubic feet of helium are required to lift 3000 lbs at 65000 feet.
In the mean time, I'll hold my investment money for use with a operation that can get the details straight.