Slashdot Mirror
Broadband from Airships
rustbear writes "The BBC reports that researchers looking to the skies to provide super-fast internet access via airships have proved it can successfully operate a data rate link of 11Mbps. Trials were conducted using a 12,000 cubic metre balloon, flying at an altitude of around 24 kilometres for nine hours. 'Proving the ability to operate a high data rate link from a moving stratospheric balloon is a critical step in moving towards the longer term aim of providing data rates of 120Mbps,' said Dr David Grace, the project's principal scientific officer. 'Balloons hovering in the stratosphere could become an attractive alternative as consumers demand ever higher bandwidth", said Alan Gobbi, the acting manager of the York Electronic Centre. With each airship being able to support an area of 60 kilometres, there would only need to be "a handful" to offer complete coverage in the UK, he added. Trials of the technology will continue in Japan next year.'"
But the Midwest will suddenly gain a whole lot of bandwidth when the wind finally stops blowing the balloons...
I'm hoping that they don't coat the balloons with a flamable doping, so that there's no chance of flaming zeplins of doom from falling out of the skies. It would bring a new meaning to the "Internet being down" though, wouldn't it?
Oh the Humanity! My wireless quit!
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
super-fast internet access via airships
Did someone find the floating rock from Final Fantasy 1 or are we talking about the Goodyear blimp?
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
But war ballooning doesn't sound quite right.
I don't get it.
If you stick the Jolly Rodger through the balloon, it deflates.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Is this the first time that "super-fast", "airships", and "successfully" have been used together in the same sentence?
Why slashdot? Why not?
Hasn't this idea... been floating around for a while?
Regards, Phil
That's in the stratosphere, well above even commerical airline flightpaths.
Yeah, but it's not out of the range of a rail-gun and I happen to know some bored/motivated college students who build them in their spare time.
SSID = LedZeppelin
Crackpot idea. The whole thing is full of nothing but Hot Air!
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
They're talking about an altitude of 24000 metres (79000 feet.) This would require a serious missile - something launched from a truck or aircraft, not from a shoulder. Wikipaedia says the Stinger can attack aircraft at altitudes between 180m and 3800m. If terrorists are able to drive a truck-based missile launcher into your country, your porn conduit probably isn't going to be high on their list of targets.*
But yes, if there is a war on and enemy aircraft are overflying your country, you may loose broadband internet, significantly impacting your ability to download recent TV shows.
* But if the missile is labeled something like "National Committee for the Enforcement of Community Standards", perhaps you should start worrying.
Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
Latest implementation of RFC 1149 ?
Or, should that be, "Aviation Carriers"?
It's the British contribution to the space race.
I don't image the broadband bit will work for very long. As soon as the thing gets to any altitude, a UK space expert who looks like Worzel Gummidge will appear on TV and announce that the experiment has proved a world-beating success and one in the eye for the ambitions of America, China, Russia, etc., to explore the solar system.
We will be assured that the crew have an ample supply of Eccles cake and liquorice allsorts. Presumably an airship is needed because only something that size can hoist aloft a passenger cabin containing an Aga and a flush lavatory, thus allowing unlimited quantities of tea and toast to be consumed. There is talk of a Nobel Prize for the mission designer.
At this stage the truth will emerge - having sent the airship aloft a mysterious technical error prevents the controllers from ever getting it down again. The airship will probably last be heard of careering around somewhere over the Indian Ocean, beaming down the Des O'Connor Show and the racing results from Epsom to a baffled audience in Tamil Nadu.
Las qué passoun
tournoun pas maï
No, its right. They plan to implement the plan in a few light years. At that time, you should expect download rates of up to 10 kilopascals - available of a low, low price of only 30 monies. The only problem is that this technology uses more energy - you may have to pay for as much as fifty more watts than you're paying for now.
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