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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.'"
it doesn't seem like something you should always rely on, what about storms? i know in florida relying on something like this would be a disaster (i mean heck, my landline cable will likely be out after this 'cane hits this weekend!)
-- lol pwned
I don't want my Internet access floating around on some balloon that can get blown, and harmed by the weather. How about we spend money on improving our current wireless grounded technology so we can go through buildings and other things that get in our way instead of trying to float balloons over them.
You can be pretty sure that a mostly transparent balloon, flying at these altitudes, is as good as invisible to the naked eye. And a tiny dot in the sky is much less an eyesore than a large windfarm just off the coast. Not that I think that's an eyesore, BTW.
I wonder whether planes aren't more practical than ballons for this purpose. A balloon slowly leaks out gas, so how long it can stay up there is limited by that leakage.
How long a plane can stay up there, is limited by fuel. Now if you use a solar cell powered plane (NASA built one some time ago), the time it can stay up there is mostly limited by wear and tear of mechanical parts. That might be much longer than a leaking balloon.
I'm not sure how this balloon is kept in the same place, for a plane that would be easy. And you'll probably need some additional energy to power the communication equipment. A solar-powered plane would already have solar cells for that.
Looks nice either way. One of the problems with satellite communication is high latency (due to the sheer height of geo-stationary orbit). A 'satellite' in the stratosphere makes that problem go away.rouges sends a homebrew drone
There aren't any homebrew drones at 79,000 feet. There won't be any homebrew drones at that altitude in the foreseeable future (aside from the odd ex-dot-com billionaire hobbyist with a benign ballistic rocket.) This is the very top of the mesosphere. The only entities that operate in this regime are nation-state militaries, and it's non-trivial even for them. If any such nation is busy shooting down your balloons you'll have other things on your mind, so it's not a problem.
Anyhow, for consumer broadband the whole idea is nonsense. People won't pay the cost necessary to maintain the system. Militaries and emergency services might appreciate the means to blanket an area with secure broadband, however. Relaying real-time telemetry, audio and video is hard in a combat zone. Bandwidth was a major problem for the US military in both gulf conflicts.
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
The professor of a Communications class I had once said this:
"In our line of work there is nothing more dangerous than an idiot with a backhoe and a good idea."