Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google's Project Loon Balloons May Cover Sri Lanka With Internet Access

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the cloud-net dept.

Zothecula writes: Sri Lanka is set to become the first country with universal Internet access after signing a memorandum of understanding with Google to use the company's Project Loon balloons. Officials say there is not a timetable for when the balloons will be covering the 25,000 square mile nation, but this is a crucial first step. The Foreign minister noted that "from this event onwards advertisements or headlines saying “Matara covered” or “Jaffna covered” will become a part of history." And concluded his speech saying that he was "proud to declare that we are at the cusp of a reclaiming our heritage of being connected to each other and connected to the world. In a few months we will truly be able to say: Sri Lanka, Covered."

35 comments

  1. project loon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    who comes up with this stuff?

  2. Wind by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How are the balloons going to stay in one place?

    1. Re:Wind by tomhath · · Score: 2

      As I understand it, they plan to keep the balloons approximately in place by using the different wind directions at higher and lower altitudes to steer. I'll believe it when I see it.

    2. Re:Wind by Namarrgon · · Score: 2

      By raising & lowering the balloons between opposing jetstreams.

      Been a while since I needed this, but: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=project+loon&l=1.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    3. Re:Wind by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      First, you have to be really lucky to find a place that has directly opposig winds at different nearby altitudes. This is what makes Albuquerque such a favorite place for ballooning.

      Then...what happens to your broadband signal as the balloon changes altitude while whiffling all over the place trying to keep station?

    4. Re:Wind by parkinglot777 · · Score: 1

      First, you have to be really lucky to find a place that has directly opposig [sic] winds at different nearby altitudes. This is what makes Albuquerque such a favorite place for ballooning.

      I thought TFA is talking about the project in Sri Lanka?

    5. Re:Wind by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      My point is that Sri Lanka does not have Albuquerque's ideal ballooning wind pattern, so the envisioned usage for broadband distribution is going to be even more problematic.

    6. Re:Wind by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The military has been using balloons for communication for quite awhile, in several different variations. There are small ones that can do rapid deployment for extended vhf radio that are treated as disposable. For implementations for larger LOS microwave communications they are typically tethered though. And even that isn't without its fault. We had one of our large aerostats in Iraq become detached, and the farmers whose field it landed in was more than happy to sell the equipment back.

    7. Re:Wind by KapUSMC · · Score: 1

      Oops, wasn't logged... I'm the AC.

    8. Re:Wind by Namarrgon · · Score: 1

      Turns out, high up in the stratosphere the winds are predictable and have just the patterns they need. They did simulations using real-world wind data and found it was quite feasible to navigate balloons effectively to maintain coverage using only prevailing winds.

      Since 2012 they've been trialling in New Zealand, Brazil and other places, they've increased balloon flight times from 50 days to over 6 months (despite expert scepticism), and now they're close to ready to roll out a commercial service. Pretty sure they've done their research by now.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
  3. next stop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Next stop, the bottom of the ocean. If fact we should attach all e-waste to balloons.

  4. What about America? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why not America?

    1. Re:What about America? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Why not America?

      Lunatics from the flyover states keep shooting them down.

    2. Re:What about America? by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      It looked like a drone...

    3. Re:What about America? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it won't work. This is just a publicity stunt.

    4. Re:What about America? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The first and final hop of any type of internet connection would be with one advertising company?
      Setting that persistent airborne cookie every session :)

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    5. Re:What about America? by catsRus · · Score: 1

      Because someone has to pay for it.

    6. Re:What about America? by martin_dk · · Score: 1

      You don't know that Google will do that.

      Even IF they do that, would that be an acceptable price to pay compared to not having an internet connection?

      I think I would prefer a cookie and internet access to no connection.

    7. Re:What about America? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      One Nation under advertising, indivisible, with liberty and CISA for all.
      Other parts of the world may want to consider what CISA will be about on any US provided connection.
      Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act
      "How Big Business Is Helping Expand NSA Surveillance, Snowden Be Damned" (Apr. 2 2015)
      https://firstlook.org/theinter...
      "A government surveillance bill by any other name is just as dangerous" (13 June 2015)
      http://www.theguardian.com/com...

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  5. Umm, I hope that translation is to blame. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

    I really hope that "proud to declare that we are at the cusp of a reclaiming our heritage of being connected to each other and connected to the world." made a lot more sense before some translator mangled it; because otherwise it seems like absurd nonsense. If people were connected long enough and far enough back in time for it to count as 'heritage', the technology behind those connections must have been comparatively primitive. Is he saying that communications have regressed since that time? What golden age of connectedness is he talking about?

    1. Re:Umm, I hope that translation is to blame. by Harlequin80 · · Score: 2

      I suspect that he is referring to the fact Sri Lanka was a huge trade node during the 15th to 18th centuries.

    2. Re:Umm, I hope that translation is to blame. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sri Lanka was centrally located on the maritime leg of the ancient silk route. So in a sense, it connected the west to the east.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road

    3. Re:Umm, I hope that translation is to blame. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Different trading companies had spice investments.
      The UK had its large HMS Anderson (1941-57) sigint station and later the GCHQ had its Perkhar (1957-65) listening station (four hundred acres) in Sri Lanka.
      It was one of the best sites the UK had in the Indian Ocean.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    4. Re:Umm, I hope that translation is to blame. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is he saying that communications have regressed since that time?

      You understand. It's wordy and twisty, but it parses correctly.

  6. Oppressive regimes by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 1

    Maybe an idea like this could be used in countries whose governments want to squelch free speech. Radio Free Europe did this kind of thing during the Cold War, broadcasting ideas that weren't welcome in the Eastern Bloc. Satellite-based Internet is out of reach for most citizens of such countries, but maybe not something based lower down, like in the stratosphere.

    1. Re:Oppressive regimes by jstuxx · · Score: 1

      I think that's exactly the idea, use the Internet to start revolutions in other countries so they can install puppet regimes in power. It happened in Eastern Europe, now all the Eastern European countries are failed puppet banana republics. This makes even more sense when you realize that the Internet was created by the US military.

  7. Between 1600 - 1700 balloons! by Harlequin80 · · Score: 1

    If you assume 100% coverage of the land mass you are looking at between 1600 & 1700 balloons! And that is assuming that you don't build in an overlap.

    I would so love to know how they plan to handle the movement of the balloons. I understand the principal of moving them up or down to get them into different wind streams but how are they doing the height adjustment in such a way that they can stay up for extended periods? Nothing on their website.

    1. Re:Between 1600 - 1700 balloons! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are using solar power for it.

    2. Re:Between 1600 - 1700 balloons! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a huge waste of helium this will be. I think each balloon needs refilling every 3 or 4 months. Just a while ago we were told that the dwindling supply of this precious limited resource would lead to the lack of medical care and research. Not true? Just media hyperbole? Just like the ebola estimates given by top scientists and researchers for last January? No wonder people don't trust "experts" anymore.

  8. Higher layers. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    Bandwidth is going to be tight on a large-scale wireless network. I hope Google have some plans for a distributed caching system too, because they are going to need it if they want video distribution to work.

  9. Dividing not connecting by jstuxx · · Score: 1

    "we are at the cusp of a reclaiming our heritage of being connected to each other and connected to the world" He has a wrong idea of the Internet if he things its goal is to connect people. The Internet's job is the exact opposite to divide people. Divide and conquer was the Roman Empire's strategy and guess what they ended up being the longest reigning empire in history. Take a look on the Internet, it's mostly hate speech: racism (all races are targeted not just blacks, in-fact whites are the most targeted), sexism, etc. and of course political propaganda which expands to more hate speech, just take a look at articles relating to Greece. Other than that, the Internet's main use is to distribute pornography i.e. to promote a primitive sex culture which is convenient for business. The Internet is not a good cause.

    1. Re:Dividing not connecting by jstuxx · · Score: 1

      P.S. Not to mention the health effects of having microwaves blasted on the entire population on the entire country's territory.

  10. Skynet by digital_dump · · Score: 1

    So Google at last becomes Skynet Mwah ha ha

  11. Huh by Shoten · · Score: 1

    "proud to declare that we are at the cusp of a reclaiming our heritage of being connected to each other and connected to the world..."

    What, were there modem hookups in the trees before that got wiped out once broadband started to be deployed? I don't remember Sri Lanka ever being the pinnacle of connectivity to the rest of the world...

    --

    For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.