Google has a new top secret project by the same team that brought us Project Loon, deliver ultra-fast 5G internet from solar drones, according to new reports. The Guardian reports that the new scheme, dubbed ‘Project Skybender’, uses millimeter wave-based internet (waves that can transmit data 40 times faster than LTE). University of Washington professor […]
Google has a new top secret project by the same team that brought us Project Loon, deliver ultra-fast 5G internet from solar drones, according to new reports.
The Guardian reports that the new scheme, dubbed ‘Project Skybender’, uses millimeter wave-based internet (waves that can transmit data 40 times faster than LTE).
University of Washington professor Jacques Rudell told The Guardian that “[t]he huge advantage of millimetre wave is access to new spectrum because the existing cellphone spectrum is overcrowded. It’s packed and there’s nowhere else to go.”
The problem with millimeter wave transmissions, though, is that they fade after a short distance and can’t compare to a mobile phone signal’s range. That’s likely one of the issue’s Google is trying to solve if it aims to beam internet from the sky.
Project Skybender is currently using an “optionally piloted aircraft (OPA)” called Centaur and a solar-powered drone called Solara 50 made by Titan Aerospace, which the Big G snapped up in 2014, for its tests.
Google has permission from the FCC to continue testing the drone-internet system in New Mexico until July, the Guardian reports.
