The team’s researchers say they’ve found a way to use lasers to deliver data speeds ten times faster than the industry standard. Facebook also claimed that it has has been successful in testing a new laser technology which has the ability to transmit data at 10 gigabits per second. Although the following months will involve plenty of tests, the unmanned plane, which boasts a 140-foot wingspan, will eventually provide Internet access to remote regions around the world.
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But the company invited reporters Thursday to hear an update on its plan to provide service to about 10 percent of the world’s population who live in regions where it’s not practical or too expensive to build the usual infrastructure for Internet service.
The building out of the “Aquila” drones underscores the latest project undertaken by Facebook to reach Internet access to the remote parts of the world. With this, they would be able to create a network that could bring connection to those areas that now don’t have one.
Explaining the motivation behind this project, Jay Parikh, vice president of engineering said, “Our goal is to accelerate the development of a new set of technologies that can drastically change the economics of deploying Internet infrastructure”. The plan involves using helium balloons to carry internet-beaming drones to an altitude of 90,000 feet. Aquila has the wingspan of a 737, but weighs only as much as a Prius.
Announcing the development on his own Facebook page, Zuckerberg admitted that using giant drones to beam lasers onto the Earth might “seem like science fiction” but is, in fact, the future of global internet connectivity. For reference, the new technology is about 10 times faster than previous records. As if this wasn’t enough, Mark Zuckerberg’s IT giant announced they also achieved a significant performance breakthrough in terms of laser communications.
Facebook partnered with a team in Britain who worked for 14 months on the solar-powered drone called Aquila. Test flights will begin later this year. Together, the aircrafts will form a sort-of “constellation”, feeding wireless Internet to people within that zone down below.
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Facebook says that it will have lasers on the ground that can locate the dome-shaped optical head, located on the bottom of the plane, in the air.
