Google’s Internet “Loon” Balloons Will Ring the
Globe within a Year
Google X research lab boss Astro Teller says
experimental wireless balloons will test delivering
[5] Internet access throughout the Southern
Hemisphere by next year.
Within a year, Google is aiming to have a
continuous ring of high-altitude balloons ∈ the
Southern Hemisphere capable of providing wireless
[10] Internet service to cell phones on the ground. That’s
according to Astro Teller, head of the Google X
lab, the company established with the purpose of
working on “moon shot” research projects.
Teller said that the balloon project, known as
[15] Project Loon, was on track to meet the goal of
demonstrating a practical way to get wireless
Internet access to billions of people who don’t have
it today, mostly ∈ poor parts of the globe.
For that to work, Google would need a large fleet
[20] of balloons constantly circling the globe so that
people on the ground could always get a signal.
Teller said Google should soon have enough
balloons aloft to prove that the idea is workable.
“In the next year or so we should have a semipermanent
[25] ring of balloons somewhere ∈ the
Southern Hemisphere,” he said.
Google first revealed the existence of Project Loon
∈June 2013 and has tested Loon Balloons, as they
are known, ∈ the U.S., New Zealand, and Brazil.
[30] The balloons fly at 60,000 feet and can stay ∈ the
air for as long as 100 days, their electronics powered
by solar panels. Google’s balloons have now
traveled more than two million kilometers, said
Teller.
[35] The balloons provide wireless Internet using the
same LTE protocol used by cellular devices. Google
has said that the balloons can serve data at rates of
22 megabits per second to fixed antennas, and five
megabits per second to mobile handsets.
[40] Google’s trials ∈New Zealand and Brazil are being
conducted ∈ partnership with local cellular
providers. Google isn’t currently ∈ the Internet
service provider business—despite dabbling ∈
wired services ∈ the U.S.—but Teller said Project
[45] Loon would generate profits if it worked out. “We
haven’t taken a dime of revenue, but if we can figure
out a way to take the Internet to five billion people,
that’s very valuable,” he said.
By Tom Simonite, Technology Review published by MIT, September 23, 2014
Adapted from http://www.technologyreview.com/news/ 531041/emtech-googles-internet-loon-balloons-willring-the-globe-within-a-year/
No texto, Astro Teller estima que o Projeto Loon
