Google Inching Towards The Launch Of Its Prized Project Loon | TechTree.com

Google Inching Towards The Launch Of Its Prized Project Loon

The company successfully beamed the Internet to a local school in rural Brazil via its high-flying Wi-Fi balloon.

 

Google announced Project Loon in June last year, as an effort to bring the internet to some of the most remote locations across the globe. That dream was somewhat realised a few weeks ago, when Google used one of its high-elevation Wi-Fi baloons to beam the Internet to a local school in Campo Maior, a small town in rural Brazil.

In a town where locals climb trees to find wireless cellphone signals, Campo Maior's local school for the first time had Internet access in its classrooms. The demonstration served as a field test for Google's Project Loon, which is now officially a year old.

“Launching near the equator taught us to overcome more dramatic temperature profiles, dripping humidity and scorpions. And we tested LTE technology for the first time; this could enable us to provide an Internet signal directly to mobile phones, opening up more options for bringing Internet access to more places,” said the company on its Project Loon Google+ page.

According to Cnet, Google has ironed out a lot of flaws in the balloons design, and the type of connectivity it can provide to people on the ground. Last year when Google began testing Project Loon, it was working to beam Internet at speeds similar to 3G which would be transmitted to special receivers on the ground.

As indicated by the G+ post, the company is now testing 4G LTE networks which will enable people on the ground to access the internet via Wi-Fi, eliminating the need for expensive receivers. One of Google's balloons has circled the globe in a record 22 days, while others have stayed afloat for over 100 days, and with the trials at Campo Maior, the company has basically proven that its concept really works.

Project Loon is just one among the many arms of Google's plan to bring the Internet to the world. The company's recent acquisition of satellite company SkyBox Imaging and not so distant acquisition of drone maker Titan Aerospace proves this.


TAGS: Google, Project Loon, Internet, secular technology

 
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