There are now a couple of years that the web giants are working on innovative projects to bring Internet everywhere. Moreover, the latest report of the World Bank has provided enough data emblematic: 4.2 billion people in the world are still offline. A disaster (or perhaps an opportunity Crazy) for those who make the Internet a business. From here the projects to cover the most remote areas of the planet with various technologies. Hot air balloons and drones able to bring 4G access in the overflown zone, otherwise difficult to reach (for a matter especially of costs) by a wiring of broadband.
Among the promoters of the Internet wherever there is Facebook, with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg who has fully embraced the mission Internet.org creating “Connectivity Lab”, a line of business that takes care the spread of the Internet. the most important social network in the world now has more than a half billion subscribers. Connect the other half of the planet would enable him to double these numbers in a jiffy. Idea too greedy for the Menlo Park Giant
In the last hours, as reported in the same Zuckerberg with an official post on his profile ( “The technology behind Eagle”, ed), Facebook has tested for the first time the Eagle project, an airplane that runs on solar energy and radiating Internet connection with laser beams.
First flight test ok for the solar plane “Aquila” Facebook
The test, as it turns out, has gone beyond all expectations, with a flight time of which tripled expectations. The drone Aquila prototype, in fact, according to data provided by Facebook has been in charge for 96 minutes and collected a Facebook user data to improve the projects they are working on. At cruising altitude of 2,150 feet, Aquila has consumed 2 thousand watts of power. As a common hair dryer or microwave, so to speak.
The drone – which has a wingspan similar to that of a Boeing 737 but weighs far less (only 453 pounds) thanks to a carbon fiber structure – it is designed to fly up to 3 months without stopping, thanks to the low energy consumption. The aircraft is designed to fly at an altitude ranging between 60 thousand and 90 thousand feet and with an average consumption of 5 thousand watts. “To use the minimum amount of energy – said Zuckerberg – Aquila has to go as slowly as possible. At higher altitudes, where the air is thinner, we can go a bit ‘faster, reaching about 130 mph. ” The height of the cruise, each drone – according to studies of Facebook engineers – will provide internet connections on land in an area with a diameter of nearly 100 kilometers and with pinpoint accuracy.
No pilot
in his post on Facebook, Zuckerberg has focused heavily on the absence of a human pilot on board the aircraft, “Aquila is a self-sufficient aircraft – wrote – and is based on a ground crew made up of a dozen engineers, pilots and technicians who direct and control the plane through the software that allows them to determine altitude and speed, giving directions on the basis of GPS-based locations. Takeoff and landing are automatic. No human pilot can land in a particular place. Software, however, can do that. “
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