The Facebook ετοιμάζεται να ξεκινήσει τις δοκιμές στο Aquila drone, το οποίο θα χρησιμοποιεί τεχνολογία laser για να μεταφέρει Internet in remote areas from the sky.
Aquila is a large, high-endurance aircraft designed to fly for up to 90 days autonomously, helping to distribute Internet from an altitude of 60.000 up to 90.000 feet. Its wingspan is as long as a Boeing 737, but its weight is hundreds of times smaller.
Some time ago, a smaller version of the drone had been tested, and this is the first time that a full-size model was ready for testing.
When it gets up, it will start sending data via laser. Facebook recently announced an important discovery in said technology, as: they can send tens of gigabits per second to a target as small as a dime from over 10 miles away. The company says that the new technology is about 10 times faster than previous records.
According to TNW, in March of 2014, CEO of the social network Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to distribute Internet with drones, and the company announced the new technology with the laser earlier this month.
According to Facebok, about 10% of people live in areas without Internet infrastructure. The company does not intend to set up its own internet network, but hopes that its research laboratories will promote the technological developments needed in other businesses to engage in the distribution of Internet in remote areas.
Watch the video prepared by Facebok for the ambitious project.
Take a look inside Facebook's Connectivity Lab – an important part of our effort to bring connectivity to the billions of people who are unconnected today.
Posted by Facebook Engineering on Thursday, 30 July 2015