Project Loon

Project Loon is a R&D project being developed by Google with the mission of providing Internet access torural and remote areas. The project uses high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 32 km (20 mi) to create an aerial wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds.^[1][2][3][4] It was named Project Loon, since Google itself found the very idea of providing internet access to the remaining 5 billion population unprecedented and "crazy."^[1]

The balloons are maneuvered by adjusting their altitude to float to a wind layer after identifying the wind layer with the desired speed and direction using wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Users of the service connect to the balloon network using a special Internet antenna attached to their building. The signal travels through the balloon network from balloon to balloon, then to a ground-based station connected to an Internet service provider (ISP), then onto the global Internet. The system aims to bring Internet access to remote and rural areas poorly served by existing provisions, and to improve communication during natural disasters to affected regions.^[5][6] Key people involved in the project include Rich DeVaul, chief technical architect, who is also an expert on wearable technology; Mike Cassidy, a project leader; and Cyrus Behroozi, a networking and telecommunication lead

Technology[edit]

Project Loon is Google's pursuit to deploy a high-altitude balloon network operating in the stratosphere, at altitudes between 18 km and 25 km. Google asserts that this particular layer of the stratosphere is advantageous because of its relatively low wind speeds (e.g., wind speeds between 5 and 20 mph / 10 to 30 kmph) and minimal turbulence. Moreover, Google claims that it can model, with reasonable accuracy, the seasonal, longitudinal, and latitudinal variations in wind speeds within the 18–25 km stratospheric layer.^[11]

Given a reasonably accurate model of wind speeds within the 18–25 km band, Google claims that it can control the latitudinal and longitudinal position of high-altitude balloons by adjusting only the balloon's altitude.^[11] By adjusting the volume and density of the gas (e.g., helium, hydrogen, or another lighter-than-air compound) in the balloon, the balloon's variable buoyancy system is able to control the balloon's altitude.^[11] Google has additionally indicated that balloons may be constructed from various materials (e.g., metalizedMylar or BoPet) or a highly-flexible latex or rubber material (e.g., chloroprene).^[11]

Currently, the balloons communicate using unlicensed 2.4 and 5.8 GHz ISM bands,^[12] and Google claims that the setup allows it to deliver "speeds comparable to 3G" to users. It is unclear how technologies that rely on short communications times (low latency pings), such as VoIP, might need to be modified to work in an environment similar to mobile phones where the signal may have to relay through multiple balloons before reaching the wider Internet.^[13][14]

The first person to connect to the "Google Balloon Internet" after the initial test balloons were launched into the stratosphere was a farmer in the town of Leeston, New Zealand, who was one of 50 people in the area around Christchurch who agreed to be a pilot tester for Project Loon. The New Zealand farmer lived in a rural location that couldn't get broadband access to the Internet, and had used a satellite Internet service in 2009, but found that he sometimes had to pay over $1000 per month for the service. The locals knew nothing about the secret project other than its ability to deliver Internet connectivity; but allowed project workers to attach a basketball-sized receiver resembling a giant bright-red party balloon to an outside wall of their property in order to connect to the network.^[15][16]

The technology designed in the project could allow countries to avoid using expensive fiber cable that would have to be installed underground to allow users to connect to the Internet. Google feels this will greatly increase Internet usage in developing countries in regions such as Africa and Southeast Asia that can't afford to lay underground fiber cable.^[15]

Project Loon and Srilanka

Google’s plan to bring internet to the world via balloon has found a toehold in central Asia. The government of Sri Lanka announced this week that Google’s Project Loon will provide "affordable high-speed" internet coverage for the entire country, beamed from balloons floating in the atmosphere.

Neither the Sri Lankan government or Google has set a concrete time table, but foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera made mention of the country being covered in “a few months.” The country of Sri Lanka covers 24,954 square miles, with a population a little more than 22 million. There are only about 2.8 million mobile Internet connections in the country, though, and about 660,000 wired connections.

Google has been prototyping different balloon designs for at least the last two years.

Loon’s latest iteration is called the Nighthawk, a collaboration between the Loon team and aerospace designer Raven Aerostar. Google says they’re hopeful this is the design that will be put into the field, according to a Google Plus post detailing progress with the project.

The Nighthawks will be outfitted with LTE antennas to send data to mobile phones, and capable of transmission from balloon to balloon and to telecommunication stations on the ground. The balloons are slated to stay in the air for 100 days at a time.