In an attempt to connect everyone in the world and to bring more people to the platform of social media, Facebook has just completed the very first full-scale model of the Internet broadcasting drone, known as Aquila. It is a solar powered aircraft that has been designed so that it can fly for months and has a wingspan that is equal to Boeing 737 while weighing less than a car.
The first revelation of this project happened in March, 2014. The idea behind this project is to bring the four billion people online who are still not on the Internet. Facebook believes that the most effective method of bringing this huge number of people online is by not relying on traditional methods of Internet access. It has announced two very amazingly promising developments for this amazing Internet access delivery method.
The first announcement is the completion of the drone’s full-scale version. According to Facebook, the drone had been successfully tested back in March, however, the announcement lacked any technical information but this time Facebook has offered a peek inside its Connectivity Lab where the research is being carried out and the finished product sure is quite impressive.
It sports a wingspan of 42m and a frame made of carbon fiber. It has been designed to fly at altitudes of 60,000-90,000ft for 90 days. The aim is to make use of a ground-based Internet signal to a mother aircraft that then daisy-chains the connection to other drones that are in flight in the particular area.
The other announcement is about how the team has achieved a system of relaying the signals from one drone to another. They have successfully tested a system that features a precision similar to that of hitting a dime from a distance of 10 miles. The test results state that the system is capable of transferring data at 10GB per second that is 10 times the speed being offered by the state-of-the-art laser technology.
Facebook accepts the fact that the technology still has a long way to go before it becomes fully operational and also stated that it will be handing over the control to the local operators and partners instead of keeping the reins in its hands.
Here is another video
Facebook’s New Airplane For Internet.orgFacebook has completed construction of their first full scale aircraft, Aquila, as part of the Internet.org effort.Aquila is a solar powered unmanned plane that beams down internet connectivity from the sky. It has the wingspan of a Boeing 737, but weighs less than a car and can stay in the air for months at a time.
Posted by Wonderful Engineering on Thursday, July 30, 2015