Google floats balloons to provide free Wi-Fi, Internet to the world

New Delhi: Google has started releasing 30 hi-tech balloons in a trial of technology that is designed to bring the Internet to places where people are not yet connected. The balloons are first launched from New Zealand's South Island under the project dubbed Project Loon.Each balloon is 15 meters tall and 12 meters wide when fully inflated. The giant balloons float at an altitude of 20 kilometers and are the first experimental pilot of the project which Google hopes will eventually lead to "a ring of balloons that fly around the globe on the stratospheric winds and provide internet access to the earth below."The project was conceptualized on the basis that though the Internet is considered to be a truly global technology, two-thirds of the world's population still does not have access to it. The project, developed in the secretive X lab that came up with a driverless car and web-surfing eyeglasses, was so secretive that project volunteers were not told about its details. The flimsy helium-filled balloons, powered by solar panels, are supposed to beam the Internet down to earth as they sail past on the wind. Technicians can control them by moving them up or down on different air currents.The project is still in its infancy as the company hopes to launch thousands of them in order to bridge the gaping digital divide between the world's 4.8 billion unwired people and their 2.2 billion plugged-in counterparts. The central idea is to have enough balloons in the sky to make the coverage constant.As per the reports, these balloons will provide the users within a 40-kilometer area with at least 3G-speed internet. While the project is still in its pilot stage, it is fascinating as it could potentially provide internet access to billions more people without the need for costly cable or satellite infrastructure. And if the project goes as per the plans, the technology might allow countries to leapfrog the expense of laying fiber cable, dramatically increasing Internet usage in places such as Africa and Southeast Asia. Reportedly, the first person to get Google Balloon Internet access was Charles Nimmo, a farmer and entrepreneur in the small town of Leeston, New Zealand. Nimmo was amazed with the experience. Nimmo got the Internet for about 15 minutes before the balloon transmitting it sailed on past.Google's balloons fly free and out of eyesight, scavenging power from card table-sized solar panels that dangle below and gather enough charge in four hours to power them for a day as the balloons sail around the globe on the prevailing winds. Far below, ground stations with Internet capabilities about 100 kilometers (60 miles) apart bounce signals up to the balloons.The signals would hop forward, from one balloon to the next, along a backbone of up to five balloons.Each balloon would provide Internet service for an area twice the size of New York City, about 1,250 square kilometers (780 square miles), and terrain is not a challenge. They could stream Internet into Afghanistan's steep and winding Khyber Pass or Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, a country where the World Bank estimates four out of every 100 people are online.There are plenty of catches, including a requirement that anyone using Google Balloon Internet would need a receiver plugged into their computer in order to receive the signal. Google is not talking costs at this point, although they're striving to make both the balloons and receivers as inexpensive as possible, dramatically less than laying cables.The signals travel in the unlicensed spectrum, which means Google doesn't have to go through the onerous regulatory processes required for Internet providers using wireless communications networks or satellites. In New Zealand, the company worked with the Civil Aviation Authority on the trial. Google chose the country in part because of its remoteness. Cassidy said in the next phase of the trial they hope to get up to 300 balloons forming a ring on the 40th parallel south from New Zealand through Australia, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.Google believes balloon access could help places suffering natural disasters get quickly back online. Tania Gilchrist, a resident who signed up for the Google trial, feels lucky she lost her power for only about 10 hours on the day of the quake.Google engineers studied balloon science from NASA, the Defense Department and the Jet Propulsion Lab to design their own airships made of plastic films similar to grocery bags. Hundreds have been built so far.The company has downplayed concerns about surveillance, emphasizing that they would not carry cameras or any other extraneous equipment.(With AP inputs)