Facebook's Solar-Powered Drone To Beam Internet From The Sky
SACRAMENTO: Facebook has completed the production of its first full-scale solar-powered internet drone that will deliver wireless internet with lasers from the sky in parts of the developing world where internet availability is still a dream.
Mark Zuckerberg has announced the completion of Aquila, Facebook’s first unmanned plane that beams down internet connectivity from the sky, as part of his project with Internet.org.
"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,” Zuckerberg said in a statement posted on his Facebook blog.
"We have also made a breakthrough in laser communications technology. We have successfully tested a new laser that can transmit data at 10 gigabits per second,” he continued.
"That is 10 times faster than any previous system, and it can accurately connect with a point the size of a dime from more than 10 miles away,” Zuckerberg said.
Aquila’s wings are made of a type of material called carbon fibre.
"When the carbon fibre material undergoes a kind of heating process known as curing, it can become “stronger than steel for the same mass of material,” Yael Maguire, Facebook Connectivity Lab director, wrote in a blog post.
The drone has been developed by Facebook’s Connectivity Lab which is part of Facebook’s Internet.org initiative to bring the internet to places where there is a lack of connectivity.
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