Google might make a drone that has 5G solar powered network
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Drones are the newest trend in technology and each company tries to come up with something new like Google SkyBender is solar powered.
While drones were mostly used by the military and navy, they have now become very popular among civilians and also as a means of delivering packages. Each company comes with something new and more high-tech than the others and the competition is at a very high level.
Google is now working on a pretty secret project in New Mexico, trying to build a solar powered internet drone. The initiative is called Project SkyBender and the company has rented about 15,000 square feet of hangar from Virgin Galactic at a Spaceport America owned privately.
What makes the drone special is not that is solar powered but that it can transmit gigabits of data about 40 times faster than 4G LTE. Millimeter waves are said to be the future of high-speed transmission of data and could represent the base for the next 5G mobile networks. Therefore, the SkyBender drone might fly with solar-powered 5G network.
Its aim is to procure high-speed Wi-Fi to people’s homes. Although millimeter waves can be limited as they have a shorter range and can be disrupted by weather conditions, if used with a phased array, Google as well as other companies interested in this technology could make the transmissions work over greater distances.
Currently, the technique is tested by Google Titan using a solar powered drone called Centaur. They will go on testing until July, as that’s when the deal with the FCC expires. Developing and testing this technology is costing Google a lot of money as they pay $1,000 a day for renting the hangar as well as $300,000 to Spaceport America to be allowed to construct onsite millimeter wave transceivers and other devices.
Since Google has formerly announced their plans on competing with other tech giants to bring internet to developing countries there’s no surprise they are already working on it. However, everything is still pretty secret and Google hasn’t divulged much of their plans. Hopefully, we will soon find out more about Project SkyBender and how the drone will work.
Image source: www.bing.com