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| Google broadcasts the Internet wirelessly at the speed of fiber optics |
Alphabet, Google's parent company, hired Project Loon in January to investigate the use of helium air balloons to distribute the Internet wirelessly (it tried using solar-powered drones in 2017).
However, some of the technologies developed as part of Project Loon are still in development, particularly the FSOC technology, which was originally developed to deliver high-altitude balloons.
This technology is now actively used to provide high-speed broadband connections to Africans. It is very important to provide broadband connections in unserved and underserved areas.
Internet connections provide access to work, health care, education, and entertainment. Usually, people who live in developed countries can use broadband in cities. But people who live in rural areas often do not have access to this service.
FSOC can establish a 20Gb/s connection with two broadband perspectives.
A few years ago, Google's Taara project started rolling out FSOC technology in India and conducted trials in Kenya.
The Taara project is exploring wireless ways to serve underserved and disconnected communities around the world at fiber-like speeds.
The Taara project team bridges the global connectivity gap with fast and inexpensive technology delivered via optical communications links.
Google broadcasts the Internet wirelessly at the speed of fiber optics
Recently, the team worked with a company called Liquid Intelligent Technologies to provide connectivity to bridge the gap between Brazzaville, Republic of Congo and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congo River separates these two places, which is dangerous because it is the deepest and fastest river in the world.
The challenge of connecting these two cities is great. The two cities are 4.8 kilometers apart. But the cost of broadband connections in Kinshasa is five times higher than in Brazzaville because fiber links must travel more than 400 kilometers to bypass the river.
The Taara project has installed a link that can send communications directly across the river. Nearly 700 terabytes of data have been transferred since I came online. This data transfer takes more than 20 days and the availability is 99.9%.
The Taara project team made it clear that due to weather and other conditions, they do not expect 100% reliability. However, the company said that wireless connectivity technology, which delivers performance similar to fiber, is key to providing faster and cheaper broadband connections to the 17 million people who live in cities. Wireless technology uses narrow, invisible beams of light to provide fiber-like speeds.
FSOC devices are positioned high because they need to see each other. It can automatically adjust its mirror to fire a wide beam of rods with enough accuracy to hit a target 10 kilometers away with a diameter of 5 cm.