Google's 'SkyBender' project plans to beam 5G Internet from solar drones

Sarah Spigelman Richter
Updated
Spaceamerica2
Spaceamerica2

Google is over 4G internet and wants to beam 5G to you from the sky.

The company is now experimenting with solar drones that deliver 5G Internet, reports The Guardian.

Vigin Galactic Gateway spaceport building, Upham, New Mexico, United States of America, North America
Vigin Galactic Gateway spaceport building, Upham, New Mexico, United States of America, North America

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The project, called SkyBender, involves several prototype transceivers and multiple drones, which are housed at Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space terminal in New Mexico's Spaceport America. Information about the secret project, which is part of the Google Access team that includes Project Loon, was gleaned from documents that were obtained in accordance with public record laws.

SkyBender works with millimeter wave radio transmissions, which, "can theoretically transmit gigabits of data every second, up to 40 times more than today’s 4G LTE systems," The Guardian wrote.

Jacques Rudell, University of Washington in Seattle professor of electrical engineering, tells The Guardian the advantage to this technology is that the "existing cellphone spectrum is overcrowded." However, millimeter wave transmissions have a shorter range than that of a mobile phone signal, which is something the experiments are likely striving to improve.

SkyBender is working with, "an “optionally piloted” aircraft called Centaur as well as solar-powered drones made by Google Titan, a division formed when Google acquired New Mexico startup Titan Aerospace in 2014." The FCC has granted Google permission to continue tests until July 2016.