Google shows how Project Loon could ride wind currents to keep balloons evenly spaced
Google shows how Project Loon could ride wind currents to keep balloons evenly spaced
Anyone looking to poke a hole in Project Loon — Google's ambitious project
to use balloons to bring internet access to remote regions of the world
— would likely point out that you can't keep a balloon in one spot.
Google has an answer for that, of course. The Project Loon team says it
could use wind currents at different levels of the stratosphere to
control where balloons move and ensure that the "flock" remains evenly
spaced out. That, in turn, would make sure that people down below don't
have to wait for one of the airborne antennas to pass overhead before
loading the internet.
Dan Piponi of Project Loon
explains the technique by showing off some (very cool) simulations in a
video released this week to explain the issue. By using
publicly-available wind data, balloons can know when to increase or
decrease in altitude to catch the current and stay in the right spot.
The flock itself would continue to travel across the world — most of the
winds in the stratosphere travel west to east — but a steady stream of
balloons, evenly spaced out, could maintain stable internet access in
areas targeted by the program.
