Google investigating floating cell towers
Thu, 02/21/2008 - 13:54 | by hobbs
There are rumors floating around that Google is investigating an alternative to having to build thousands of cell towers in the form of cheap hydrogen filled balloons that would float it's wireless gear 20 miles above the earth's surface. These balloons are flying so high that a single balloon can support an area normally requiring up to 40 cell towers. Space Data Corp is currently utilizing these balloons in rural parts of the Southern US providing farmers, truckers, and residences with wireless cell and data services.
This sounds like a very interesting idea, but maybe not in the long term for most areas. Because these balloons only last about 24 hours, Space Data Corp currently has to launch 10 of these balloons a day for the rural areas it currently supports. After the balloons pop they fall to the earth via a parachute and offer a $100 recovery reward for the $1,500 worth of electronics contained in the unit. If Google wins the 700 MHz auction maybe this is something they could consider for some areas.
Video after the break.
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Comments
Google blimps?
Floating cells would be an excellent way to increase coverage in a specific geographic area during a sporting event or a large conference. CES, the Super Bowl and the Olympics attract large concentrations of cell users, and mobile carriers set up additional cell stations in the area anyway.
An automated blimp is an interesting way to do this, although the FAA would get involved with any UAV.
But Google probably will not win the 700 mHz auction, as I pointed out earlier this month.
Stars will be missing soon !
That's a great idea, i think. i am gonna be missing starts after every powerful company starts occupying some space on the air.
I found one of these in a
I found one of these in a creek today--looking forward to my $100s. Thank you SPace Data
Blimps
Maybe not balloons but blimps could be the real cheese. A blimp with the right controlling software could return home for maintenance and refuel besides having a much longer autonomy than a day and costing not much more.