Mark Zuckerberg’s dream to make the whole world connected could soon become a reality, as Facebook is all set to start testing its Wi-Fi Drones next year. With his collective efforts with NASA and tech giants like Samsung and Nokia, looks like Internet.org project could finally pay off.
Yael Maguire, engineering director at Facebook Connectivity Lab, talked about their plans on Wi-Fi Drones in a conversation with Pete Cashmore, Mashable CEO, at the 2014 Social Good Summit.
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He said that the unmanned planes which will be roughly the size of a commercial aircraft like a 747, but much lighter, as they will have to fly for months at an altitude between 60,000 and 90,000 feet in order to make the drones fly above the weather and stay above all airspace. And, the drones will have to be solar-powered, since no fuel can make the planes fly that long.
The team put more emphasis on developing countries like India, where more than 15% of people have no sort of connectivity whatsoever. They have also identified about 21 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, which actually affect how sunlight hits the solar panel; the team would have to make few alterations in designs, I guess.
“We’re taking on a whole bunch of technical risk, but we’re also taking on whole bunch of regulatory risk, because there are no rules about flying planes outside of 60,000 feet and above. There are no rules about beaming signals down to people in those environments,” Maguire said.
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Facebook is still working on policy that would adhere to countries’ respective rules and regulations, but as for who actually would deploy these Wi-Fi Drones – is still unsubstantiated. Who do you think would deploy these things?
- Source: Mashable
- Image: Facebook Connectivity Lab
Well, before they get to the 747 size, it’ll be interesting on the control of such a drone at those high altitudes and whatever powers it. Seems like something more closely resembling a gps satellite would be the way to go– but of course I’m not the techno on this. Cool post.
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Yeah. Thanks for reading! 🙂
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Let’s just hope everything works out. 🙂
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The legal-political complications are enormous! “Policy that would adhere to countries’ rules and regulations” – good luck with that one.
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Interesting
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Thank you! 🙂
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I enjoyed learning more about this, I did not really know all the technical stuff yet!
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Now you know, which is good. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
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This is something I will share with my students; hadn’t heard about this idea yet. Thanks.
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Thanks for stopping by, Pamela! 🙂
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So many big ideas out there in development, I can’t wait to see what’s next. 🙂 I thought I was following you but see something has changed… signing up again!
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Thank you! Yes, I lost all the followers!
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I found this post really interesting! Seems a little bit ‘out there’ to me, but if this actually happens it’ll be quite a step forward for the technology industry.
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Thanks for the comment; let’s just hope everything works out. 🙂
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Awesome but I think its going to be quite a task in both technology and funding to safely complete this. This could have terrorists funding ways to hack and use them for world torture 😦
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Yeah, that’s right. Let’s see what comes around after they have resolved the policy that would adhere to countries’ respective rules and regulations. Thanks for the comment. 🙂
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Interesting news, Thank you for sharing, love, nia
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Thanks for the comment! 🙂
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What a giant collaborative effort! Thank you for sharing the news.
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Thank you as well! 🙂
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I wonder what George Orwell would’ve made of this 🙂
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Same here. Thanks for the comment! 🙂
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I say ! – the site is looking MARVELLOUS ! Clean, white, simple – WONDERFUL ! Now, as to the content of this post: FaceBook = PFUH ! [grin]
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Thanks, dear Margaret!
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