Skip to main content

Google's parent company is flying balloons with 'floating cell phone towers' across the ocean to bring internet to Kenya's Rift Valley

* Loon just launched balloon-powered internet in Kenya, in partnership with Telkom Kenya. * Loon is part of Alphabet, Google's parent company. * The high-altitude balloons act as "floating cell phone towers." * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Project Loon started as one of Alphabet's moonshot projects, and now its providing internet service in Kenya.  The company makes solar powered balloons that fly high up in the stratosphere and send internet access down to earth. These mobile, floating stations are more flexible than typical cell stations, as they're constantly moving. They also have much wider coverage areas; as much as a hundred times that of a cell tower. Right now, Loon stations are mostly used after disasters take out existing infrastructure, or in places where cell towers and connections are otherwise difficult, but Loon has much bigger plans. CEO Alastair Westgarth said " Loon is well positioned to play this role and serve as the operating system for the global connectivity ecosystem of the future." He hopes to create a global third layer of connectivity, on top of cell towers on earth and satellites in space. Here's how the balloons work.  SEE ALSO: A Norwegian designer created a $13,500 tiny home office with tinted glass to be a perfect backyard workspace — see inside the Studypod Loon's balloons are launched from stations in California and Puerto Rico. Launches that were once done by hand are now done by two 90-foot-tall automated machines. They can launch a balloon up to 60,000 feet high every 30 minutes. Helium and pressure are used to steer the balloons, directed by machine learning algorithms. The balloons are specifically to bring internet connectivity to a 50,000 square kilometer region of Kenya filled with mountains and sometimes inaccessible terrain that makes traditional connectivity methods difficult. Loon worked on this project with local company Telkon Kenya, the third largest ISP in Kenya. Source: Reuters Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth said that the need for internet connections is even more pressing with the coronavirus, as people are unable to go to school, work, or sometimes even a doctor. To provide coverage for this area, Loon is using at least 35 balloons that will be constantly moving above the stratosphere in eastern Africa. Loon will continue adding balloons to reach 35, and internet service should become more consistent as a result. So far, the team has found the connection works even for video calls and YouTube. Since it began testing this project, Loon says it has already connected 35,000 users. The balloons work as "floating cell towers." At any point, a particular balloon might be providing an internet connection, acting as a feeder in the mesh network to support other balloons, or repositioning itself. . Each has a solar panel and battery. According to Loon, the advantage of these floating internet connections is that they're flexible and need much less lead time than a cell tower or other permanent infrastructure. The stations can also be used quickly in emergencies that take out infrastructure, like after an earthquake in Peru last year. Source: Loon
https://bit.ly/3jkdBjx

Popular posts from this blog

Tokyo installed see-through public toilets in a park to let people inspect their cleanliness before using them, at which point the glass turns opaque

* Two see-through bathrooms have been installed in public parks in Tokyo. * They are made from "smart glass" designed so people can see how clean they are inside before using them. The glass turns opaque when the bathroom is locked and in use. * The stalls are part of a project that is redoing 17 of the city's public bathrooms with different designers to make them more accessible and appealing. * The goal is to fight assumptions that public toilets are "are dark, dirty, smelly, and scary," said the nonprofit foundation behind the project. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Tokyo has installed two see-through bathroom facilities in public parks, allowing people to see how clean they are before deciding to use them, at which point they turn opaque. The bathrooms are made of colored "smart glass," which turns opaque when the stalls are locked, said Shigeru Ban, the architect behind the designs. You can see how it works her...
Read more

Bill Gates says the world would need as many as 14 billion doses of a coronavirus vaccine to stop the virus

* The world could need as many as 14 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, Bill Gates said on Thursday in a blog post about the race to develop a way to make people immune to the disease. * "We need to make billions of doses, we need to get them out to every part of the world, and we need all of this to happen as quickly as possible," Gates said. * Gates said he had his eyes on eight to 10 promising candidates, adding that healthcare workers and people in low-income countries should be first in line once we find one that works. * While potential vaccines are progressing with historic speed, they're still months, or even years away, and the biggest challenge lies ahead in proving whether they are safe and effective in humans. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Bill Gates believes we may eventually need to produce as many as 14 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines globally and that we're anywhere from nine months to two years away from making tha...
Read more

Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck London fintech Lanistar used to raise $19 million at a $190 million valuation

* London-based fintech startup Lanistar has raised a £15 million ($19 million) funding round from Milaya Capital.  * Founded in 2019, Lanistar is building a personal financial management platform that will launch later in 2020.  * "We're expecting a huge amount of growth upon our launch and have already seen strong interest among our sign ups," Gurhan Kiziloz, founder and CEO of Lanistar, told Business Insider. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.  The coronavirus lockdown in the UK has brought the importance of managing money into sharp relief. A recent study from Money.com shows that 71% of UK households have saved cash during lockdown, and, with uncertainty about jobs and the economy looming, money management is now front of mind for many. Lanistar, a banking platform with a focus on personal finance, is one company offering tools for consumers to better manage their money. It has just raised a £15 million ($19 million) funding round from Mil...
Read more