Aquila Drone: Internet Delivered
About a year from now, Facebook has revealed its first full-scale drone, which it plans to use to provide internet access in remote parts of the world.
Code-named “Aquila”, the solar-powered drone will be able to fly without landing for three months at a time, using a laser to beam data to a base station on the ground.
Facebook planned to use a linked network of drones to provide internet access to large rural areas.
However, as with its Internet.org project, Facebook will not be dealing with customers directly, instead partnering with local service providers to offer the services.
When the project was announced, Facebook’s vice president of engineering, Jay Parikh, said: “Our mission is to connect everybody in the world. This is going to be a great opportunity for us to motivate the industry to move faster on this technology.”
Facebook has finally announced its first successful test flight of the high altitude solar plane.
The Aquila drone has the wingspan of an airliner but weighs less than a car. When cruising it consumes just 5,000 watts – the same as three hairdryers or a powerful microwave.
The flight lasted 96 minutes which was 3 times more than expected. Aquila was developed in Bridgwater, Somerset, and the drone, designed to fly non-stop for three months, will use lasers to beam down internet access to remote areas without online capacity.
Here is a look at the drone’s test flight:
So what do you guys think about this project? Will it be able to accomplish its aim? Let us know in the comments down below and follow us on social media.
Source: |Mark Zuckerberg|
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Image Credits: |Facebook| , |Smart2Zero|
