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Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa

wired.co.uk

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Re: Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa

#31

Post by icebraining »

abenga wrote: post #27
Yuioup wrote: post #24

I wonder if they're taking precautions against the blimps being shot down.

Contrary to (popular?) opinion most of Africa is not a warzone. With extremely few exceptions (Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo), most of Sub-Saharan Africa is in the middle of an extended period of peace. It's inconceivable that if ever deployed, any of these blimps will be interfered with in the airspaces of East Africa (aside from Somalia) or over any country south of them.

People were shooting drones in the US[1]; you don't to assume a warzone to consider it a risk.

[1] http://www.suasnews.com/2012/11/19719/activists-drone-shot-o... (Yes, the drone may have been above private grounds; so probably will the blimps)

Re: Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa

#32

Post by ams6110 »

darkchasma wrote: post #30
ams6110 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No journalistic integrity at Wired, I guess.

Because they photoshopped a stock image??? Seriously? You understand how journalism and blogging works, right?

Photoshopping an image and not captioning it as an "artist's concept" or something similar is absolutely a violation of traditional journalistic integrity.

This is not a picture of a "Google Blimp." It's not even a picture of a blimp in Africa.

Re: Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa

#33

Post by Cushman »

icebraining wrote: post #31
abenga wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contrary to (popular?) opinion most of Africa is not a warzone. With extremely few exceptions (Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo), most of Sub-Saharan Africa is in the middle of an extended period of peace. It's inconceivable that if ever deployed, any of these blimps will be interfered with in the airspaces of East Africa (aside from Somalia) or over any country south of them.

People were shooting drones in the US[1]; you don't to assume a warzone to consider it a risk. [1] http://www.suasnews.com/2012/11/19719/activists-drone-shot-o... (Yes, the drone may have been above private grounds; so probably will the blimps)

It'd be rather more difficult than that to take out a high-altitude blimp with small arms. One hesitates to say impossible, but it's wildly unlikely without organized military involvement.

Re: Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa

#34

Post by scott_karana »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #20

And so it begins. There is a new age coming, one where we realise surveillance is ubiquitous and more importantly carries benefits for us as well as loss of what we thought of as privacy. This is probably a good thing. These blimps will not be the last of atmospheric and LEO orbitals that will criss cross the globe and provide always-on services we suddenly cannot live without. We do need to manage who holds and uses…

Isn't it a bit much to give Berners-Lee credit for this? I was with you up to that point. :)

Re: Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa

#35

Post by mtgx »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #20

And so it begins. There is a new age coming, one where we realise surveillance is ubiquitous and more importantly carries benefits for us as well as loss of what we thought of as privacy. This is probably a good thing. These blimps will not be the last of atmospheric and LEO orbitals that will criss cross the globe and provide always-on services we suddenly cannot live without. We do need to manage who holds and uses…

Why are you assuming this is automatically a surveillance tool? It's not a drone with the explicit intent to search for something. It's a way to get Internet to people.

Re: Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa

#36

Post by tpurves »

momodomo wrote: post #22
betterunix wrote: post #10

My girlfriend just asked a question that had not even occurred to me: what happens during a storm? I am sure Google's engineers have a way to handle that, but I am genuinely curious about what their solution is.

Similarly, will it float so low that it could be shot down with a gun or missile? To avoid these two risks (storm and attack), I imagine it'd have to be at an altitude above weather currents and beyond shooting range... or be able to stabilize during a storm and be bulletproof.

Weather can be a problem for airships. Their max airspeed can be much less than what's needed to maintain station in a strong wind. The US navy also gave up on (manned) airships in the 20s after big storms would bring them down with loss of life.

If you don't mind that they get blown downwind sometimes, or that sometimes you have to ground them, or you just use them mostly during good weather or good seasons, or if they crash and you only lose equipment not people on board, then blimps can be viable.

Some parts of Africa might not even see a lot of seriously adverse weather.

Re: Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa

#37

Post by siculars »

So is Google a carrier in these locales? Net net this is a Good Thing™ for access in Africa. Unfortunately soon Google and other carriers like them will be asked to implement all sorts of nasty filtering, censoring and generally anti-privacy tomfoolery. How will this play with their base back home in the good 'ole US of A? Recall how Yahoo got lambasted here for their cooperation with China. And they weren't even a carrier.

Re: Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa

#40

Post by btilly »

betterunix wrote: post #10

My girlfriend just asked a question that had not even occurred to me: what happens during a storm? I am sure Google's engineers have a way to handle that, but I am genuinely curious about what their solution is.

The obvious thing to do would be to fly the balloon above the weather. That would also let you cover more area. The choice becomes whether to have regular launch/recovery at jet stream levels, or to go above it.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_airship it seems that the technology exists to put an airship above the jet stream and keep it in place for a long time. I don't know if that is their solution, but it would make a lot of sense.

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