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Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

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Re: Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

#201

Post by gymbeaux »

fsh wrote: post #15

This section from the marketing blurb doesn't sound too promising: When atmospheric conditions disrupt the light, our adaptive rate and hybrid architecture maintains the connection, with minimal downtime. In the long run, all these wireless technologies (satellite or optical/microwave terrestrial links) will have a very hard time competing with simply laying down some optical fiber.

The economic burden usually falls on governments, so, like StarLink, Alphabet is probably hoping for some of that sweet, sweet government subsidy/grants for military applications.

Re: Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

#202

Post by gloosx »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #143
IncreasePosts wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Missiles generally go from point A and then blow up point b. Are there any missiles that leave base, fly around for a bit trying to identify targets, and if they can't identify any targets then return home?

I said that somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the line between "drone" and "missile" seems to have gotten pretty blurry with the Ukraine war featuring FPV drones holding a hand grenade that are effectively a human-piloted missile. Some modern missiles can fly around to identify targets, but they can't return home. They can blow up harmlessly if nothing is a target, though. They can also dodge and weave the way FPV pilots…

Missle is a projectile, propelled by rocket motor. Drone is an aircraft vehicle, capable of transporting explosives or whatever. There is a fat line between drone and a missile, there are different in everything: control, speed, trajectory, weight, flying principles. I don't know how you can say they are even close. Just because both fly and do boom? Then you can say there is a thin line between cow launched from catapult and a missile.

Re: Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

#203

Post by lynx97 »

BurningFrog wrote: post #160
krisoft wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Line of sight free space optics can be immune to many many forms of jamming. I’m a bit of two minds about this. Obviously jamming resistant high bandwidth communication enables some scarry possibilities. But the lack of it is what drives and will drive militaries around the world to put more and more autonomy into weapons. It doesn’t matter what kind of treaties we write on paper to prohibit technologies. During a…

I got seriously terrified by reading a PKD SF story at 15 about the few surviving humans hiding from war drones still hunting people long after the war had ended.

[dead]

Re: Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

#204

Post by eptcyka »

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #41

I'm low key afraid that this stuff is gonna get popular for .mil usage. Line of sight free space optics can be immune to many many forms of jamming. Its usage dots the sci books I've read over the years, but almost always for scary reasons. Here's the Navy today announcing work on AirBorne System for Optical Relay and Broadcast (ABSORB), a (for now) low-cost prototype one-to-many (I maybe mis-inferring what multi-acc…

What specifically are you worried about? Better comms will always help people, be it to flourish more in peace or more efficiently killing one another. Most inventions in the 20th century either came from the military or ended up being used by the military.

Re: Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

#205

Post by _carbyau_ »

slt2021 wrote: post #175
_carbyau_ wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought comms was two way.

so you have a laser and want to jam the comms channel. How do you find where the comms channel is, where is the receiver, where do you point your laser to jam enemy comms?

I agree it is not an easy task. But lasers can be detected with the right equipment (think the classic "laser through fog" but happening to plain air molecules), unit movements can be tracked and straight sight line is a significant logistical restriction.

But if they were only receiving. Well, that's going to be pretty hard to confirm and even if you "jam" it, then so what?

Re: Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

#206

Post by yownie »

falcor84 wrote: post #199
BurningFrog wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got seriously terrified by reading a PKD SF story at 15 about the few surviving humans hiding from war drones still hunting people long after the war had ended.

I haven't read that one, but it reminds me of Black Mirror's "Metalhead", which absolutely terrified me.

The movie Screamers (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114367/) is based off it, decent sci-fi.

Re: Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

#208

Post by Tuna-Fish »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #193
gonzo wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

fission != fusion, but yeah

All fusion weapons are fission weapons first (like a few nanoseconds first). All fission weapons are not necessarily also fusion weapons. But probably most are nowadays.

Every nuclear weapon in the active US stockpile has a secondary fusion stage, the last pure fission weapons were removed from service and dismantled in 1992.

Most of the cost in a nuclear weapon is in the primary. It only makes sense to build pure fission weapons when you want very low-powered nukes for close range tactical use; the DoD has determined that don't see enough use for them to justify the upkeep of specific weapons.

Re: Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

#209

Post by calebio »

woah wrote: post #180
refulgentis wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting at 36 to look back at what I think would disrupt connectivity a decade ago: - Google Fiber (it wasn't possible to do it cheaper than incumbents, so it devolved to standard incumbent x why would 40% margin company invest billions to get Comcast's peak profit margin of ~15% profit) - Starry Internet (too expensive to build out, I have it and it's good, but the company certainly didn't scale) - 5G in ge…

It's crazy that almost every house is able to be attached to a pipe carrying high pressure water that will flood if it is broken or attached wrong, thick wire carrying high current that will shock you, a pipe containing explosive gas, and a six inch cast iron pipe full of poop, but adding one more connection to a tiny thin strand of glass wrapped in plastic is too expensive.

A lot of the houses that don't currently have modern high speed internet access also don't have water pipes and sewer pipes. They have wells or water collection/delivery and septic tanks.

Electricity and twisted pair phone line is really all that's been pulled to their property.

Re: Alphabet spins out Taara – Internet over lasers

#210

Post by Tuna-Fish »

_carbyau_ wrote: post #205
slt2021 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so you have a laser and want to jam the comms channel. How do you find where the comms channel is, where is the receiver, where do you point your laser to jam enemy comms?

I agree it is not an easy task. But lasers can be detected with the right equipment (think the classic "laser through fog" but happening to plain air molecules), unit movements can be tracked and straight sight line is a significant logistical restriction. But if they were only receiving. Well, that's going to be pretty hard to confirm and even if you "jam" it, then so what?

> But lasers can be detected with the right equipment (think the classic "laser through fog" but happening to plain air molecules)

You are assuming that the only source emitting at the specific wavelength is the laser you are targeting. This is not how it would work, the side using laser comms would also fly decoy drones that bathe the sky in the same wavelength as the comms channel.

This is also key part of how LPI radars on stealth aircraft work. Yes, in a spherical cow in vacuum environment you can in principle always trace a radar signal back to its source. But add a whole bunch MALDs radiating on the same band as the radars, and suddenly it becomes impossible to pinpoint the sources.

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