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Project Loon

google.com

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Re: Project Loon

#91

Post by tellarin »

bvi wrote: post #82
dvfb wrote: post #77

So the balloons just float on the air channels 20km up and presumably circulate around world? I can imagine problems coming up with some countries objecting to these being over their airspace.

So the question, then, is how high do you need to go before you're no longer in a country's airspace?

As far as I know there is no international agreement on this. Altitude can vary from 30Km to 160Km.

Most countries seem to claim somewhere between 70Km and 100Km as their airspace.

If someone has more details on this, it's very welcome.

Re: Project Loon

#93

Post by fowkswe »

ptc wrote: post #8

Can someone explain why this is more cost effective than other alternatives? The need for specialized antenna's on the ground seems to be a negative. Also, does Google just subsidize the entire thing? How is this paid for long term? How is it so much cheaper than the alternatives that not only can they roll it out to 5-6 billion people, but also allow people living on cents a day to purchase the service?

Have you tried to fathom rolling out the fiber program in Kansas City? The machinery, the man power, the political will?

This is a no brainer.

Re: Project Loon

#94

Post by Kilo-byte »

nostromo wrote: post #46

I've always wanted a near-live satellite image for Google maps. If this takes off that'll be possible. I could find a parking spot from the sky. :)

Loon has no such capability.

http://www.google.com/loon/faq/#tab=technology

Q: WILL THE BALLOONS HAVE CAMERAS OR CAPTURE ANY IMAGERY OF THE GROUND?

A: No.

Re: Project Loon

#95

Post by psbp »

gboudrias wrote: post #63

How long before they abandon the idea? Google is well known for creating projects for shits and giggles and abandoning them when it turns out giggles don't make money.

Have the abandoned any of the moonshots?

Re: Project Loon

#96

Post by tomasien »

It's so encouraging to see a Hacker News comment section that is almost overwhelming informative and positive. I get varying amounts of flak for constantly posting about the quality and nature of HN comments, but as an unabashed optimist it means a lot to me to me.

Re: Project Loon

#97

Post by sicxu »

selvakn wrote: post #90
mtdewcmu wrote: post #87

This sounded like a great idea to me at first. But, Each balloon provides coverage to a 40km diameter area. That's a lot of balloons to cover rural Africa. It would help a great deal if the balloons could be made to stay in precise locations, like geostationary satellites. I thought maybe they had solved that problem (which would be amazing). But, I guess not. They said in the video that the balloons would follow the…

The balloons are not going to move in one direction though. The video also mentioned you can steer the balloons, which means, there is way to keep them above the ground and not the ocean.

Just cover the continent will require a lot of balloons. The world has 148,429,000 sq km. If you cover 1600 sq km per balloon, that is 92768 balloons. Just cover Africa will require around 20k balloons. It will only work out, if Google can increase the coverage area per balloon.

Re: Project Loon

#98

Post by agsamek »

ptc wrote: post #8

Can someone explain why this is more cost effective than other alternatives? The need for specialized antenna's on the ground seems to be a negative. Also, does Google just subsidize the entire thing? How is this paid for long term? How is it so much cheaper than the alternatives that not only can they roll it out to 5-6 billion people, but also allow people living on cents a day to purchase the service?

This is great question. In urban area it is extremly cheap to buy area for towers. What area can a tower cover with LTE? What is the theoretical limit with different technology?

Re: Project Loon

#99

Post by unono »

mtdewcmu wrote: post #87

This sounded like a great idea to me at first. But, Each balloon provides coverage to a 40km diameter area. That's a lot of balloons to cover rural Africa. It would help a great deal if the balloons could be made to stay in precise locations, like geostationary satellites. I thought maybe they had solved that problem (which would be amazing). But, I guess not. They said in the video that the balloons would follow the…

4 million balloons and routers would cover earth. That's actually not a lot compared to how many cars and cellphones are manufactured every year. If each one is $100 dollars, the total cost is only 400 million - less than google fiber installed in kansas city ($1 billion).
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