| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Facebook Building Drones To Provide Internet Across World
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the Facebook Connectivity Lab, a division within his company is working with drones, satellites and lasers to expand Internet connectivity in the world. In August last year, Facebook had collaborated with six tech companies to launch Internet.org whose main aim is to bring affordable internet access across the world . Those efforts have been responsible for getting 3 million more people online, according to Zuckerberg.
“We’ve been working on ways to beam Internet to people from the sky,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a post announcing the new effort. Facebook plans to use high-altitude drones capable of flying for months on end to deliver connectivity to users in suburban areas. In areas of lower density, Facebook would use low-orbit satellites to beam Internet signals to users. The drones and the satellites would communicate with one another and deliver data by a process using lasers known as free-space optical communication, according to the Internet.org post.
The Connectivity Lab will comprise of experts and scientists including researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA’s Ames Research Center, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory that will help Facebook to complete its ambitious project. To start the effort, Facebook is buying Ascenta, a small British company that was responsible for making the world’s longest solar-powered unmanned aircraft. Yael Maguire, the former MIT Media Lab researcher who played a big role in the Open Compute Project, will run the Connectivity Lab.
Earlier this month there were reports that Facebook is in talks to acquires Titan Aerospace, the company that makes solar powered drones. It was speculated that the social network is taking a leaf from Google’s Project Loon to provide internet access around the world. Check out the video for more details about Connectivity Labs
Source: Wired
Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency
Source: http://www.watblog.com/2014/03/28/facebook-building-drone-to-provide-internet-across-world/
