- Facebook's drones are set to soar at 60,000ft to 90,000 ft for months at a time
- Will use laser technology to beam data to earth, giving connectivity to remote areas
- Have a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737 but will weigh less than a car
- Tests expected to take place in the US if firm gets approval
Facebook says it will begin test flights later this year of a solar-powered drone with the wingspan of a Boeing 737, the next stage of its campaign to deliver Internet service to remote parts of the world.
Engineers at the giant social network say they've built a drone with a 140-foot wingspan that weighs less than 1,000 pounds.
It will use lasers to send Internet signals to stations on the ground.
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Facebook says it will begin test flights later this year of a solar-powered drone with the wingspan of a Boeing 737, the next stage of its campaign to deliver Internet service to remote parts of the world.
HOW IT WILL WORK
The drone will hover between 60,000 feet and 90,000 feet (20 and 30 km), above the altitude of commercial airplanes, so that it is not affected by problematic weather.
During the day, they will float up to 90,000 feet (30 km) and at night will drift down to 60,000 feet (20 km) to conserve energy.
'I'm excited to announce weve completed construction of our first full scale aircraft, Aquila, as part of our Internet.org effort,' Mark Zuckerberg revealed.
Aquila is a solar powered unmanned plane that beams down internet connectivity from the sky.
It has the wingspan of a Boeing 737, but weighs less than a car and can stay in the air for months at a time.
'We've also made a breakthrough in laser communications technology,' he revealed.
'We've successfully tested a new laser that can transmit data at 10 gigabits per second.
'That's ten times faster than any previous system, and it can accurately connect with a point the size of a dime from more than 10 miles away.'
The project is part of a broader effort by Facebook that also contemplates using satellites and other high-tech gear to deliver Internet connectivity to hundreds of millions of people living in regions too remote for conventional service.
Facebook rival Google is experimenting with high-altitude balloons and satellites in a program that has similar goals.
Earlier this year Mark Zuckerberg showed off the lasers that it hopes could beam the internet from a fleet of giant drones.
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It has the wingspan of a Boeing 737, but weighs less than a car and can stay in the air for months at a time.
Researchers finish building the first of Facebook's drones
The firm is building a fleet of drones capable of flying at 65,000ft (19,800 metres) and staying in the air for months.
Now the first details of their communication system have emerged.
'As part of our Internet.org efforts, were working on ways to use drones and satellites to connect the billion people who don't live in range of existing wireless networks,' said Mark Zuckerberg.
'Our Connectivity Lab is developing a laser communications system that can beam data from the sky into communities.
'This will dramatically increase the speed of sending data over long distances.
'Normally you wouldnt be able to see the actual beams, but for this demonstration we made them visible.
'This is just one connectivity project were working on, but I was excited to share this with you.
The firm has already begun flying its giant drones designed to bring internet access to the world, Mark Zuckerberg has previously revealed.
'As part of our effort to connect the world, we've designed unmanned aircraft that can beam internet access down to people from the sky,' he posted on his Facebook page.'Today, I'm excited to share that we've successfully completed our first test flight of these aircraft in the UK.'
Facebook's solar-powered drone 'Aquila' set to soar
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Zuckerberg revealed the final design will have a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737 but will weigh less than a car. It will be powered by solar panels on its wings and it will be able to stay at altitudes of more than 60,000 feet for months at a time.
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The solar-powered Aquila, which weighs about 880 pounds, is expected to soar at altitudes of between 60,000 to 90,000 feet for up to 90 days. Multiple Aquilas would connect to each other using a laser system called free-space optics. That allows for coverage across broad areas, with each drone able to cover a radius of about 50 miles.
'Aircraft like these will help connect the whole world because they can affordably serve the 10% of the world's population that live in remote communities without existing internet infrastructure.'
At Facebook's f8 conference in San Francisco, the firm's Facebook's chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer revealed the firm thought drones were key to getting connectivity around the world.
'This basically mean going to the sky,' Schroepfer says.
He showed off the Aquila, an Internet-connected unmanned drone with the wingspan of a 737 and the 'mass of a small car.'
At a summit in New York earlier this year, Facebook's engineering director announced the vehicles will be closer in size to jumbo jets, than traditional drones, and they'll soar at 65,000ft (19,800 metres).
Following the tests, it could then be just three to five years until the super-sized, solar-powered drones are hovering above remote parts of the world to provide internet access.
Yael Maguire, engineering director of Facebooks Connectivity Lab, told the Social Good Summit that the planes will be roughly the size of a Boeing 747, but much lighter than the popular aeroplane, which weighs around 600,000lbs (272,155kg) without passengers or fuel.
DATA SENT FROM 65,000FT
Facebook aims to use a mix of solar-powered aircraft and low-orbit satellites to beam signals carrying the internet to hard-to-reach locations.
The drones, flying at 65,000ft (19,800 metres), will be capable of staying in the air for months.
They are relatively cheap and will be most effective for suburban areas that do not have the cables or infrastructure to carry internet or telephone signals.
The drones are effectively mobile phone masts in the sky and bounce smartphone communications between satellites and base stations on Earth.
Low-orbit and geosynchronous satellites, which have orbits that match the Earths rotation and are effectively stationary, will cover more remote areas in Africa and Asia.
The internet access would be transmitted in the form of free-space optical communication, or FSO, which transmits data using infrared laser beams.
Facebook previously said the drones will be 'relatively cheap' - although did not specify a cost - and will be most effective for suburban areas that do not have the cables or infrastructure to carry internet or telephone signals.
The California-based tech giant has joined forces with Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung and other tech firms to develop the planes in an initiative called Internet.org.
Today, around 2.7 billion people have access to the internet, which is just one third of the global population.
The members of the initiative said in a report that connecting the world is 'one of the fundamental challenges of our time' and they plan to do it using a variety of technologies, including drones.
'When people have access to the internet, they can not only connect with their friends, family and communities, but they can also gain access to the tools and information to help find jobs, start businesses, access healthcare, education and financial services and have a greater say in their societies.
'They get to participate in the knowledge economy,' the report said.
A recent study by Deloitte found that the internet is already an important driver of economic growth in many developing countries.
Internet.org plan for drones to bring internet to the whole world
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Facebooks founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in March that the social networks Connectivity Lab was building drones, satellites and lasers to deliver the internet to everyone'
Expanding internet access could create another 140 million new jobs, lift 160 million people out of poverty and reduce child mortality by hundreds of thousands of lives.
In terms of how this could be achieved, Mr Maquire has previously explained that Facebook is 'looking at a new type of plane architecture.'
The drones are set to fly at 65,000ft (19,800 metres), because this altitude is a point where winds are at their lowest.
It's also above commercial airliners, and even above the weather, and this means the drones will be able to safely stay in the air for months at a time.
These planes are solar-powered and they sit there and circle around, and have the ability to broadcast internet down.
The large drones will be capable of broadcasting a powerful signal that covers a city-sized area of territory with a medium population density, according to Internet.org.
The large drones will be capable of broadcasting a powerful sThe drones will be tougher and able to fly for longer periods of time than balloons, while also being able to have their location precisely controlled.
In March this year, Facebook acquired British drone maker Ascenta for an estimated 12.5 million ($20.2 million).
The company is run by chief engineer Andrew Cox who has helped set records for the longest flights for unmanned aircraft powered by the sun.
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