Google’s Secretive Project Skybender

We all know about Google’s ‘holy’ plan to transmit internet from the skies. The search engine giant has a new secretive project in store codenamed Skybender. Think of a scenario like – self-flying drone aircraft with the sole purpose of delivering internet to people below.

Google has been testing solar-powered drone aircraft that deliver wireless 5G internet to replace cellphone towers. It would deliver high-speed internet from the skies, much like Project Loon that uses unpowered hot-air balloons to beam internet from high above.

The technology, called Millimeter Wave technology, has been thought (since a long time) to be the key factor in future wireless data transmission. This is because current data transmission solely depends on bandwidth, and as more users log on, the data delivery rate slows down as more connections are cluttered, causing interference between the wireless waves. Since millimeter wave technology has a completely new spectrum separate from 4G/LTE/WiFi, it will be less cluttered.

Millimeter wave transceivers are able to send and receive gigabits of data, almost 40 times faster than current WiFi/4G LTE systems. In millimeter waves, the distances between the peaks and troughs of the waves (think of a sine wave’s highs and lows) are shorter, thus more data can be sent in one instance.

However, much like radio waves can travel long distances because of the large distance between the peaks and troughs, millimeter waves will be limited in range due to the shorter distance between the peaks and troughs. Thus, drones are an ideal choice when it comes to low-range data transmission.

Google has rented a 15,000 sq. ft. hangar for $1000/day in the Gateway to Space building designed by Richard Foster (of Virgin Galactic) in Spaceport America. The company built two prototype millimeter wave transceivers to test with the drones at the facility. Also in their arsenal lies a dedicated flight control systems centre in the Spaceflight Operations Center that is separate from the terminal. Apart from the building infrastructure, Google also has access to Spaceport’s runway for drone takeoffs and landings.

The aircraft being tested is the Centaur (optionally-piloted) along with 50m wingspan solar-powered drones built by Google’s Project Titan team. Google acquired New Mexico-based Titan Aerospace in 2014.

Project Skybender is under the Google Access Team, the same team was also in charge of Project Loon. Although Project Loon garnered much attention, it was unable to secure any major deals despite various agreements.

Also read – Facebook’s Internet Connectivity Drone to Rival Project Loon