Saturday, January 02, 2016

Four Essential Sources of Information; One Article and Three Brief Videos:

Four Essential Sources of Information; One Article and Three Brief Videos:


Google’s Secret US Loon Test Implicates the FCC, FAA, EPA, State, and DOD/NSA
by Scott Cleland in Net Competition
12/17/15

Project Loon: Scaling Up
4/17/15
4:00 minute video
2:40 into the video “With our system, we use LTE, which is a common protocol that most of the telcos (cellular telephone companies) around the world use. So anyone with a smart phone anywhere in the world will be able to get Internet access. One of the key things we do is we partner with the local telco in every country.”

Inside Google’s wildly ambitions internet balloon project
3/2/15
7:55 minute video
1:21 into the video: “Last year the team made a critical decision switching from a wireless router to an LTE antenna. We are just like a cell phone tower, but in the sky. And the same way their central office of the telco interacts with all their cell towers, they will interact with our balloons.”
5:23 into the video: “Over the last six months, Google has run tests with Vodaphone, Telstra and Telephonica, utilizing their networks to provide connectivity to customers who normally live with little or no Internet access.”

Ask Away: What’s inside the Loon antenna?
with Cyrus Behroozi, Network Engineering Lead, Project Loon
10/18/13
2:16 minute video


The following videos provide important additional information:

How was the antenna casing designed?
12/14/14
2:25 minute video

How can balloons provide stable coverage? 
with Dan Piponi, Rapid Evaluator, Project Loon
8/30/13
2:18 minute video

Project Loon official website

FAQ Basic
How do I receive Internet service from the balloons?
Signals are transmitted from the balloons directly to LTE-enabled devices. Web traffic that travels through the balloon network is ultimately relayed to our local telecommunications partners’ ground stations, where it connects to pre-existing Internet infrastructure. 

How Loon Works
How Loon Connects

FAQ Technology 
What communication equipment is on a balloon? 


Here are articles on Project Loon:

Google Details New Project Loon Tech to Keep Its Internet Balloons Afloat
Bloomberg Business
May 29, 2015
Mike Cassidy was interviewed:
“By the end of the year, Cassidy hopes to be able to provide a few days of continuous service in its tests. So far during trials in Australia, Chile, New Zealand, Brazil, and other countries, Google has succeeded only in providing intermittent access before the wind carries a balloon off. If it can overcome the remaining challenges, Cassidy is hoping to roll out the service more widely by the end of 2016 and is looking at underserved Internet markets such as Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia as the best places to start.”

Google’s Balloon Internet Experiment, One Year Later
Wired
6/16/14
“Google made a different kind of advance with Loon when it added the capability to send data using the LTE spectrum—making it possible for people to connect directly to the Internet with their mobile phones. (Loon’s original Wi-Fi connection required a base station and a special antenna.) Using LTE also helped Google boost the capacity of its connections. Recent Loon payloads are providing as much as 22 MB/sec to a ground antenna and 5 MB/sec to a handset.”

Google’s Project Loon testing LTE in Nevada?
c/net 
April 17, 2014
“So far, Loon has used the unlicensed 2.4GHz band for its Wi-Fi testing. But, according to FCC filings obtained by PCWorld, Google is testing two types of radio spectrum, along with a broad class signal that could possibly mean it's looking into using 4G LTE for Project Loon.
“Using LTE could mean a faster Wi-Fi experience with less interference. But, it also means Google would have to work harder to get regulatory approval from several countries.
“Google has hoped for absolute secrecy in regards to its alleged new testing in Nevada, according to PCWorld. In its filing to the FCC, Google reportedly asked the government agency to keep the tests under wraps.
“’The technology is under development and highly sensitive and confidential in nature,’ Google wrote, according to PCWorld. Publicizing these tests would ‘jeopardize the value of the technology’ and enable others to ‘utilize Google's information to develop similar products in a similar timeframe.’
Google trials LTE in Project Loon’s balloons over Brazil
ZD Net
6/17/14
“The addition of LTE to the balloons brings several benefits, according to Google. Markets where 4G LTE has launched know it for higher speed mobile broadband, but in Loon it serves a different purpose. It could allow Google to provide an internet signal directly to mobile phones as well as deliver services over longer distances than wi-fi.'

“(The radios used in Google's New Zealand launch operated on unlicensed spectrum in the 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz bands used in wi-fi.)”

“The other benefit of LTE is that carriers are already using it on their networks. ‘This means that when Loon partners with telcos to deliver last-mile connectivity, we will be able to use the telecommunications companies' existing infrastructure, which will allow us to deliver service to rural and remote users seamlessly and quickly,’ Google said.”

From Oram Miller

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