Solar Drones And The Future Of Internet Access
Could phone line connections be a thing of the past?
Over the last two decades it’s become an accepted fact that domestic and corporate internet access is provided via phone lines. From dial-up modems to broadband routers, few of us have ever stopped to consider alternative ways of getting online.
Of course, other methods of connection have existed for years. Satellite broadband offers an (admittedly expensive) option for residents of remote areas, and the burgeoning 4G network provides wireless communications when we’re out and about. Yet our homes and offices remain almost completely dependent on data piped down phone lines, then distributed by Ethernet cables or wireless routers.
New Horizons
In the future, this landline dominance may be curtailed by a number of data transfer methods currently under development. These are some of the most likely candidates:
Solar drones
This is less fanciful than it sounds, following the successful maiden flight of Facebook’s Aquila drone earlier this month. Designed to bring internet access to remote communities, this solar-powered drone can fly for three months at a time within a 60-mile diameter. Forming a centerpiece of Facebook’s Connectivity Lab tech division, the drone beams data signals down from 60,000 feet using lasers and millimeter wave systems developed in Somerset. Google is also experimenting with proprietary space balloons, attempting to connect communities with no landline infrastructure or unfavorable topography (such as towns surrounded by mountains).
Li-Fi
Five years ago, the idea that table lamps or ceiling lights could provide internet access would have seemed absurd. Yet light fidelity is perfectly capable of transmitting data by turning a light source on and off thousands of times a second, with tests in an Estonian office last year recording data speeds of 1GB/s. The light spectrum is ten thousand times larger than the radio frequency spectrum we use for modern communications, so Li-Fi offers an interference-free way of distributing data. Using conventional light fittings and modified bulbs also reduces infrastructure costs, but it does require line of sight or reflective surfaces for signals to get through.
Lasers
The development of laser-based data transfer is lagging behind the options detailed above, even though speed-of-light lasers could send data around the Earth in 0.13 seconds. Gigabit laser communications have been achieved by the European Space Agency, and NASA has been transmitting laser data between Earth and the moon at 622 megabits per second. However, variables like fog can interfere with light when it’s transmitted over distances, just as rain can affect the radio frequency spectrum. A laser-powered internet connection may have to be highly localized, such as a transmission tower at the center of a new business park or residential estate.
5G
It’s indisputable that 4G has revolutionized mobile communications, freeing us from the dial-up sluggishness of 3G and keeping us connected while out and about. By 2020, 5G will offer one millisecond latency periods and potentially 100Gbps transfer speeds. To begin with, speeds will be much slower than this, though still fast enough to download a high-definition movie onto a smartphone in seconds. Some industry observers have asked whether hardwired infrastructure will really be necessary by this stage, since a stable 5G network would be capable of supporting a hundred Internet of Things devices while simultaneously streaming new on-demand television programming in 4K clarity.