1. INTRODUCTION
Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by Google with the
mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas. The project uses high-altitude
balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 20 mi (32 km) to create an aerial
wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds. Because of the project's seemingly outlandish
mission goals, Google dubbed it "Project Loon". The balloons are maneuvered by adjusting
their altitude to float to a wind layer after identifying the wind layer with the desired speed
and direction using wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA). Users of the service connect to the balloon network using a special Internet antenna
attached to their building. The signal travels through the balloon network from balloon to
balloon, then to a ground based station connected to an Internet service provider (ISP), then
onto the global Internet. The system aims to bring Internet access to remote and rural areas
poorly served by existing provisions, and to improve communication during natural disasters
to affected regions.
Fig. 1 Loon for all
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Project Loon is a research and development project being developed by Google with the
mission of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas. The project uses high-altitude
balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 20 mi (32 km) to create an aerial
wireless network with up to 3G-like speeds. Because of the project's seemingly outlandish
mission goals, Google dubbed it "Project Loon". The balloons are maneuvered by adjusting
their altitude to float to a wind layer after identifying the wind layer with the desired speed
and direction using wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA). Users of the service connect to the balloon network using a special Internet antenna
attached to their building. The signal travels through the balloon network from balloon to
balloon, then to a ground based station connected to an Internet service provider (ISP), then
onto the global Internet. The system aims to bring Internet access to remote and rural areas
poorly served by existing provisions, and to improve communication during natural disasters
to affected regions.
Fig. 1 Loon for all
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