Facebook completes first drone flight above UK, Mark Zuckerberg confirms
Source: telegraph.co.uk
Solar powered drones which provide internet access to rural and remote areas have been trialled in UK for first time by Facebook.
They “have a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737 but will weigh less than a car”, according to the social network's chief Mark Zuckerberg.
The drones, developed by Somerset-based company Ascenta which Facebook bought last March, will beam down laser-guided internet signals to those below.
Solar panels attached to the wings of the drones mean that they will be able to keep going at altitudes of 60,000 ft for months at a time.
Facebook says this will bring online connectivity to remote locations, previously inaccessible, for the first time. It is part of its Internet.org scheme to get the entire world online, Facebook's announcement will be welcomed by campaigners for better broadband access in rural areas.
Some internet users in the UK are struggling with broadband speeds 135 times slower than in other parts of the country, according to research published earlier this month.
While the overall number of households enjoying superfast speeds online is growing, some still suffer connections well below the UK average of 22.8 megabits per second (Mbps).
Last year the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) announced an acceleration of the government’s £790m rollout of superfast broadband to rural communities in the UK.
The more than one million premises covered since the subsidy programme began last year represent around a fifth of the 5.3 million homes and businesses that it aims to connect by 2017.
“Today, I'm excited to share that we've successfully completed our first test flight of these aircraft in the UK,” Mr Zuckerberg announced yesterday in a post of his Facebook page.
“Aircraft like these will help connect the whole world because they can affordably serve the 10 per cent of the world's population that live in remote communities without existing internet infrastructure.”
The Internet.org initiative is Facebook's attempt to build on its already 1.3 billion user base by connecting the rest of the world to the internet.
Facebook announced last year that they plan to create thousands of drones the size of jumbo jets which will fly 17 miles above the Earth to provide wireless internet access to the four billion people currently unable to get online.
Flying this high will solve problems associated with weather, but could throw up new legislative ones.
Above 60,000 feet there are essentially no regulations on aircraft – commercial airlines routinely fly at around half of that altitude.
Regulations regarding human operators will also need to be adjusted if the company’s plans are to be a success.
Currently one person must be in control of an aircraft at all times, but Facebook hopes to change legislation so that one person can control ten or even a hundred partially-automated aircraft.
Google is also working on similar technology to Facebook, having bought drone manufacturer Titan Aerospace last year. The company creates solar-powered drones which can fly for several years at a time.
The search giant also launched Project Loon in 2013 which is investigating the use of high-altitude weather balloons which can transmit internet signals to the ground for the same purpose.
Source: telegraph.co.uk
