Loon balloons

Loon balloons

Subject: Science and Technology

Context: Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, called this week on the administration of President Joe Biden to greenlight a plan to transmit the Internet to people in Cuba via high-altitude balloons when their government has blocked access.

Concept:

What is loon?

Loons are high altitude balloons that provide internet to remote areas. It is the third layer of connectivity ecosystem to help places with minimum reach receives connectivity with the rest of the world. These balloons that reach the stratosphere and provide internet connections to regions that were once thought unservable.

Loon balloons had been providing service in mountainous areas in Kenya through a partnership with a local telecom. The service also helped provide wireless communications in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which destroyed the island’s mobile network.

How Loon balloons works?

• The Loon balloons were effectively cell towers the size of a tennis court. They floated 60,000 to 75,000 feet (18,000- 23,000 meters), above the Earth, well above commercial jetliner routes.
• Made of the commonplace plastic polyethylene, the balloons used solar panels for electricity and could deliver service to smartphones in partnership with a local telecom.
• Each balloon could serve thousands of people.
• But they had to be replaced every five months or so because of the harsh conditions in the stratosphere. And the balloons could be difficult to control. Navigating balloons through the stratosphere has always been hard
• Loon had said that beyond the balloons themselves, it needed network integration with a telecom to provide service and some equipment on the ground in the region.
• Loon used multiple balloons to extend connections beyond the necessary ground link.

Effectiveness

• It would need an unused band of spectrum, or radio frequencies, to transmit a connection to Cuba, and spectrum use is typically controlled by national governments.
• Anyone trying this would have to find a free block of spectrum that wouldn’t be interfered.
• Balloon- or drone-powered networks aren’t likely to be economical over the long term,
• they’re suitable for bridging communications amid disasters or in war zones, the transmission capabilities of such networks isn’t large