Google is developing a project with helium balloons to carry WiFi ... - 20minutos.es

class=”text”> A photo test Google with Internet balloons carrying remote cores. (AP)

Google Saturday launched an ambitious program that aims to connect Internet to billions of people living in remote areas, poor or affected by natural disasters, through giant helium balloons equipped to broadcast WiFi signals .

Internet giant announced on its official blog in a video on his YouTube account the new program, called Project Loon, and aims to create “a network Internet in the sky “.

To do this, Google will use balloons to about 15 meters in diameter, thanks to solar power, ascend to the stratosphere and are kept together on a specific area by “ very complex algorithms and computing power “explained Mike Cassidy, the project manager.

speed 3G similar to the

“We’re still in the first stage, but we have built a system using balloons, moved by the wind at twice the altitude of flying commercial aircraft, to provide internet access to land at similar or faster than 3G networks today , “said Cassidy.

team today initiated a pilot program in New Zealand, 30 balloons equipped try to connect to 50 people in a first test designed to “learn about how to improve” technology and design balloons.

class=”imp”> Chile, Argentina and South Africa are the target countries

“In the future, we would like to initiate pilot programs latitude countries sharing with New Zealand ,” said Cassidy.

That strip includes countries such as Argentina, Chile, South Africa or Australia, located on the 40th parallel, which presents ideal stratospheric conditions for the Google project.

Cassidy acknowledged that the idea “may sound a little crazy” but “ have solid scientific backing “.

Born in Google’s secret lab

The project has been developed by engineers at Google X Secret Lab, located in Silicon Valley (California) and working on revolutionary technologies like Google Glass glasses or unmanned cars.

balloons filter all internet signals to process only those that come from the Google project, you can also direct them to landing at various designated points and can be recycled.

The aim of Google is “start a debate on how to get 5,000 million people living in remote areas” connect to the internet, Cassidy explained in an interview with the newspaper The Washington Post .

class=”imp”> balloons signal be captured within 38 km Google need permission from the governments of the countries in which you want to circulate their balloons, which last about 100 days in the air and whose signal can be captured if the receiver is in a radius of about 38 kilometers.

Cassidy felt that the program can make a big difference in most countries of the southern hemisphere, where “ the cost of an internet connection is over a month income “.