Facebook is planning to beam internet connectivity to citizens in isolated parts of the world via satellite, drones, and lasers, among other technology.
The social media major also commissioned a new ‘Connectivity Lab’, which involves aerospace and communications professionals from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and its Ames Research Center in addition to hired five-member team that earlier worked for Ascenta.
The new lab will be tasked to carryout work on the Internet.org project, which is mainly targeted at using air- and space-born methods to connect billions of people who do not currently have Internet access.
Internet.org is joint venture between Facebook and telecom industry majors such as Nokia and Qualcomm.
A post on internet.org noted that the team’s approach is based on the principle that different sized communities need different solutions and they are already working on new delivery platforms — including planes and satellites — to provide connectivity for communities with different population densities.
"For suburban areas in limited geographical regions, we’ve been working on solar-powered high altitude, long endurance aircraft that can stay aloft for months, be quickly deployed and deliver reliable internet connections," the post added.
"For lower density areas, low-Earth orbit and geosynchronous satellites can beam internet access to the ground."
Further, the team is considering free-space optical communication (FSO), which uses light to broadcast data via space using invisible, infrared laser beams, as well boosts the speed of internet connections offered by satellites and drones.
