Facebook's Internet Drones

Facebook has recently taken an initiative to work with other major technology companies to generate Internet access to the two-thirds of the world that is not connected. This task is certainly challenging, but the manner in which Facebook plans to implement Internet access is impressive.

On March 27, 2014,  Internet.org announced that engineers are creating a multitude of solar-powered drones that can send Internet access down to remote regions through lasers. This announcement comes from the organization that Facebook, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung, and others joined to power the initiative to bring the rest of the world online.

The drones will have the ability to fly autonomously for months at a time at an altitude of 65,000 feet. This high altitude ensures that the drones will not interfere with commercial airplanes, and severe weather risk is not as high at that altitude. Facebook's team is developing a way to improve data communications through air with Free-Space Optical Communication (FSO) technology. Their target speeds will be comparable to fiber optic cable.

The difficult task of bringing remote regions of the world online in the past faced daunting issues such as maintaining cost effectiveness, acquiring land rights, and infrastructure construction. Facebook's FSO drones do not face the old constraints of creating Internet access, and the potential for bringing the billions of people who have no Internet access online has never been greater.

Here is a video that demonstrates the concept: