Raza’s Weblog

When we think of wireless technology what comes to mind is huge towers and other really esoteric technologies at work . But a company called Space Data has come up with a simple yet brilliant idea of using plain old balloons for implementing wireless infrastructure ! .
The technology involves sending up balloons to extend a long-range cell network, or a wide-area (broadband) Internet network.

The way the technology works is by fitting transceivers inside the balloons and this helps in extending the reach of the wireless networks.
The technology is very cheap and can also help bring wireless service to individuals in rural areas.Space Data believes it can cover the whole country with a WiMax broadband network with just 370 balloons. Compare that with the 22,000 or so towers that would be necessary using traditional methods .

There are a few glitches however , for example the balloons can remain in the atmosphere only for 24 hours and if these problems are taken care of Google could build wireless networks using a 700 Mhz spectrum in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of traditional cell towers.
Now isn’t this a really cool idea ?