Facebook will plan flight experiments in 2015 as well as "Jumbo machine size" unmanned Wi-Fi drone machine "

BySergio Morchon

FacebookPlan to introduce drone as "flying Wi-Fi station"I already made it clear that what I was doing,Jumbo jetAlso calledBoeing 747It is supposed to be the same size as the type aircraft, and it became clear that we are planning to aim for the first flight in 2015.

Facebook Further Reveals Plans for Internet - Connected Drones
http://mashable.com/2014/09/23/facebook-drones-internet-org/

Facebook Wi-Fi Drone the Size of 747 Could Fly in 2015 - NBC News.com
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/facebook-wi-fi-drone-size-747-could-fly-2015-n210546

This is aimed at providing the Internet environment around the world "Internet.org"We will proceed with the plan jointly"Facebook Connectivity Lab"Mr. McGuire said that he wanted the aircraft to be called" plane "without calling" drones "about the aircraft, which Mr. Maguire revealed by engineer director Yael Maguire.

Mr. McGuire said about the design of the aircraft, "It will be about the same size as a general aircraft such as the Boeing 747 aircraft," while remarking that weight reduction of the aircraft is indispensable for efficient flight. One of the design proposals currently being developed told that "While we have a body length of 6 to 7 Toyota Prius, the weight weighs about four Prius tires" If this is realized, it seems that the weight of the aircraft will become ultra lightweight plane that cuts less than 50 kg.


Photovoltaic panels are lined up on the aircraft, and it is supposed to be equipped with a system that generates electric power necessary for flight of the airframe and transmission and reception of Wi - Fi radio waves, and the image of the airframe is the movie by Internet.org below You can see.

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This aircraft is mainly used for plans to provide a Wi-Fi environment to areas with a large population that does not have a means of connecting to the Internet, mainly in developing countries, and is subject to 15% of the total domestic population Planning is progressing with 22 countries including India, Latin America, Africa and Asia as models. About that scale Mr. Maguire clarifies the policy "to operate about 100 unmanned Wi-Fi planes".

"Wi-Fi plane" which is planned to be unprecedented so far, but Mr. Maguire said about operation method "In order to realize a plan to continue flying for several months to one year without unattended, from the ground surface We need to use an altitude range of 60,000 to 90,000 feet (about 18,000 to 27,000 meters) ". This is to fly in an altitude zone where no other aircraft are flying at the present time and generally reaches an altitude of about 2 to 3 times higher than that of airliners flying per altitude of 10,000 meters Become.

ByMichael Kappel

Regarding the plan to skip this type of aircraft above 20,000 meters above the sky unmanned, Mr. Maguire says that there is a risk that technological as well as legal development in each country is not in place at all. Furthermore, at present, there is a principle that "one pilot is necessary for one aircraft," which is also a major barrier to the plan of 100 aircraft that Facebook is aiming for. In addition to technical problems, Facebook Connectivity Lab is also working on initiatives to solve problems on these institutions.

Future developments Mr. McGuire said that he would like to conduct a flight test of the aircraft in the US by 2015 and start operation of the Wi-Fi plane in the next 3 to 5 years.

As for the same plan, Google is a drone development companyTitan AerospaceIt is considered that it is proceeding with development.

Google acquired a drone development company that can stay for a long time with a high altitude, what is its purpose? - GIGAZINE