October 17, 2007
Malaysia plans aircraft based wireless broadband network
Unlike similar proposals to use unmanned nigh altitude platforms, Malaysian QucomHaps plans to use single seat aircraft doing relay flying in 5 hour shifts to provide broadband coverage to 50% of the island nation.
An advantage will be that companies opting for the service need only focus on operating expenditure rather than capital expenditure, and Abdul Majid touted a possible return on investment for them in less than two years.”The HAPs infrastructure can be described as the third layer of communications, complementing the existing terrestrial and satellite system,” he said.“The M55 is an all-weather single-seater stratospheric aircraft capable of operating both day and night for about five hours up to an altitude of 21km, even in critical environmental conditions and strong cross-winds at takeoff or landing.
“These characteristics, plus its 1,500kg payload, make the M55 an ideal platform for research in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.”
Abdul Majid said the company expects one aircraft to arrive by year-end for technical demonstrations and the service, to be delivered 24 hours, is expected to start within 12 months. (from Bernama)
Will it work? This should be interesting to watch. While this is hardly an elegant solution, it is a nearly immediate one.
Comments on Malaysia plans aircraft based wireless broadband network »
Interesting! There have been proposals like this before over the years. Bucky Fuller had suggested 1km Geodesic balloons with an antenna array be placed in the Stratosphere. The heat of the sun would keep it aloft.
Hope they bring it to fruition.
[...] November 7, 2007Russian Spy plane to be used in Aoicraft based broadband trials We reported here in October about a planned aircraft based broadband service in Malaysia. Adding an alternative platform for the idea, the Russian Myasishchev design bureau will be sending a M55 high altitude spy plane to Malaysia for trials in the spring. The M55 operates at a higher altitude than the aircraft in the current plans, making a broader coverage area possible. It will be interesting to see if the plan - using either aircraft is logistically possible and if it’s costs can scale to profitability. It is one of these M-55 Geophysica’s which, according to the manufacturer will be used next Feb-March as a demonstration plane in Malaysia to offer a range telecoms services. The idea is to use the plane to provide telecom coverage in areas where satellite coverage is spotty, or for emergency relief following disasters which take out landline and cellular networks on the ground. Being a very high altitude plane enables it to cover a much wider area on the ground with its telecoms radio uplinks. (from Cellular News) [?] Share This Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]