Weather Balloons To Provide Broadband In Africa

An anonymous reader writes "Two African entrepreneurs have secured exclusive access to market near-space technology — developed by Space Data, an American telecommunications company — throughout Africa. The technology raises hydrogen-filled weather balloons to 80,000 — 100,000 feet, which individuals contact via modems. The balloons, in turn, serve as satellite substitutes which can connect Africans to broadband Internet. 'Network operation centers are located close to a fiber optic cable — say, in Lagos or Accra — and a signal is sent back and forth to the [balloon] in near space,' says one of the entrepreneurs, Timothy Anyasi. The technology will also allow mobile phone operators to offer wireless modems to customers."

This will be nice

[stoolpigeon]

to fill the gap until we get UAVs that can stay up for extended periods of time.

Re:Untethered

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

It is quite possible that the balloon(i.e. the actual gas-filled bit) only costs $50; but I'd suspect that the equipment package hanging underneath it costs a good bit more, at least one factor of ten, quite possibly more. I say this because you can, just about, if your time is free, get an ordinary wifi router and a battery to suit rigged up for $50. I'd be absolutely shocked if you could get a proper, tested, setup for a reasonable number of users, with battery and GPS and radio(s) for $50.

Solar cells

[castrox]

Apparently the balloons need to be taken down daily to have their batteries recharched. I wonder, wouldn't 80,000-100,000 feet be mostly above cloud level and be an excellent opportunity to use solar cells?

The balloons come down every 24 hours due to the limitations of battery life -- and to keep them from floating into territories that don't subscribe to the service.

The drifting might be a tougher nut to crack though. Rather interesting idea for rural areas actually.

Not sure

[Stargoat]

This seems like an awfully expensive solution. Does anyone remember Stratovision? [wikipedia.org] It was too costly to keep a B-29 in the air 24/7 just to broadcast. Why should it be any different with disposable air balloons carrying easily lost technology?

If God meant for cell towers to be attached to balloons, he would have, uh, err, done something different!

Re:really?

[stoolpigeon]

Not only that but communication tools are vital to improving the livelihood of Africans. I've been working with an open source tool, Frontline SMS [frontlinesms.com] - it's already being used to do some amazing things.
 
Rather than continuing to send cash and some food, which has thus far not really been much help - we can help build infrastructure that will give people more control over their own lives and the ability to improve their circumstances on their own.
 
I saw a demo a couple weeks ago by some guys from a communications lab from a local university. They are building a system to provide educational materials via mobile phones - iphone and android right now. They've got grants to get androids on the ground in developing nations. The system can work completely via sms if necessary but an internet connection is better.
 
There are some exciting things going on in tech in Africa and this is cool to see.

Re:This will be nice

[Carnildo]

I'm waiting for someone to build a solar-powered, unmanned zeppelin. If you inflate it with hydrogen, you can maintain altitude by electrolyzing ballast water or by venting off excess hydrogen. A weather balloon might stay up for days; this could stay up for years.

Cell towers already there..

[lazn]

My parents live in Africa and get better cell coverage than I do here in the USA. They can drive from northern Zambia to the tip of South Africa and never lose signal.

So Why not just use the existing Cell Towers to provide broadband?

Re:Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to mention poverty is commonly tied to low education and the internet is a powerful educational tool when used properly.

I'm guessing you've never read Youtube comments

Re:This will be nice

[synaptic]

Is it feasible/practical to create a vacuum for lift yet? Instead of inflating a balloon with helium, do the materials exist to evacuate the air in a "balloon-like structure" (any structure with a large volume) to displace the air in the atmosphere and float the device through natural buoyancy? It seems this could use ballasts to adjust the elevation and whatnot. Could solar cells power it?

Re:This will be nice

[rcw-home]

I don't think anyone's done it yet, which of course isn't to say it can't be done. I think such a structure, if buildable, would be very costly and fragile (more so than any balloon).

It would be easier if you were able to deploy it from its target altitude. Otherwise you have three conflicting requirements:

1. That the entire thing (payload and all) be lighter than ~175 grams per cubic meter displacement (air density at 15000 meters)
2. That it withstand pressures of 10000 kilograms force per square meter (sea level air pressure), or that the air can be pumped out slowly as the structure rises (but 175 grams/cubic meter density difference is still 1240 kg/m^2 of pressure difference)
3. That it withstand wind deformation pressures (enough to handle ascent and gusts)

Good luck!