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Facebook's Aquila set to change equations

Facebook, the online social networking giant, has revealed that it carried out a successful flight test of a drone, codenamed Aquila, a few weeks ago. Aquila flew for 96 minutes with a minor "structural problem", but the experiment nevertheless brought the social network company nearer its goal of delivering the internet via a huge drone fleet. This is a significant development. Both Facebook and the other Silicon Valley giant, Alphabet, have led the research and development efforts to find new ways to connect about four billion people in the world, who lack access to the internet. Difficult terrain and geopolitics are some of the problems - about 1.6 billion live in places where it is hard to roll out networks. The internet is also too expensive for those at the bottom of the pyramid. The drone experiment could help increase access to the internet.

Already, Facebook has solved many big engineering problems in designing and making this drone, which has very unusual specifications. It has also developed technology to distribute high-capacity data aerially. Many more test flights will be needed. Large technical problems must still be solved. The cost-to-return equation is unclear. And, using drones fleets will require clearances from regulatory authorities. But these technologies could alter the communications landscape. The boomerang-shaped, solar-powered Aquila (Latin for "eagle") is made of flexible, light carbon-fibre. It has a 29-metre wingspan and it weighs only 400 kilograms. A Boeing 737 has a similar wingspan but weighs over 52,000 kilograms. The drone will fly continuously for 90 days, at very high altitudes of 18,000 metres-28,000 metres, at very low speeds of 40-130 kilometres per hour. Flying slowly in circles of 50-kilometre radius (each circle has an area of 7,850 square kilometres), it will use lasers to beam data to mobile towers. The towers will connect smartphone users via 4G and Wi-fi hotspots.

Facebook's chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg, has claimed that the company has, in some senses, become an aerospace company by developing this expertise. The world record for continuous flight is 14 days. It is held by the solar-powered drone, "Zephyr". Facebook paid $20 million to buy an aerospace company, Ascenta, which was founded by Andy Cox, one of the engineers who designed Zephyr. It has also demonstrated a new laser system with optical instruments that transfer data ten times as fast as operational commercial networks. The lasers can hit a coin in a range of 18 kilometres.

In the test flight, Aquila consumed two kilowatts of energy, which is about the same as a hair-dryer. Consumption is slated to rise to five kilowatts - about as much as a microwave oven. Flying high above weather systems (and above commercial airspace), the drone should capture enough solar energy to operate through bad weather and darkness. But lightweight high-density batteries must be developed and research continues in this key area. Facebook must also work out how to push laser beams through clouds.

The gamble, however, is huge. Facebook hopes to build a fleet of up to 10,000 drones. It will also have to convince authorities to allow such operations and it will have to partner with local service providers. Alphabet's Project Loon also hopes to deliver aerial net access, by using helium balloons. Costs, the ability to scale, and possible returns are all uncertain and getting regulators on board is a big question mark. However, this changes the dynamics of internet access and telecommunication. Such technologies should provide an impetus for governments to explore similar unconventional routes to provide internet access for the underserved sections of society.