A consortium consisting of researchers from Japan and Europe are using balloons, airships and unmanned solar-powered planes to relay wireless and optical communications in a project called CAPANINA.
The three-year project, led by the University of York in England, is designed to bring low-cost broadband connections to remote areas and possibly even to high-speed trains. Disaster management is another possible application.
The researchers boast that the technology could provide data rates 100 times faster than ADSL.
“There are a number of projects worldwide that are proving the technology and we want to convince the telecommunications and wider community of its potential,” said Tim Tozer, a member of the University of York’s Department of Electronics, in a statement. Tozer is chairman of the High Altitude Platforms for Communications and Other Services program.
A final experimental flight is scheduled to take place in Arizona shortly before conference in October in the U.K. where the project will be showcased.
Bob Brown, bbrown@nww.com
