Facebook plans to put Internet-connected drones in the sky

YEREVAN, September 25. /ARKA/. Facebook formed its Connectivity Lab earlier this year. Dovetailing with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s new venture, Internet.org, its goal is to build and launch a fleet of solar-powered drones that can connect the billions of people currently living off the grid to the internet, Wired reported. 

“We’re going to have to push the edge of solar technology, battery technology, composite technology,” Maguire, the engineering director of Facebook’s new Connectivity Lab, said on Monday during a talk at the Social Good Summit in New York City, referring to the lab’s work on drones.

In order to fly its drones for months or years at a time, as it would have to do in order to provide consistent connectivity, Maguire explained, Facebook’s drones will have to fly “above weather, above all airspace,” which is anywhere from 60,000 to 90,000 feet in the air. 

Maguire said he expects the Connectivity Lab’s drones will be ready to begin testing by next year. Just where that will be Maguire can’t say. The company has also identified 21 locations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa where it would like to deploy its connectivity projects, which Maguire says are likely two to five years away. But Facebook will not be running these projects itself, Maguire warns. It’s actively looking for partners on the ground—be they governments, communities, or local businesses—who will deploy the technology the Connectivity Lab has created.

“We’re hoping we’ll be able make this technology open for other people to use…because we think they have a more scalable model for getting the technology out there,” he says. “It’s going to be an enormous effort. Trying to connect everyone is the problem of our generation.” –0--