What is Project Loon?

The Government of India has in-principle agreed to partner with Google’s Project Loon on a pilot basis and state run BSNL has been assigned to partner it. The project will launch balloons which will act as base transceiver stations in the sky to provide internet access, especially, rural and inaccessible areas.

Project Loon is a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill coverage gaps, and bring people back online after disasters. The balloons travel approximately 20 km above the Earth’s surface in the stratosphere. Winds in the stratosphere are stratified, and each layer of wind varies in speed and direction.

Project Loon uses software algorithms to determine where its balloons need to go, then moves each one into a layer of wind blowing in the right direction. By moving with the wind, the balloons can be arranged to form one large communications network. It began with a pilot test in June 2013, when thirty balloons were launched from New Zealand’s South Island and beamed Internet to a small group of pilot testers.

The pilot test has since expanded to include a greater number of people over a wider area. Google uses air balloons to beam internet down to remote locations. Google claimed that for two out of three people in the world, access to a fast, reliable internet connection doesn't exist and its Project Loon would change that.

Google can keep balloons in the air for 75 days. The Loon team has also bolstered balloon internet speeds utilising LTE and providing 22 MB/sec to ground antennas and 5 MB/sec to handsets, informs http://www.pocket-lint.com.