Google is conducting tests that can provide high-speed 5G wireless internet services at Virgin Galactic’s Gateway to Space terminal at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
According to The Guardian, Google has been conducting tests of several solar-powered wireless 5G drone aircraft with an aim to replace current cellular-based networks.
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Under a project codenamed SkyBender, Google is using millimeter wave-based transceivers to send and receive data.
The high frequency millimeter waves are said to transmit 40 times faster data than 4G/LTE services, which is currently being used by most mobile providers. Under the project, Google manufactured various prototype transceivers and tested them with several drones, which are temporarily being stored at a 15,000ft² hangar, at Virgin Galactic’s Gateway to Space terminal.
An optionally piloted (OPA) aircraft named Centaur and a solar-powered drone called Solara 50 made by Google Titan, an entity formed after Google’s acquisition of Titan Aerospace in 2014, was used during SkyBender system testing.
The project is part of Google’s lesser-known Google Access team, which is developing a system to provide wireless internet with gas powered balloons.
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By GlobalDataIn 2014, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) used drones and millimetre wave technology to provide 1GB per second communications for troops working in distant areas.
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allowed Google to conduct its tests in New Mexico until July this year.
Google refused to make any comment on the project, although it is reported that they spent $300,000 on the SkyBender tests.
