Facebook has unveiled a full-scale prototype of its Aquila drone, with which it hopes to deliver internet access in unconnected parts of the world

Facebook has unveiled a full-scale prototype of its Aquila drone – the high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft that the Californian tech giant wants to use to beam internet to people in parts of the world that are not yet connected.

Aquila, which is solar-powered and named after the eagle in Greek mythology that carried Jupiter's thunderbolts, is based on technology developed by Somerset-based company Ascenta, which Facebook bought in March 2014 for an estimated £12.5m.

Ascenta has been absorbed into Facebook's Connectivity Lab, which is working on new aerospace and communications technologies, and also includes experts from Nasa.

"Aquila has the wingspan of a 737 but weighs hundreds of times less, thanks to its unique design and carbon-fiber frame," said Jay Parikh, vice president of global engineering and infrastructure at Facebook, in a blog post.

"When deployed, it will be able to circle a remote region for up to 90 days, beaming connectivity down to people from an altitude of 60,000 to 90,000 feet."
The company has also developed and lab-tested a laser that can deliver data at 10Gbps to a target the size of a five pence piece from more than 10 miles away. Facebook claims this is approximately 10 times faster than the previous state-of-the-art technology in the industry.

"When finished, our laser communications system can be used to connect our aircraft with each other and with the ground, making it possible to create a stratospheric network that can extend to even the remotest regions of the world," said Mr Parikh.

The initiative to deliver connectivity from the skies is part of Facebook's Internet.org partnership with Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung, which aims to make internet access available to the two-thirds of the world that are not yet connected.

The first product to come out of the Internet.org partnership last year was a mobile app that allows people in developing countries to access basic web services for free over their mobile network.

However, Facebook has long expressed its intention to help people in remote areas of the world get online, and earlier this year, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the company had been testing scale models of Aquila's solar-powered drones in the UK.

"This effort is important because 10 per cent of the world’s population lives in areas without existing internet infrastructure. To affordably connect everyone, we need to build completely new technologies," said Mr Zuckerberg.

"Using aircraft to connect communities using lasers might seem like science fiction. But science fiction is often just science before its time. Over the coming months, we will test these systems in the real world and continue refining them so we can turn their promise into reality."

Facebook is not the only major technology company hoping to capitalise on the demand for connectivity in developing countries. Google’s Project Loon also aims to create aerial wireless networks using high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of 60,000 to 90,000 feet.

Meanwhile, Sir Richard Branson is supporting WorldVu's OneWeb project, which aims to put 648 micro-satellites into low Earth orbit to provide high-speed internet and telephone services, and SpaceX, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has a similar plan to provide internet access from space.

SOURCE: www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/11775630/Facebook-unveils-solar-powered-drone-that-can-beam-the-internet-down-to-earth.html

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