01-31-2006, 12:00 AM
|
|
Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
|
|
Using Balloons For Cellular Coverage In Rural Areas
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/30/D8FF53180.html
There are places in North America where you can have hundreds and thousands of square miles of sparsely populated areas, and it just doesn't make financial sense for cell phone providers to erect expensive towers in these areas when only a few people will make use of it. The only reason these people haven landlines is the US government subsidized the cost to run copper out to their houses by having those in urban areas foot the bill.
"To cover every square mile of North Dakota, it would take 1,100 cell towers," Schafer said. "We can do the whole state with three balloons." If successful, the hydrogen-filled balloons could be drifting across the stratosphere above North Dakota this summer, providing cellular coverage at a tiny fraction of the cost of building cellular towers."
|
| |
|
|
|
01-31-2006, 12:17 AM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,041
|
|
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-31-2006, 12:23 AM
|
|
Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ricksfiona
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
|
After thinking about it more... well, it just seems like a lot of hot air.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-31-2006, 12:26 AM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 602
|
|
What took them so long? This is a great idea...
|
| |
|
|
|
01-31-2006, 01:48 AM
|
|
Pontificator
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,108
|
|
Re: Using Balloons For Cellular Coverage In Rural Areas
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/30/D8FF53180.html
There are places in North America where you can have hundreds and thousands of square miles of sparsely populated areas, and it just doesn't make financial sense for cell phone providers to erect expensive towers in these areas when only a few people will make use of it. The only reason these people haven landlines is the US government subsidized the cost to run copper out to their houses by having those in urban areas foot the bill.
"To cover every square mile of North Dakota, it would take 1,100 cell towers," Schafer said. "We can do the whole state with three balloons." If successful, the hydrogen-filled balloons could be drifting across the stratosphere above North Dakota this summer, providing cellular coverage at a tiny fraction of the cost of building cellular towers."
|
These promises are too overoptimistic by far. I've run simulations on similar setups for deploying wireless internet. The bottom line is that while balloons are cheaper, they can't cover as large an area as a tower can. Because they're weight-limited, they can't carry as large an antenna, or as much hardware, so you still need to provide a support center on the ground. More to the point, just tethering them in place takes up a lot of your weight limit, and it's difficult to place directional panel antennas on them, which are more efficient than omnis for providing a downtilt. I don't think that this is going to work out for them the way they think it will.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-31-2006, 02:09 AM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 16
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ricksfiona
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
|
After thinking about it more... well, it just seems like a lot of hot air. |
It better not be too hot if they're using hydrogen in those ballons. 
ramjet73
|
| |
|
|
|
01-31-2006, 02:21 AM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 602
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
After thinking about it more... well, it just seems like a lot of hot air.
|
:twak: :wink:
|
| |
|
|
|
01-31-2006, 02:36 AM
|
|
Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
|
|
Re: Using Balloons For Cellular Coverage In Rural Areas
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ADBrown
These promises are too overoptimistic by far. I've run simulations on similar setups for deploying wireless internet. The bottom line is that while balloons are cheaper, they can't cover as large an area as a tower can. Because they're weight-limited, they can't carry as large an antenna, or as much hardware, so you still need to provide a support center on the ground. More to the point, just tethering them in place takes up a lot of your weight limit, and it's difficult to place directional panel antennas on them, which are more efficient than omnis for providing a downtilt. I don't think that this is going to work out for them the way they think it will.
|
Did you read the same article I read? There is no tethering. They float up to 20 miles above the Earth, drift at speeds up to 30mph, and deliver data and voice service to an area several hundred miles in diameter. The communication pod is the size of a toaster, and they didn't run simulations. They floated real balloons and ran real tests.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-31-2006, 03:08 AM
|
|
Theorist
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 307
|
|
And when the wind blows hard, *Montana* gets cell phone coverage!
|
| |
|
|
|
01-31-2006, 03:10 AM
|
|
Theorist
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 307
|
|
They'd better tie them down or they'll all drift North. Because, you know, Canada SUCKS! (Just kidding, all my canook friends!)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
