Bring Broadband to Rural Areas

It has always been a problem bringing broadband to the people living in rural communities and backwoods. This is because there are so many natural hindrances such as badlands and jungles that prevent telecom companies from generating more business by affording to string cables in these regions. At the same time, equipment prices as well as data capacity do not allow traditional cellular and satellite systems to offer broadband connection in the hinterlands.

If you are someone who has a habitat in rural communities, you are well aware of how much you have to pay off for not having access to broadband. Billions of people like you across the world continue to miss out on opportunities for a higher standard of living involving distance learning, online commerce and telemedicine. However, it is not that broadband cannot reach the remote outposts as there are no enough ideas.

Innovative new efforts are to be undergone to make broadband accessible and affordable even in the remote areas such as sea, mountain villages and deep forests, offering hinterland habitats a silver-lining to make life better and improved. So, you can expect to step into the world of web very soon and thank to the initiative of Microsoft, Google, and Titan Aerospace Corp’s to do the wonders.

Let us find out how their technologies are supposed to work and bring the Internet to billions of households in the backwoods.

TV White Spaces

Broadband firms and entrepreneurs have long bragged about unused television frequencies or white spaces for bringing broadband in extreme remote areas. The Internet signals can easily penetrate trees, structures and other obstacles in this spectrum easily, making it easier for rural communities to have Internet frequencies freely.

Only a few months ago, the white space technology is utilized in several areas for commercial use. As a result, many companies are utilizing this technology and therefore, it is spreading across many states and elsewhere.

Microsoft also tried its hand to bring broadband services and in order to do so; it has set up trials in countries like Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania.

As unused TVs are unlicensed, companies can spread networking technologies inexpensively and quickly. For instance, Microsoft has promised to bring white space broadband to every customer in Africa for $ 5 or even less each month- which is quite inexpensive compared to traditional fixed broadband.

Metamaterial antennas

Prices for fixed-broadband also drop. Customers of mobile devices when go out of the spectrum of Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular tower- such as at sea or in disastrous areas- still face a sharp fall in prices for satellite service. A large chunk of the cost goes for the phased array or other devices to keep a moving transmitter engaged on to a satellite.

But, Kymeta Corp has claimed that they can make the satellite service a lot cheaper with antenna arrays manufactured with metamaterial elements. Metamaterials are actually synthetic elements that can flex electromagnetic waves in ways which is not possible for natural materials, making them key elements for applications such as cloaking devices.

They have introduced a trademarked technique for adjusting substances dynamically in a setup to emit rays in different directions. The resulting obstruction produces a radiation that can chase a satellite and create an uninterrupted broadband link.

Since metamaterial substances can be printed with quality photolithography, therefore; metamaterial antennas can be made inexpensively.

Solar-supercharged drones

Airborne broadband is a new Wi-Fi technology concept from Titan Aerospace Corp. According to their demand, their unmanned solar charged planes can fly through the stratosphere for almost five years, acting as cheap and upgradable choices to traditional satellites.

Their device called Solara 50 is a lightweight product that can fly at a speed of 104 km/h. This plane has more than 3,000 photovoltaic cells.

This unmanned drone plane can provide coverage over about 16,000 square kilometers, which is similar to hundred cellular towers.

Google balloons

It feels like crazy when one promises to offer broadband networks through balloons in the sky. But, it is true. Google’s Project Loon is a Wi-Fi technology that has made it possible. According to their words, ranchers, miners, and seamen can surf the net and stream videos with the help of thousands of high-pressure balloons floating in the sky.

This research has been successfully tested in a small farming region in New Zealand with 30 high-pressure balloons.

These balloons are filled with helium and are see-through. They float around the winds of the stratosphere. There are a solar panel, batteries, computers and antennas in every balloon. All the devices form a mesh network together, passing along transmissions until the information reaches key station with a fiber link to the broadband on the ground. The executives of the project promises to give more than this. Hundreds of people can receive Wi-Fi signals from a balloon within a 20- kilometer spectrum. And you will not believe it; the data speed will be as fast as those of three generation cellular systems.

However, the project receives a little bit hurdles from political strength. Whatever it is, like others in remote areas.

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/bring-broadband-rural-areas-0667300?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bring-broadband-rural-areas