It was last year when we heard about Facebook working on Internet-connected drones, and it looks as though those rumors were spot on as the second day of the social network’s F8 conference saw an announcement that concerns the very first hardware that the company intends to make use of to make Internet connectivity available to just about every single person in the world. This would be done through a drone that has been given the codename Aquila, where the Aquila drone sports a wingspan that is comparable to that of a Boeing 767, and yet it will rely on lightweight materials that enable it to be lighter than a car.
This makes sense, taking into consideration how it ought to remain in flight for as long as possible – up to three months, in fact, while relying on solar energy to keep it going. Keeping it aloft is one huge obstacle to overcome already, and when you take into consideration how Facebook intends to use the Aquila drone to send Internet connectivity to 60,000 to 90,000 feet on the ground via lasers, not to mention handle communications between drones, it is a sheer engineering miracle to say the least. Test flights of the Aquila drones will kick off later this summer.
Filed in . Read more about Drones and Facebook. Source: techcrunch