GOOGLE’S SKYBENDER TO DELIVER 5G INTERNETS

Organisation of paper: Section

1. Introduction,
2. Literature Review
3. Technologies Used
4. Working Procedure
5. Figures and tables
6. Advantages and disadvantages
7. Conclusion
8. Future scope
9. References
ABSTRACT:

Some of those drones are in the air as part of Project SkyBender.The

testing of solar-powered drones by Google at Spaceport America in
New Mexico as shown in the fig 1.5 to explore ways to deliver high-
speed internet from the air. Project SkyBender is currently using an
aircraft called Centaur and a solar-powered drone called Solara 50
made by Titan Aerospace, which the Big G snapped up in 2014, for
its tests. When it’s all said and drone, there may be thousands of
Google drones like these hovering in the atmosphere, turning energy
from the sun into gigabit internet access,which is border free.
SkyBender ismaking use of drones(solar powered) to experiment
with millimeter-wave radio transmissions, one of the technologies
that could underpin next Generation 5G wireless internet access.
Millimeter waves with high frequency can theoretically transmit
gigabits of data every second, up to 40 times more than today’s 4G
LTE systems. Google ultimately conceptualizes thousands of high
altitude “self-flying aircraft” delivering internet access around the
world. “The huge advantage of millimeter wave is access to new
spectrum because the existing cellphone spectrum is overcrowded.
However, millimeter wave transmissions have a much shorter range
than mobile phone signals. To get millimeter wave working high-
flying drone, which is experimented with phased array. “This is very
difficult, very complex and burns a lot of power.”
Introduction:

The SkyBender system is being tested with an “optionally piloted”

aircraft called Centaur well as solar-powered drones made by
Google Titan, a division formed when Google acquired New Mexico
startup Titan Aerospace in 2014. Titan built high-altitude solar-
powered drones with wingspans of up to 50 metres.

Emails between Spaceport America and Google project managers

reveal that the aircraft have exclusive use of the Spaceport’s runway
during the tests and will even venture above the neighbouring White
Sands Missile Range.

Google spent several months last summer building two

communication installations on concrete pads at Spaceport
America. Project SkyBender is part of the little-known Google
Access team, which also includes Project Loon, a plan to deliver
wireless internet using unpowered balloons floating through the
stratosphere.

The huge advantage of millimetre wave is access to new spectrum

because the existing cellphone spectrum is overcrowded. It’s
packed and there’s nowhere else to go,” says Jacques Rudell, a
professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington in
Seattle and specialist in this technology.

Millimeter waves represent the new front for wireless

communication as the lower frequencies are almost used up, leading
to spectrum shortages and challenges. Both Facebook and Google
have been testing aerial devices to provide reliable wireless internet
access in remote locations. Facebook itself has acquired Aquila, a
solar-powered drone armed with Wi-Fi lasers, while Google had
Project Loon,which employs huge floating balloons with
transmitters.

A new Google project is testing the use of drones for high-speed

Internet delivery.
The technology company is currently developing the program,
codenamed Project SkyBender, to utilize solar-powered
drones equipped with millimeter-wave radio transmitters that
could send out next-generation 5G wireless Internet signals, the
Guardian reports. Work on the project is ongoing at Spaceport
America, a facility in New Mexico's Jornada del Muerto desert
basin.

The spaceport, originally conceived as a hub for Virgin Galactic

operations, is now shared by fellow tenants such as SpaceX and
UP Aerospace, who have granted Google room to work there. The
Guardian reports that Google has taken over hangar space from
Virgin at a cost of $1,000 per day, and has been working on
SkyBender there since last summer. Google also established its
own flight control center at the facility, and has set up a series of
transceivers to test the SkyBender signal reception. The Guardian
further details Google’s efforts to build electronic communication
installations around the facility, and the various difficulties the
project faced in setting up the system.

Aside from the spaceport’s relay setup, the Google SkyBender

evaluation is anchored by solar-powered drones, produced by the
Google-acquired Titan Aerospace, and the Centaur optionally
piloted aircraft, produced by Aurora Flight Sciences. Google
would use the autonomous aircraft to send its internet signal
through phased arrays and to consumer devices.

extremely-high-frequency waves experimented with for the

project could provide data at speeds around 40 times of those that
current 4G networks offer, but they are easily scattered by
atmosphere, rain, fog, and foliage, leaving them with an effective
range only about a tenth of that of 4G signals. Google’s project
includes testing various transceivers that would extend the
signals’ coverage.

The limited range means that telecommunications companies have

left the millimeter-wave band largely undeveloped, creating an
opportunity for Google.
“The huge advantage of millimeter wave is access to new
spectrum because the existing cellphone spectrum is
overcrowded. It’s packed and there’s nowhere else to go,”
Jacques Rudell, an assistant electrical engineering professor at
the University of Washington, told The Guardian.

SkyBender is not Google’s first attempt at providing Internet

service from the sky. Its Project Loon, officially in development
since 2013, aims to provide 4G LTE internet via balloons traveling
through Earth’s stratosphere. That project has been tested in New
Zealand, California, and Brazil, and Google hopes Loon can
eventually provide high-speed Internet to those in rural areas or in
places with inconsistent coverage, as well as in the wake of
disasters that would take people offline.

Additionally, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

has been working on the Mobile Hotspots program, a similar
initiative to SkyBender that would see millimeter waves broadcast
from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones. The DARPA
technology would provide data speeds comparable to SkyBender,
but is also still in development and would not be available to
consumers.

Google has not officially announced Project SkyBender and there

is no time frame for when the New Mexico testing will be
completed, although Google has permission from the Federal
Communications Commission to continue its desert operations
through July.

Google did not comment on The Guardian report.

 What Google's investments reveal about the company
and the future

Fig :Amazon reveals more details about Prime Air drone

delivery service
 

4G will soon be old news as Google plans to beam 5G to you from

the sky.
The company is now experimenting with solar drones that deliver
5G Internet, reports The Guardian.

The project, SkyBender, involves several prototype transceivers

and multiple drones, which are housed at Virgin Galactic’s
Gateway to Space terminal in New Mexico’s Spaceport America.
Information about the secret project, which is part of the Google
Access team that includes Project Loon, was learned of when
documents were obtained in accordance with public record laws.
SkyBender works with millimeter wave radio transmissions, which,
“can theoretically transmit gigabits of data every second, up to 40
times more than today’s 4G LTE systems,” The Guardian wrote.
Jacques Rudell, University of Washington in Seattle professor of
electrical engineering, tells
The Guardian the advantage to this technology is that the “existing
cellphone spectrum is overcrowded.” However, millimeter wave
transmissions have a shorter range than that of a mobile phone
signal, which is something the experiments are likely striving to
improve.
According to the BBC,

with such a speed, it “would be theoretically possible to download

a file 100 times the size of a feature film in about three seconds.”
SkyBender is working with, “an “optionally piloted” aircraft called
Centaur as well as solar-powered drones made by Google Titan, a
division formed when Google acquired New Mexico startup Titan
Aerospace in 2014.” The FCC has granted Google permission to
continue tests until July 2016.
Vodafone’s Australian chief technology officer Benoit Hanssen,
believes that Australia will be one of the first countries to adopt 5G
by 2020.
TECHNOLOGIES USED

Technologies used for designing SkyBender are asfollows:

Solar powered Drone-Solara50

5G Wireless technology

Millimeter

A. Solar Powered Drone-Solara 50:

Solara 50(solar powered satellite) would be launched using power

from its battery banks at night. During the day, the aircraft would
take position 20km above the Earth allowing the sun to charge its
solar batteries. The satellite’s on-board management system
ensures voltage and thermal thresholds are maintained in the
subzero atmosphere. The Solara 50 is shown in the figure 1.1

Solara 50 design features:

The upper wing, the elevator and the horizontal stabilizer surfaces of
the Solara 50 are enclosed with 3,000 solar cells, which can produce
up to seven kilowatts of power.
The additional energy generated from the sun during day will be
stored in lithium ion battery banks located inside the wing. The
aircraft can hover during the night by shifting the propulsion,
payload and systems to the battery banks to utilize the stored solar
power.
B. 5G Wireless Technology:

The evolution of fifth generation (5G) cellular wireless networks are

envisioned to overcome the fundamental challenges of existing
cellular networks, e.g., higher data rates, excellent endto-end
performance and user-coverage in hot-spots and crowded areas
with lower latency, energy consumption and cost per information
transfer as shown in the figure 1.2.
Why 5G?

Very High speed, high capacity, and low cost per bit.

It encourages interactive multimedia such as voice, video, Internet,

and other broadband services, more effective and more attractive,
and have Bi- directional, accurate traffic statistics.

5G technology offers Global access and service portability. High

quality services are its offered due to its high error tolerance
capacity. It is providing large broadcasting capacity up to Gigabit
which supporting almost 65,000 connections at a time.

More applications combined with artificial intelligent(AI) as human

life will be surrounded by artificial sensors which could be
communicating with mobile phones.

5G technology use remote management that user can get better

and fast solution.5G technology offer high resolution for crazy cell
phone user and bi-directional large bandwidth shaping.5G
technology offer transporter class gateway with unparalleled
consistency.
C. Millimeter:

High-speed data transmission which is possible Millimeter wave

technology in future, and may form the backbone of 5G mobile
networks. Wireless future where mobile data rates expand to the
multi-gigabit-per-second range, made possible by the use of
steerable antennas and mm-wave spectrum that could
simultaneously support mobile communications, with the possible
convergence of cellular and Wi-Fi services. Latest review suggest
that millimeter wave frequencies could be used to boost the
currently saturated 700 MHz to 2.6 GHz radio spectrum bands for
wireless communications . Millimeter waves as pictured in figure
1.3,have much shorter range than current smartphone signals and
are easily disrupted by weather conditions like rain, fog, and
WORKING PROCEDURE

Google is working in secret at a spaceport in New Mexico to build

and test solar-powered internet drones in a new initiative
codenamed Project SkyBender. The company is reportedly renting
15,000 square feet of hangar space from Virgin Galactic — the
commercial spaceflight outfit as shown in the figure 1.4.Gigabits of
data every second at speeds up to 40 times faster than modern 4G
LTE are transmitted by Project SkyBender, using the millimeter wave
technology. Millimeter waves have much shorter range than current
smartphone signals and are easily disrupted by weather conditions
like rain, fog, and snow. Using phased array concept, Google and
others could potentially focus the transmissions over greater
distances.
Google is currently testing technique with new solar-powered drone
called Centaur and other units made by division known as Google
Titan, Shown in the figure 1.4 Several prototype receivers are
equipped along with a flight control centre, as part of a secretive
project dubbed SkyBender,pictured at figure 1.5 at Spaceport. High
frequency waves can send large amounts of data quickly and can be
up to 40 times faster than current 4G LTE speeds.
 Fig : Google Skybender Model

CREATING A SUPERFAST NETWORK

The model of Google’s Skybender Drone is as shown in the figure

1.6,According to the documents, Project SkyBender is using drones
to test what's known as millimetre-wave radio transmissions. High
frequency waves can send large amounts of data quickly and can be
40 times faster than current 4G LTE speeds.Nokia Networks recently
teamed up with National Instruments (NI) to build 'the fastest cellular
technology ever tested. It sends the data over a frequency of
73GHz(73000 MHz). This is 40 times faster than the current maximum
speeds achievable on 4G and means full-length HD films could be
downloaded in the blink of an eye. Such speeds could also pave the
way for next-generation video and pictures including 8K which is
twice as clear as 4K and 16 times as clear as HD. A phased array is
an antenna fitted with multiple elements that radiate the signal.
Internet signals are sent to stations through lasers on to the ground.
The drones hover between 60,000ft (18,300 metres) and 90,000ft
(27,400 metres), above the altitude of commercial airplanes, so they
are not affected by problematic weather. Particularly, during day
time they will float at the higher elevation, and will drift down to lower
elevation during the night to conserve energy.

Fig:Solara
50

Google is testing solar-powered drones at Spaceport America

in New Mexico to explore ways to deliver high-speed internet from
the air, the Guardian has learned.

In a secretive project codenamed SkyBender, the technology giant

built several prototype transceivers at the isolated spaceport last
summer, and is testing them with multiple drones, according to
documents obtained under public records laws.
In order to house the drones and support aircraft, Google is
temporarily using 15,000 square feet of hangar space in the
glamorous Gateway to Space terminal designed by Norman Foster
for the much-delayed Virgin Galactic spaceflights.

The tech company has also installed its own dedicated flight control
centre in the nearby Spaceflight Operations Center, separate from
the terminal.

Based out of the site near the town called Truth or Consequences,
Project SkyBender is using drones to experiment with millimetre-
wave radio transmissions, one of the technologies that could
underpin next generation 5Gwireless internet access. High
frequency millimetre waves can theoretically transmit gigabits of
data every second, up to 40 times more than today’s 4G LTE
systems. Google ultimately envisages thousands of high altitude
“self-flying aircraft” delivering internet access around the world.

“The huge advantage of millimetre wave is access to new spectrum

because the existing cellphone spectrum is overcrowded. It’s
packed and there’s nowhere else to go,” says Jacques Rudell, a
professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington in
Seattle and specialist in this technology.

However, millimetre wave transmissions have a much shorter range

than mobile phone signals. A broadcast at 28GHz, the frequency
Google is testing at Spaceport America, would fade out in around a
tenth the distance of a 4G phone signal. To get millimetre wave
working from a high-flying drone, Google needs to experiment with
focused transmissions from a so-called phased array. “This is very
difficult, very complex and burns a lot of power,” Rudell says.

The SkyBender system is being tested with an “optionally piloted”

aircraft called Centaur as well as solar-powered drones made by
Google Titan, a division formed when Google acquired New Mexico
startup Titan Aerospace in 2014. Titan built high-altitude solar-
powered drones with wingspans of up to 50 metres.

Emails between Spaceport America and Google project managers

reveal that the aircraft have exclusive use of the Spaceport’s runway
during the tests and will even venture above the neighbouring White
Sands Missile Range.

Google spent several months last summer building two

communication installations on concrete pads at Spaceport
America. Project SkyBender is part of the little-known Google
Access team, which also includes Project Loon, a plan to deliver
wireless internet using unpowered balloons floating through the
stratosphere.

One of the millimetre wave transceivers was located near Spaceport

America’s Spaceport Operations Centre (SOC), and the other four
miles away at the Vertical Launch Area (VLA), although Google’s
plans did not involve any rockets. Google also established a repeater
tower and numerous other sites around the Spaceport, presumably
to test millimetre wave reception.

Both installations have cabinets full of computer servers and other

electronics, while the pad at the SOC required a concrete base to
support a dish antenna nearly eight feet across, according to a
separate filing with the Federal Communications Commissions
(FCC).
 Fig : Space port for skybender,America

Work did not proceed smoothly, however. At one point in late

August, a lorry showed up at 10.30pm, causing the Spaceport
America team to complain to Google: “We have no loading dock and
no means to remove a pallet … from the middle of the truck.” The
lorry was turned away without making its delivery.
Project Loon,which employs huge floating balloons with
transmitters.

Later, components were installed Millimeter waves represent the

new front for wireless communication as the lower frequencies are
almost used up, leading to spectrum shortages and challenges. Both
Facebook and Google have been testing aerial devices to provide
reliable wireless internet access in remote locations. Facebook itself
has acquired Aquila, a solar-powered drone armed with Wi-Fi lasers,
while Google had upside down or supplied by Google without the
necessary shelves, nuts and bolts. Near the end of the build in
October, Mike Bashore, information systems manager at Spaceport
America, even emailed to his Google contact, “We want to run out to
Home Depot for grounding straps.” These are needed to protect
sensitive electronics from static electricity. The nearest Home Depot
hardware shop is over 100 miles from the Spaceport.

Google is not the first organisation to work with drones and

millimetre wave technology. In 2014, Darpa, the research arm of the
US military, announced a program called Mobile Hotspots to make a
fleet of drones that could provide one gigabit per second
communications for troops operating in remote areas.

Google has permission from the FCC to continue its tests in New
Mexico until July. Spaceport America will be glad of the $300,000
SkyBender tests, as Virgin Galactic virtually mothballed its
terminal following the 2014 crash of its prototype SpaceShipTwo
vehicle in California. Christine Anderson, chief executive officer of
Spaceport America, admits that the facility is now running out of
money.

“We are transitioning to supporting all aspects of the spaceport from

our operational budget, as the [state] bonds have been spent except
for the amount reserved for the southern road,” she wrote in a blog
post earlier this month. “We are asking the legislature for $2.8m ...
We appreciate that our request is a lot of money, but we also feel
that it is a relatively small amount to protect the state’s $218.5m
investment already made in the new and exciting commercial space
industry.”
 Google may have its eyes set on a faster Internet. According to a
report by The Guardian, the tech giant is working on a new
project — code named Project SkyBender — that aims to deliver
5G Internet connections from solar-powered drones.

The report said Google has built several prototype devices that
use millimetre wave radio transmissions and is testing them at
Virgin Galactic’s Gateway to Space terminal at Spaceport
America in New Mexico, originally designed for Virgin Galactic’s
spaceflights. Millimetre waves are believed to be capable of
transmitting data up to 40 times faster than today’s 4G LTE
connections.

However, millimetre wave transmissions fade after a short

distance, which is where Google’s solar-powered drones come
in. According to The Guardian , beaming the 5G connection from
the sky could solve the transmission issue.

In March, Google announced it was gearing up to test its solar-

powered drones — also known as “Project Titan” — which are
designed to hover over areas and act as hot spots to supply web
connections to those below. Google also plans to use the drones
in areas that have been knocked offline during natural disasters
or weather incidents.

Google is testing solar-powered drones at Spaceport America in

New Mexico to explore ways to deliver high-speed internet from the
air, the Guardian has learned.

In a secretive project codenamed SkyBender, the technology giant

built several prototype transceivers at the isolated spaceport last
summer, and is testing them with multiple drones, according to
documents obtained under public records laws.

In order to house the drones and support aircraft, Google is

temporarily using 15,000 square feet of hangar space in the
glamorous Gateway to Space terminal designed by Norman Foster
for the much-delayed Virgin Galactic spaceflights.

The tech company has also installed its own dedicated flight control
center in the nearby Spaceflight Operations Center, separate from
the terminal.

Google to start testing solar-powered Internet drones

Google has already invested a lot of time and money in beaming

Internet connections from the sky.

Google’s two-year-old Project Loon program aims to change that

by transmitting high-speed Internet signals from clusters of
balloons floating about 60,000 feet above the Earth.

In October, the balloons began hovering in the stratosphere

above Indonesia in an effort to bring more connectivity to the
region. About 250 million people live in the country composed of
about 17,000 islands in that part of Southeast Asia, although only
42 million have Internet access, according to the CIA’s estimates.
Although the project is still being funded primarily by money that
Google makes from digital advertising, it recently became part of
an independent lab called X that is run by Google’s parent
company, Alphabet Inc.

Based out of the site near the town called Truth or Consequences,
Project SkyBender is using drones to experiment with millimetre-
wave radio transmissions, one of the technologies that could
underpin next generation 5G wireless internet access.

High frequency millimetre waves can theoretically transmit gigabits

of data every second, up to 40 times more than today’s 4G LTE
systems. Google ultimately envisages thousands of high altitude
“self-flying aircraft” delivering internet access around the world.

“The huge advantage of millimetre wave is access to new spectrum

because the existing cellphone spectrum is overcrowded. It’s
packed and there’s nowhere else to go,” says Jacques Rudell, a
professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington in
Seattle and specialist in this technology.
However, millimetre wave transmissions have a much shorter range
than mobile phone signals. A broadcast at 28GHz, the frequency
Google is testing at Spaceport America, would fade out in around a
tenth the distance of a 4G phone signal.
To get millimetre wave working from a high-flying drone, Google
needs to experiment with focused transmissions from a so-called
phased array. “This is very difficult, very complex and burns a lot of
power,” Rudell says.

Google’s Internet-beaming balloons to deliver Internet to

Indonesia
Project Loon aims to get about 100 million currently unconnected
people tapped into the vast reservoir of knowledge,
entertainment and conveniences available online. But it could
also enrich Google by expanding the potential audience that can
use its search engine, YouTube, Gmail and, of course, click on
digital ads.

Facebook is also working to build drones, satellites and lasers

that will help “to beam Internet to people from the sky.”

Google may have its eyes set on a faster Internet. According to a

report by The Guardian, the tech giant is working on a new
project — code named Project SkyBender — that aims to deliver
5G Internet connections from solar-powered drones.

Based out of the site near the town called Truth or Consequences,
Project SkyBender is using drones to experiment with millimetre-
wave radio transmissions, one of the technologies that could
underpin next generation 5Gwireless internet access.

High frequency millimetre waves can theoretically transmit gigabits

of data every second, up to 40 times more than today’s 4G LTE
systems. Google ultimately envisages thousands of high altitude
“self-flying aircraft” delivering internet access around the world.
Google has a new top secret project by the same team that brought
us Project Loon, according to The Guardian. It's called Project
Skybender, and it aims to deliver 5G internet from solar drones.
Mountain View has reportedly begun experimenting with millimeter
wave-based internet in Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space terminal
at Spaceport America in New Mexico. Millimeter waves are believed
to be capable of transmitting data 40 times faster than LTE and could
become the technology behind 5G internet. DARPA began working
on an internet connection based on it for remote military bases in
2012.
University of Washington professor Jacques Rudell told The
Guardian that "[t]he huge advantage of millimetre wave is access to
new spectrum because the existing cellphone spectrum is
overcrowded. It's packed and there's nowhere else to go." The
problem with millimeter wave transmissions, though, is that they
fade after a short distance and can't compare to a mobile phone
signal's range. That's likely one of the issue's Google is trying to
solve if it aims to beam internet from the sky.
Project Skybender is currently using an "optionally piloted aircraft
(OPA)" called Centaur and a solar-powered drone called Solara
50 made by Titan Aerospace, which the Big G snapped up in 2014,
for its tests. Google has permission from the FCC to continue testing
the drone-internet system in New Mexico until July. We'll most likely
hear more details as its development progresses, the same way that
Google regularly announces the latest details about Project Loon.
Google's Project SkyBender aims to beam 5G internet from
solar-powered drones

Drones, said Nield, are in this instance behaving as the mobile

hotspots rather than hot air balloons, as in Project Loon. "Signals are
beamed from a phone to a base station via the autonomous aircraft
cruising in the sky," he said.

One difficulty that Google is addressing in this project is that of

range. The new network runs via millimeter-wave radio
transmissions.

The range is much shorter than in 4G broadcasts. TechRadar said

that Google was experimenting with complex "phased array"
technology to boost the range of its 5G drones. A professor went
over the upside and downside of this technology in The Guardian
report.

"The huge advantage of millimeter wave is access to new spectrum

because the existing cellphone spectrum is overcrowded.

It's packed and there's nowhere else to go." Jacques Rudell, a

professor of electrical

engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, added that

the downside was range. Millimeter wave transmissions have a much
shorter range than mobile phone signals.

The project code name is SkyBender. "Eventually, the firm wants its
solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles to provide high-speed
connectivity across the globe," said David Nield in TechRadar. The
project is in trial phase in New Mexico.

The first thought that comes to mind is speed; the plan could offer
data speeds around 40 times faster than maximum 4G/LTE speeds
available now to phones and other devices, said TechRadar.

The trials are being conducted at New Mexico Spaceport Authority,

said The Guardian, with a dedicated flight control center installed in
the Spaceflight Operations Center. Google is temporarily using
15,000 square feet of hangar space in the Gateway to Space
terminal.

Google may have its eyes set on a faster Internet. According to a

report by The Guardian, the tech giant is working on a new
project — code named Project SkyBender — that aims to deliver
5G Internet connections from solar-powered drones.

Google is testing solar-powered drones at Spaceport America

in New Mexico to explore ways to deliver high-speed internet from
the air, the Guardian has learn
Google, in a secretive project codenamed SkyBender, is testing
solar-powered drones in New Mexico to deliver 5G internet speeds.

5G BEAMED FROM THE SKY

When Google bought Titan Aerospace two years ago, the industry
was curious over what Google’s plan for the drone startup was. Titan
Aerospace was a company that developed solar-powered unmanned
aerial vehicles that could function like near-earth satellites.

Facebook was originally planning to acquire the startup and use it to

provide internet service around the world. Now, it seems that
Google has the same plans for the company.

It would later emerge that Google has folded Titan Aerospace, now
named Google Titan, into its access company (the company under
Google’s reorganization that handles internet access).

The Guardian then published a report revealing that Google was

experimenting with drones providing internet access.

More recently, The Guardian published a story on Google which

reveals that it has been testing the drones to deliver high-speed
internet in New Mexico.

The project, codenamed SkyBender, could potentially deliver the

next generation 5G wireless internet service using millimeter-wave
radio transmissions to deliver gigabits of data every second, more
than 40 times that of 4G LTE systems.

The company was building transceivers to receive this signal at a

spaceport it rented from Virgin Galactic.
The tech giant is temporarily using the Gateway to Space terminal to
house its drones and has installed a dedicated flight control center.

Ultimately, Google is paying Virgin Galactic $1,000 a day for the use
of a hangar in the Gateway to Space building and the associated
facilities.
VI. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Advantages :

These solar-powered drones could be sent to rural areas, for

example, to increase coverage, or boost web speeds for mobile
users in towns and cities.
High frequency waves can send large amounts of data quickly and
can be 40 times faster than current 4G LTE speeds.

5G technology offers Global access and service portability. It offers

the high quality services due to high error tolerance. It is providing
large broadcasting capacity. This can be made possible with this
Skybender drones.

“The huge advantage of millimeter wave is access to new

spectrum because the existing cellphone spectrum is
overcrowded. It’s packed and there’s nowhere else to go,”
Jacques Rudell, an assistant electrical engineering professor at
the University of Washington, told The Guardian.
Disadvantages :

The transmissions only work over short distances, typically a tenth of

the distance of existing 4G phone signals.
Any damage in the drone will disturb whole system.

The drawback with millimeter waves is their limited range. The

shorter the wavelength, the shorter the transmission range, and in
this case it could limit the spread to 32 miles (10 meters). The loss
can be overcome with “good receiver sensitivity, high transmit
power, and high antenna gains” according to Electronic Design.

another drawback is atmosphere, such as ran, fog and any moisture

in the air, which can absorb millimeter waves and restrict their
range. High-gain antennas are one solution.
CONCLUSION

Ultimately, Skybender is designed to transmit 5G data at "up to 40

times" the speed of 4G LITE using millimeter wave technology. While
this technology is very effective at transmitting massive amounts of
data, the fact that it is outside of the cellphone spectrum is key, as
that's extremely crowded, effectively a roadblock.
FUTURE SCOPE

“Skybender to deliver 5G Internet using solar-powered drone”, is a

project from Google including Nokia and Facebook companies, will
be the future gadget which will evolve 5G internet Access all over the
world.Last year, engineers unveiled a drone with a 140ft (43 metre)
wingspan that weighs less than 1,000 pounds. In future Skybenders
may exist with many more advantages and numerous applications

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has previously

demonstrated the feasibility of using millimeter wave transmissions
to provide internet access from drones. Millimeter-wave
transmissions however have a shorter range compared to that of
mobile signals. A comparison of the range between transmissions
using millimeter-wave and 4G would reveal that, within a tenth of the
distance covered by 4G, the signal from the drone would have
faded out.
REFERENCES

[1] Project Skybender: Google's secretive 5G Internet drone tests

revealed. The Guardian. Mark Harris.
January/29/2016.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/29/project-
skybender-google-drone-tests-internet-spaceport-virgingalactic.

[2] Millimeter wave Mobile Communications for 5g Wireless Cellular

Networks.

[3] Acceleration of Broadband Deployment by Improving Wireless

Facilities Siting Policies . October 17, 2014.
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-14- 153A1.pdf

[4] Use of Spectrum Bands Above 24 GHz For Mobile Radio

Services. October 22, 2015.
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-138A1.pdf