SEMINAR REPORT

PROJECT LOON
“Balloon powered internet for everyone”

Submitted to –Ms Seema Mehla

Submitted by –Sanket Duhoon

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HISTORY OF INTERNET

The history of the Internet begins with the development of electronic computers in the 1950s.
Initial concepts of packet networking originated in several computer science laboratories in the
United States, Great Britain, and France. The US Department of Defence awarded contracts as
early as the 1960s for packet network systems, including the development of
the ARPANET (which would become the first network to use the Internet Protocol.) The first
message was sent over the ARPANET from computer science Professor Leonard Kleinrock's
laboratory at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to the second network node
at Stanford Research Institute (SRI).

Packet switching networks such as ARPANET, Mark I at NPL in the UK, CYCLADES, Merit
Network, Tymnet, and Telenet, were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s using a variety
of communications protocols. The ARPANET in particular led to the development of protocols
for internetworking, in which multiple separate networks could be joined into a network of
networks.

Access to the ARPANET was expanded in 1981 when the National Science Foundation (NSF)
funded the Computer Science Network(CSNET). In 1982, the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) was
introduced as the standard networking protocol on the ARPANET. In the early 1980s the NSF
funded the establishment for national supercomputing centres at several universities, and provided
interconnectivity in 1986 with the NSFNET project, which also created network access to
the supercomputer sites in the United States from research and education organizations.
Commercial Internet service providers (ISPs) began to emerge in the late 1980s. The ARPANET
was decommissioned in 1990. Private connections to the Internet by commercial entities became
widespread quickly, and the NSFNET was decommissioned in 1995, removing the last restrictions
on the use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic.

Since the mid-1990s, the Internet has had a revolutionary impact on culture and commerce,
including the rise of near-instant communication by electronic mail, instant messaging, voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone calls, two-way interactive video calls, and the World Wide
Web with its discussion forums, blogs, social networking, and online shopping sites. The research
and education community continues to develop and use advanced networks such as NSF's very
high speed Backbone Network Service(vBNS), Internet2, and National Lambda Rail. Increasing

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amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher speeds over fibre optic networks operating at
1-Gbit/s, 10-Gbit/s, or more. The Internet's takeover of the global communication landscape was
almost instant in historical terms: it only communicated 1% of the information flowing through
two-way telecommunications networks in the year 1993, already 51% by 2000, and more than
97% of the telecommunicated information by 2007.Today the Internet continues to grow, driven
by ever greater amounts of online information, commerce, entertainment, and social networking.

WHY PROJECT LOON?

In recent years, access to the Internet has become increasingly important for individuals’ and
communities’ economic productivity, as well as improved access to goods and services, education,
government services and more. Some in the developed world, including First Lady Michelle
Obama, have even begun to refer to Internet connectivity as a universal right.

In reality, however, Internet access is very far from universal. As of 2013, 4.4 billion people —
over 60% of the world’s population — were not connected to the Internet. And, while Internet
penetration is increasing, the rate of its increase has slowed slightly, from around 15% a year in
the mid ’00s to around 10% in the late ’00s. If this trend continues, over half the global population
will still be offline in 2017.

Four broad obstacles that impede global Internet access: incentives, affordability, user capability
and infrastructure. Project Loon aims at solving the infrastructure problem mainly. This fact can
be attributed to many reasons, but the most important factor is the scarcity of intensive capital
necessary for Internet infrastructure implementation in many developing areas. The rapid
development in wireless telecommunication industry has boosted another revolution in data
services. Even though there are more than 1 billion smartphone subscribers in the world, the
majority of them still don’t have data access due to the costly data plan in many countries. On the
other hand, the vast majority of the prices people pay for data plans go directly towards covering
the tens of billions of dollars spent each year building the infrastructure to deliver the connections.
Unless the infrastructure expansion becomes more efficient, the industry cannot sustainably serve
everyone. Bring majority of the global population into Internet community is one of the greatest
challenges of our generation, and now we see hope from the Google Project Loon – a network of
balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to provide ubiquitous Internet connectivity free
of terrestrial constrains and with an affordable rate worldwide.

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WHAT IS PROJECT LOON?

Project loon is a research and development project being enveloped by Google X with the mission
of providing Internet access to rural and remote areas. It is a network of balloons travelling on the
edge of space, designed to provide ubiquitous Internet connectivity. The project uses high-altitude
balloons placed in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 18 km (11 mi) to create an aerial wireless
network with up to 4G-LTE speeds. They are carried around the Earth by winds and they can be
steered by rising or descending to an altitude with winds moving in the desired direction. People
connect to the balloon network using a special Internet antenna attached to their building. The
signal bounces from balloon to balloon, then to the global Internet back on Earth. It was named
Project Loon, since Google itself found the very idea of providing internet access to the remaining
5 billion population unprecedented and "crazy."
HISTORY

 In 2008, Google considered contracting with or acquiring Space Data Corp., a company that sends
balloons carrying small base stations about 20 miles (32 km) up in the air for providing connectivity
to truckers and oil companies in the southern United States, but didn't do so.

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  Unofficial development on the project began in 2011 under incubation in Google X with a series
of trial runs in California's Central Valley. The project was officially announced as a Google project
on 14 June 2013.
 On 16 June 2013, Google began a pilot experiment in New Zealand where about 30 balloons were
launched in coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority from the Tekapo area in the South
Island. About 50 local users in and around Christchurch and the Canterbury Region tested
connections to the aerial network using special antennas. After this initial trial, Google plans on
sending up 300 balloons around the world at the 40th parallel south that would provide coverage
to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. Google hopes to eventually have thousands of
balloons flying in the stratosphere.
 In May 2014, Google X laboratories director, Astro Teller, announced that, rather than negotiate a
section of bandwidth that was free for them worldwide, they would instead become a temporary
base station that could be leased by the mobile operators of the country it was crossing over.
 In May–June 2014 Google tested its balloon-powered internet access venture in Piauí, Brazil,
marking its first LTE experiments and launch near the equator.
 In 2014 Google partnered with France's Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) on the project.
 In Feb, 2014, the record streak for a balloon lasting in the stratosphere was 50 days. In Nov 2014,
the record was 130 days, and in March 2, 2015, the record for a continuous balloon flight is 187
days (over 6 months).
 On 28 July 2015, Google signed an agreement with officials of Information and Communication
Technology Agency (ICTA) - Sri Lanka, to launch the technology on a mass scale. As a result, by
March 2016, Sri Lanka will be the second country in the world to get full coverage of internet
using LTE, after Vatican City.
 On 29 October 2015, Google agreed to partner with Indonesia's XL
Axiata, Indosat and Telkomsel to bring the technology to the country in the hopes of connecting its
17,000 islands.

HOW IT WORKS?

Project Loon is Google's pursuit to deploy a high-altitude balloon network operating in

the stratosphere, at altitudes between 18 km and 25 km. Google asserts that this particular layer of
the stratosphere is advantageous because of its relatively low wind speeds (e.g., wind speeds
between 5 and 20 mph / 10 to 30 kmph) and minimal turbulence. Moreover, Google claims that it
can model, with reasonable accuracy, the seasonal, longitudinal, and latitudinal variations in wind
speeds within the 18–25 km stratospheric layer.

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Given a reasonably accurate model of wind speeds within the 18–25 km band, Google claims that
it can control the latitudinal and longitudinal position of high-altitude balloons by adjusting only
the balloon's altitude. By adjusting the volume and density of the gas (e.g., helium, hydrogen, or
another lighter-than-air compound) in the balloon, the balloon's variable buoyancy system is able
to control the balloon's altitude. Google has additionally indicated that balloons may be
constructed from various materials (e.g., metalized Mylar or Bo Pet) or a highly-flexible latex or
rubber material (e.g., chloroprene).
Initially, the balloons communicated using unlicensed 2.4 and 5.8 GHz ISM bands, and Google
claims that the setup allows it to deliver "speeds comparable to 3G" to users, but they then switched
to LTE with cellular spectrum by cooperating with local telecommunication operators. It is unclear
how technologies that rely on short communications times (low latency pings), such as VoIP,
might need to be modified to work in an environment similar to mobile phones where the signal
may have to relay through multiple balloons before reaching the wider Internet.

NAVIGATING

Project Loon balloons travel approximately 20 km above the Earth's surface in the
stratosphere, well above airplanes, wildlife, and weather events. In the stratosphere winds
are stratified, and each layer of wind varies in speed and direction. They are generally
steady and slow-moving at between 5 and 20 mph. Due to the wind properties, balloons
can travel along latitude line with a ± 5o latitude range. The balloons are maneuvered by
adjusting their altitude in the stratosphere to float to a wind layer after identifying the

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wind layer with the desired speed and direction using wind data from the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Project Loon uses software
algorithms to determine where its balloons need to go, then moves each one into a layer
of wind blowing in the right direction. By moving with the wind, the balloons can be
arranged to form one large communications network. The Loon team can access the web-
based control system from any computer or tablet. By moving with the wind, the balloons
can be arranged to provide coverage where it’s needed.

CONNECTION

High speed internet is transmitted up to the nearest balloon from the telecommunications
partner on the ground, relayed across the balloon network, and then back down to users on
the ground. They have demonstrated data transmission between balloons over 100 km apart
in the stratosphere and back down to people on the ground with connection speeds of up to
10 Mbps, directly to their LTE phones.
Far below the loons, ground stations providing connectivity to backbone Internet can
transmit signals to the balloons up to 65 miles far. The signals would hop forward, from
one balloon to the next, along a chain of up to 5 balloons. Each balloon is networked to
one another within 30 miles with a radio transceiver as in a mesh, designed to ensure
signal reliability. A second transceiver keeps the balloon in contact hundreds of antennas
on ground area about 25 miles in diameter at speeds comparable to 3G. The specialized
antennas can be placed on homes, much like a very small satellite TV receiver. Project
Loon currently uses ISM bands (specifically 2.4 and 5.8 GHz bands) that are available for

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anyone to use. There is also a back-up transceiver and a GPS on each balloon, so Google
can monitor each balloon's location.

A user with the specialized antenna sends signals via a radio frequency over ISM bands
to a balloon close to him/her. The balloon sends the signals to neighboring balloons.
Eventually, the signals reach the balloon which is connected to the local Internet. The
wireless mesh network is constantly adjusting as balloons move. Any balloon is able to
connect the Internet to a base station which has Internet connectivity and then receives
Internet data and forwards them via balloons in the sky to the destination. Finally, the
balloon close to the request user broadcasts the data to the grounds via a radio frequency
over ISM bands. The special antenna installed the outside of home receives data and
decrypt the data. The wireless mesh network should be constantly adjusting as balloons
move.
It covers an area of an around 40 km (28 mi) diameter circle which is twice the area of
New York City. Thousands of balloons can cover the whole world. Currently, its lifetime
is only a few weeks, but Google anticipates that they can be in the sky hundreds of days
in future.

ISM BANDS:

The industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands are radio bands (portions
of the radio spectrum) reserved internationally for the use of radio frequency (RF)
energy for industrial, scientific and medical purposes other
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 than telecommunications. Examples of applications in these bands include radio-
frequency process heating, microwave ovens, and medical diathermy machines.
The powerful emissions of these devices can create electromagnetic
interference and disrupt radio communication using the same frequency, so these
devices were limited to certain bands of frequencies. In general, communications
equipment operating in these bands must tolerate any interference generated by
ISM equipment, and users have no regulatory protection from ISM device
operation.

Despite the intent of the original allocations, and because there are multiple
allocations, in recent years the fastest-growing uses of these bands have been for
short-range, low power communications systems. Cordless
phones, Bluetooth devices, near field communication.

(NFC) devices, and wireless computer networks all use frequencies allocated to
low power communications as well as ISM.

The ISM bands defined by the ITU-R are:

Centre
Frequency range Bandwidth Availability
frequency

6.765 MHz 6.795 MHz 30 kHz 6.780 MHz Subject to local acceptance

13.553 MHz 13.567 MHz 14 kHz 13.560 MHz Worldwide

26.957 MHz 27.283 MHz 326 kHz 27.120 MHz Worldwide

40.660 MHz 40.700 MHz 40 kHz 40.680 MHz Worldwide

Region 1 only and subject to local

433.050 MHz 434.790 MHz 1.74 MHz 433.920 MHz
acceptance

902.000 MHz 928.000 MHz 26 MHz 915.000 MHz Region 2 only (with some exceptions)

2.400 GHz 2.500 GHz 100 MHz 2.450 GHz Worldwide

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5.725 GHz 5.875 GHz 150 MHz 5.800 GHz Worldwide

24.000 GHz 24.250 GHz 250 MHz 24.125 GHz Worldwide

61.000 GHz 61.500 GHz 500 MHz 61.250 GHz Subject to local acceptance

122.000 GHz 123.000 GHz 1 GHz 122.500 GHz Subject to local acceptance

244.000 GHz 246.000 GHz 2 GHz 245.000 GHz Subject to local acceptance

LAUNCHING

The custom-built Auto launchers are designed to launch Loon balloons safely and
reliably at scale. Huge side panels provide protection from the wind as the balloon is
filled and lifted into launch position, and then the crane is pointed downwind to smoothly
release the balloon up into the stratosphere. Each crane is capable of filling and launching
a new balloon into the Loon network every 30 minutes.

CONNECTING

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Project Loon is partnering with telecommunications companies to extend connectivity
into rural and remote areas so that people everywhere will be able to access the Internet
directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices. Wireless internet signal is
transmitted up to the nearest balloon from our telecommunications partner on the ground,
relayed across the balloon network, and then sent back down to people in rural and
remote areas. Each balloon has a coverage area of 5000 square kilometers.

FLIGHT

Project Loon aims to launch and maintain a fleet of balloons to provide Internet coverage
to users on the ground, with the Auto launchers capable of safely and consistently
launching a new balloon every 30 minutes. Project Loon has flown over 19 million km of
test flights to date since the project began - with one of the record-breaking balloons
surviving for 190 days aloft in the stratosphere.

RECEPTION (ANTENNA)

It can provide wireless Internet connectivity to ground areas at up to 10Mbps (3G speed).
There are two kinds of communications: balloon-to-balloon network and balloon-to-
ground station or subscribers network. It has specialized radio antennas to support two
networks. It currently uses ISM bands specifically 2.4 and 5.8 GHz bands because they
are typically unlicensed radio frequencies around the world, which means Google is able
to avoid negotiating with local governments to purchase specific radio frequencies.
Additionally, these also avoids interferences and reaches much further distances. Because
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 it does not support Wi-Fi, smart phones such as iPhone are not able to establish
connections directly to balloons. it requires users to install a specialized antenna the
outside of their home to receive the signal from a balloon near their home and to decrypt
the signal. This way is very similar to the usage of satellites.

DESIGN

Project Loon has taken the most essential components of a cell tower and redesigned them to be
light enough and durable enough to be carried by a balloon 20 km up in the stratosphere. All the
equipment is highly energy-efficient and is powered entirely by renewable energy - with solar
panels powering daytime operations and charging a battery for use during the night.

ENVELOPE

The inflatable part of the balloon is called a balloon envelope. A well-made balloon
envelope is critical for allowing a balloon to last around 100 days in the stratosphere.
Loon’s balloon envelopes are made from sheets of polyethylene plastic, and they measure
fifteen meters wide by twelve meters tall when fully inflated. When a balloon is ready to
be taken out of service, gas is released from the envelope to bring the balloon down to
Earth in a controlled descent. In the unlikely event that a balloon drops too quickly, a
parachute attached to the top of the envelope is deployed.
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The balloon envelopes used in the project are made by Raven Aerostar, and are
composed of polyethylene plastic about 0.076 mm (0.0030 in) thick. The balloons
are super pressure balloons filled with helium, standing 15 m (49 ft.) across and 12 m
(39 ft.) tall when fully inflated. They carry a custom air pump system dubbed the
"Croce" that pumps in or releases air to ballast the balloon and control its elevation. Its
envelope is made from sheets of Mylar which is a brand for a thin strong polyester film
about 0.076 mm thick. Such super pressure balloons require Mylar since it strongly keeps
from stretching and popping at even high altitude. It is built to resist higher pressures than
a normal weather balloon which reaches usually at an altitude of 40 km (25 mi). Inside
envelope, there is another chamber, called bladder. To have the balloon descended, a fan
powered by the solar energy fills the bladder with air to make it heavier. Likewise, the
fan vents air in the bladder, which causes it to rise. The balloon can move up or down a
1.7 km (1 mi) range through the bladder system. This system can help to choose suitable
wind currents in stratosphere. It also releases some air inside out of the envelope to
relieve pressure. When being out of the service, it releases gas from the envelope and
descends slowly to the ground. It rarely happens, but when the balloon drops quickly, it
uses the parachute on the top of the envelope.

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Project Loon balloons are designed and manufactured at scale to survive the conditions in
the stratosphere, where winds can blow over 100 km/hr and the thin atmosphere offers
little protection from UV radiation and dramatic temperature swings which can reach as
low as -90°C and at pressure as low as 1/100 atm. After 100 days from the launching, the
balloon is ready to be taken out of service and the gas is released from the envelope to
bring down the balloon in a controlled descent to the ground. Each balloon includes a
parachute to ensure a more controlled landing. The balloons and equipment on board can
be re-used and each loon has an approximately 2-years life time.

SOLAR PANELS

Each unit’s electronics are powered by an array of solar panels that sits between the
envelope and the hardware. In full sun, these panels produce 100 Watts of power -
enough to keep the unit running while also charging a battery for use at night. By moving
with the wind and charging in the sun, Project Loon is able to power itself using only
renewable energy sources.

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The solar array is a flexible plastic laminate supported by a light-weight aluminum frame.
It uses high efficiency mono crystalline solar cells. The solar array is mounted at a steep
angle to effectively capture sunlight on short winter days at higher latitudes. The array is
divided into two sections facing in opposite directions, allowing us to capture energy in
any orientation as the balloons spin slowly in the wind. The panels produce
approximately 100 Watts of power in full sun, which is enough to keep Loon’s
electronics running while also charging a battery for use at night.

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EQUIPMENT

A small box weighing 10 kg (22 lb.) containing the balloon’s electronics hangs underneath
the inflated envelope, like the basket carried by a hot air balloon. This box contains circuit
boards that control the system, radio antennas to communicate with other balloons and with
Internet antennas on the ground, and lithium ion batteries to store solar power so the
balloons can operate throughout the night.

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 This box contains circuit boards that control the system, radio antennas and an Ubiquiti
Networks 'Rocket M2' to communicate with other balloons and with Internet antennas on
the ground, and batteries to store solar power so the balloons can operate during the night.
A parachute attached to the top of the envelope allows for a controlled descent and landing
when a balloon is ready to be taken out of service. In the case of an unexpected failure, the
parachute deploys automatically. When taken out of service, the balloon is guided to an
easily reached location, and the helium is vented into the atmosphere. The balloons
typically have a maximum life of about 100 days, although Google claims that its tweaked
design can enable them to stay aloft for closer to 200 days. The prototype ground stations
use an Ubiquiti Networks 'Rocket M5' radio and a custom patch antenna to connect to the
balloons at a height of 20 km (12 mi). Some reports have called Google's project the
Google Balloon Internet.

RECOVERY

The Project Loon team tracks the location of every balloon using GPS, coordinating directly with
the local air traffic control to bring each one safely to ground targeting sparsely populated areas.
When a balloon is ready to be taken out of service, the lift gas keeping the balloon aloft is released
and the parachute deploys automatically to bring the balloon to the ground in a controlled descent.
The recovery teams then collect the equipment for reuse and recycling.

HELPING IN PERU

Earlier this year, Peru had been battered by extreme rains and flooding. Hundreds of thousands of
people had been displaced and the Peruvian government had declared more than 800 provinces to
be in a state of emergency. In situations like these, the ability to communicate with loved ones and
access basic information becomes paramount — yet communications infrastructure on the ground
is often one of the first things to be knocked out by natural disasters like floods and landslides.

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Loon balloons float 20 km up in the stratosphere and so have the potential to extend connectivity
to where it’s needed regardless of what’s happening below. Project Loon has been flying balloons
over Latin America and running connectivity tests with the telecommunications partner Telefonica
in Peru for the last few months.

Project Loon and Telefonica have been able to work together to provide basic Internet connectivity
to tens of thousands of people who would otherwise not have had connectivity in flood zones
around Lima, Chimbote, and Piura. More than 160 GB of data has been sent to people over a
combined area of 40,000 square km —  that’s roughly the size of Switzerland — and enough data
to send and receive around 30 million WhatsApp messages, or 2 million emails.
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MAKING THE BALLOONS LEARN TO LOITER

When Google launched Project Loon a few years ago, the plan was to provide internet access to
underserved areas with the help of a series of balloons that would constantly circumnavigate the
earth. When one balloon moved out of range, another would move in behind it. Today, Google is
still Google but it’s also Alphabet — and as Alphabet’s “Captain of Moonshots” at X Astro
Teller explained today, the team recently found a way to keep the Loons in one spot for an
extended time, and that will likely be how the company will operate its Loon-based internet service
in the future.
That means Project Loon will be able to work with significantly fewer balloons in flight at any
given time. According to Teller, the team hit upon the algorithm that makes this work almost by
accident. “By early 2016, the team was seeing a few balloons behave in a slightly weird way:
lingering in an area rather than sailing away,” he writes in today’s announcement. “In the
weirdness, they saw opportunity. They asked themselves the once-impossible question: could our
algorithms help the balloons to stay much closer to the location they were already in?”
Using this new system, the team managed to have balloons loiter in Peruvian airspace (after
launching from Puerto Rico) for up to three months.
When the project started, the team first had to learn how to make a balloon fly around the globe.
Then, as the team learned how to better steer the balloons (and predict local winds), the
team figured out how to have the Loons loop around an ocean or continent. Those loops grew
tighter over time — and having the balloons loiter over a small area is the logical conclusion of
that experiment.
Whether Alphabet will ever be able (or willing) to turn Loon into a fully fledged internet
service remains to be seen. Having fewer balloons in the air at any given time, though, will surely
make it cheaper to operate — and the current version of Alphabet is all about making a profit, after
all.

CURRENT PROGRESS

In 2008, Google had considered contracting with or acquiring Space Data Corp., a company that
sends balloons carrying small base stations about 20 miles (32 km) up in the air for providing
connectivity to truckers and oil companies in the southern United States, but didn't do so.
Unofficial development on the project began in 2011 under incubation in Google X with a series

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of trial runs in California's Central Valley. The project was officially announced as a Google
project on 14 June 2013.

On 16 June 2013, Google began a pilot experiment in New Zealand where about 30 balloons were
launched in coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority from the Tekapo area in the South
Island. About 50 local users in and around Christchurch and the Canterbury Region tested
connections to the aerial network using special antennas. After this initial trial, Google plans on
sending up 300 balloons around the world at the 40th parallel south that would provide coverage
to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. Google hopes to eventually have thousands of
balloons flying in the stratosphere.

The technology designed in the project could allow countries to avoid using expensive fibre cable
that would have to be installed underground to allow users to connect to the Internet. Google feels
this will greatly increase Internet usage in developing countries in regions such as Africa and
Southeast Asia that can't afford to lay underground fibre cable.

The high-altitude polyethylene balloons fly around the world on the prevailing winds (mostly in a
direction parallel with lines of latitude, i.e. east or west). Solar panels about the size of a card table
that are just below the free-flying balloons generate enough electricity in four hours to power the
transmitter for a day and beam down the Internet signal to ground stations. These ground stations
are spaced about 100 km (62 mi) apart, or two balloon hops, and bounce the signal to other relay
balloons that send the signal back down.

This makes Internet access available to anyone in the world who has a receiver and is within range
of a balloon. Currently, the balloons communicate using unlicensed 2.4 and 5.8 GHz ISM bands,
and Google claims that the setup allows it to deliver "speeds comparable to 3G" to users. It is
unclear how technologies that rely on short communications times (low latency pings), such as
VoIP, might need to be modified to work in an environment similar to mobile phones where the
signal may have to relay through multiple balloons before reaching the wider Internet.

The first person to connect to the "Google Balloon Internet" after the initial test balloons were
launched into the stratosphere was a farmer in the town of Leeston, New Zealand, who was one of
50 people in the area around Christchurch who agreed to be a pilot tester for Project Loon. The
New Zealand farmer lived in a rural location that couldn't get broadband access to the Internet, and
had used a satellite Internet service in 2009, but found that he sometimes had to pay over $1000
per month for the service. The locals knew nothing about the secret project other than its ability to

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deliver Internet connectivity; but allowed project workers to attach a basketball-sized receiver
resembling a giant bright-red party balloon to an outside wall of their property in order to connect
to the network.

Pilot test project in New Zealand

CHALLENGES

 One of the challenges of the first Loon balloon I-74’s long flight was the lack of sunlight
at the far southern latitudes; it experienced only 5.5 hours of sunlight and 18.5 long hours
of darkness each day. This was a challenge for the solar-powered batteries that allow each
balloon to transmit signals, run the heater so the electronics don’t freeze, and change
altitudes to navigate. The limited sunlight on this trip tested the limits of the solar panels
and gave the team a better sense of the minimum levels of sunlight needed to power the
batteries.
The solar panels experience winter just like the earth does. In the winter, the sun’s rays
come in at an angle and so the earth doesn’t receive as much light or heat. The same
principle applies to our solar panels on a smaller scale: the solar panel on I-74 captured less
solar energy as it traveled further south. The angle of the sun on the horizon during I-74’s
flight was very low, so the sun’s rays hit the panel at a steep angle, making the effective
size of the solar panel much smaller. Since most of the testing has been in the continental
US, they haven't had an opportunity to check the predictions for how the solar panels
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 behave at 60° latitude before. They now have some new ideas for how to redesign the solar
panels to capture energy more effectively, regardless of the angle of the sun.

 On their most recent research flight they overflew Fresno, a nearby city, to get statistics on
how the presence of lots of other radio signals (signal-noise) in cities affects our ability to
transmit Internet. It turns out that providing Internet access to a busy city is hard because
there are already many other radio signals around, and the balloons’ antennas pick up a lot
of that extra noise. This increases the error-rate in decoding the Loon signal, so the signal
has to be transmitted multiple times, decreasing the effective bandwidth.
This is like trying to talk to a friend at a loud concert. The the music interferes with your
voice, so your friend might have to ask you to repeat what you said a few times in order to
make sure she heard it correctly. This will result in a more basic conversation; instead of
speaking about complicated topics in depth, you’ll have to spend a lot of your time
repeating yourself just to make sure your friend can understand you!
One way to deal with this is to speak louder, or in the case of a Loon balloon, to increase
the signal strength. Our tests over Fresno will help us understand how signal-noise
interferes with our signals, so we can determine how strong we’ll need to make our signal
in order to transmit it effectively.

 The balloon polythene is very thin about 3 mm, so proper care had to be taken to transport
it properly without causing any harm, as even the slightest hole could cause problems. For
this Project Loon team devised innovative methods for rolling and folding the balloons and
also the workers had to wear fluffy socks as a preventive measure.

 Before finalizing the balloon material and design, about 61 attempts were made with
different types of balloon materials, different pressure conditions, different strings etc. to
finally get the perfect balloon design.

APPLICATIONS

 It can improve communication during any disaster to affected regions.

 It will be available at all places, even in Sahara Desert

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  It can improve Internet usage in developing countries in region such as Africa and
Southeast Asia that can’t afford underground fiber cable for providing internet
connectivity.
 It is fast, efficient and more reliable than wired broadband connection

LATEST TRENDS

 Sri Lanka will become the first country in the world to have universal Internet coverage.
Sri Lanka’s officials signed an agreement with Google to launch the helium-filled, high-
tech balloons over the country. Google plans to begin releasing the by March 16.
 Google is gearing up to test 20 high-altitude balloons in north-east Australia. Telstra,
Australia’s largest telecommunications company will support the next phase of the
project’s development by supplying base stations to enable communication with the
helium-filled balloons and access to the radio spectrum. Engineers hoping for a successful
test of technology capable of beaming 4G-like signals to receivers on the ground.

COST
A. Balloon
 Polyethylene plastic envelops manufactured by Raven Aerostar: $4,000
 Helium gas per loon per flight: $2,000 100W
 solar panels (5ft × 5ft): $500
 Navigation control system: $1000
 Equipment box (circuit boards, radio antennae, GPS, weather instruments and batteries):
$12,000
 Re-launch fee for a used balloon: $3,000
B. Ground station connected to backbone Internet
 Station construction and equipment installation: $1.2 million
 Maintenance: equipment cost is $30,000/year and land cost depends on local market.
C. Need dedicated personnel to conduct regular maintenance and
troubleshooting.
D. Labor cost varies at different location.
E. Balloon launching and collecting point
 All the installation, maintenance costs depend on local land cost and human resource cost.

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  Due to properties of wind in the stratosphere, balloon moves along latitude line with a ± 5o
latitude range, so please be aware of coverage limitation of balloons from one balloon
station.
F. Antenna for users
 Antenna: $500

ADVANTAGES

 The price of Internet data in many parts of the world continues to be unaffordable for the
majority of global citizens.
 “Project Loon” will offer worldwide access to information to everyone, including those
who today are beyond the geographic reach of the internet or can’t afford it.”
 Project Loon will guarantee this right by taking a practical approach to information
delivery.
 Project Loon‘s near-term goal is to provide the entire world with broadcast data, Internet
access for everyone.
 Wireless connection to the Web available for free to every person in the world.

 Project Loon will also offer a humanitarian communications system, relaying public
service transmissions during emergencies in places where there is no access to
conventional communications networks due to natural disasters or man-made restrictions
on the free-flow of information.

 Project Loon will use a network of balloons to transmit selected internet data – audio,
video, text and applications – to any Wi-Fi-enabled device, including mobile phones,
anywhere in the world.

LIMITATIONS

 “Cost” was high as we have to take permission, buy antenna and fix it in home.
 “Maintenance” cost will be very high as the total equipment is very costly and
complicated.

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  “Balloons” must be replaced for every two to three weeks. As they must be refilled the gas
and should correct the balloon’s equipment if any damages occurs when they are moving
at stratosphere.

SOME QUESTIONS

 WHAT ARE PROJECT LOON BALLOONS?

Project Loon is a global network of high altitude balloons. The balloons ascend like
weather balloons until they reach the stratosphere, where they sail at an altitude of roughly
20 km (65,000 feet), safely above the altitudes used for aviation. While weather balloons
burst after only a few hours in the air, Loon balloons are super pressured, allowing them to
last much longer. Loon balloons are also unique in that they can sail the wind to travel
where they need to go, they can coordinate with other balloons as a flock, and their
electronics are entirely solar powered.

 IS PROJECT LOON AN INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER?

No, all end-users will connect via Loon to the existing network operators in their country
that partner with Project Loon. Loon balloons act as floating cell towers, allowing local
telecommunications companies to extend their coverage into areas that are currently
underserved.

 HOW DO I RECEIVE INTERNET SERVICE FROM THE BALLOONS?

Upon commercial launch, to access the Internet through Project Loon, the user will just
need to have a sim card of the local Mobile Network Operator that is partnering with Project
Loon and an LTE-enabled phone. Web traffic that travels through the balloon network is
ultimately relayed to the local telecommunications partners' ground stations where it
connects to their pre-existing Internet infrastructure.

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 WHERE IS PROJECT LOON PLANNING TO PROVIDE INTERNET ACCESS?

Project Loon is focused on bringing connectivity to rural and remote areas. They are in
discussions with telecommunications companies and governments worldwide to provide a
solution to help extend Internet connectivity to these underserved areas.

 WHAT STEPS IS PROJECT LOON TAKING TO BE ENVIRONMENTALLY

RESPONSIBLE?

Project Loon is taking several steps to ensure it is environmentally responsible:

It is working to guide all balloons to collection points upon descent, so they can be reused,
recycled, or responsibly disposed off.
When balloons do not make it to one of these collection points, they send the recovery team
out to collect them.
The balloon equipment is entirely solar powered.
They are working to make their stratospheric wind data available to the environmental
science community so it can be used to improve weather and climate models.

 WHAT COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT IS ON A BALLOON?

There are two main radio transceivers on each balloon: a broad-coverage LTE base station
(or “eNodeB”), and a high-speed directional link used to connect between balloons and
back down to the Internet.

 HOW FAST IS BALLOON-POWERED INTERNET?

In user tests, they have observed Internet speeds similar to that of current LTE/4G networks
that many people get on their phones today.

 HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN ONE BALLOON SERVE?

Each balloon can provide coverage to a ground area about 80 km in diameter, and with our
current design a single balloon can serve thousands of subscribers.

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 IN 2013, PROJECT LOON USED WIFI FOR TESTS IN NEW ZEALAND. IS
WIFI STILL BEING USED TO CONNECT USERS TO THE BALLOONS?

No, the technology connecting the user to the balloon is LTE/4G. Wi-Fi was used in a
previous iteration of Loon experiments but starting in mid-2014, only LTE has been used,
allowing for connectivity to be delivered direct-to-phone in partnership with mobile
operators.

 HOW DO YOU PRESERVE THE SECURITY AND INTEGRITY OF DATA

TRANSMITTED OVER THE LOON NETWORK?

Data is automatically encrypted while transiting the balloon network. Upon commercial
launch, they will integrate with the core networks of partners so data transmitted will have
no less than the same levels of encryption and authentication as those networks.

 WHAT ELECTRONICS ARE ON THE BALLOON?

In addition to the specialized radios that provide Internet service to users on the ground,
Loon balloons carry instruments to monitor the weather and ambient environmental
conditions as well as GPS units to keep track of their flight patterns and an aviation
transponder to report the balloons position to air traffic control. The electronics are
powered by solar panels, and excess power is stored in a rechargeable battery so service
can continue through the night.

 HOW ARE THE BALLOONS POWERED?

The equipment on the balloons is powered by solar panels during the day and a
rechargeable battery during the night.

 WILL THE BALLOONS HAVE CAMERAS OR CAPTURE ANY IMAGERY OF

THE GROUND?

For test flights outside of the US there are never any cameras on board, and at production
none of the balloons will be equipped with any cameras. In the short term and only on
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 certain test flights operating within the United States only, they use cameras to observe
how various components of the balloon are functioning at high altitude.

 ARE THE BALLOONS STATIONARY?

No, the balloons are carried along on stratospheric winds and are constantly in motion. By
predicting the movements of different wind patterns in the stratosphere they aim to ensure
that as one balloon sails off with the wind, there is another ready to take its place to continue
providing connectivity on the ground below.

 HOW HIGH DO THE BALLOONS FLY?

Loon balloons are flying in the stratosphere well above commercial air traffic and weather
events, at around 18 - 23 km or 60,000 - 75,000 feet.

 HOW LONG WILL A BALLOON STAY UP IN THE AIR?

They are working on creating a balloon design that can reliably last for 100+ days at a
time in the stratosphere.

 HOW DO THEY DEAL WITH THE EXTREME CONDITIONS IN THE

STRATOSPHERE?

Situated on the edge of space, between 10 km and 60 km in altitude, the stratosphere

presents unique engineering challenges: high in the stratosphere the air pressure is 1% that
at sea level, and this thin atmosphere offers little protection from UV radiation and dramatic
temperature swings. By carefully designing the balloon envelope to withstand these
conditions, Project Loon is able to take advantage of the stratosphere's steady winds and
remain well above weather events, wildlife, and airplanes.

 HOW IS THE MOVEMENT OF THESE BALLOONS CONTROLLED?

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 The positioning of the Loon fleet is adjusted and controlled in real-time from Loon Mission
Control, using a combination of automatic planning algorithms and human oversight.

 HOW WILL THE BALLOONS COME DOWN?

When a balloon is ready to be taken out of service, the lift gas is released from the balloon
and the parachute deploys automatically. The Project Loon team tracks the balloon location
using GPS and coordinates directly with the local air traffic control to bring the balloon
safely to the ground in sparsely populated areas.

 HOW ARE THE BALLOONS COLLECTED AFTER THEY HAVE LANDED?

They aim to bring Project Loon balloons down in sparsely populated and accessible areas.
The Project Loon team includes recovery specialists who track down and collect landed
balloons. We track our balloons continuously using GPS, and so once they have worked
with air traffic control to bring the balloons to land, the recovery team will be on their way
to collect the equipment for reuse and recycling.

 IS THERE RISK OF AIRPLANES HITTING THE BALLOONS?

At their floating altitude, Loon balloons fly much higher than commercial jetliners, so they
are well out of the way. Each balloon is equipped with a transponder that can constantly
transmit location to local air-traffic control and ADS-B enabled airplanes throughout the
balloon's flight. The team always coordinates directly with local air-traffic control when
balloons are launched, throughout their flight, and when they descend.

 IS IT POSSIBLE TO SEE THE BALLOONS FROM THE GROUND?

In certain weather conditions it may be possible to see a Loon balloon from the ground as
a small white dot in the sky. Most of the time they will be very difficult to see with the
naked eye.

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 DO YOU NEED PERMISSION TO FLY THESE BALLOONS?

The laws applicable to high altitude balloon flight and telecommunications services differ
from country to country, and Project Loon complies with all applicable laws as required.

 CAN PROJECT LOON FLY INTERNATIONALLY?

Loon works with civil aviation authorities and air navigation service providers wherever
they fly. They also work cooperatively with the International Civil Aviation Organization
(the civil aviation arm of the United Nations). ICAO have communicated Loon's
compliance with international aviation regulations to all 191 UN countries, as well as
sharing a set of operational standards which can be used internationally.

 ARE THERE OTHER BALLOONS LIKE THOSE USED BY PROJECT LOON?

Although not quite the same, there is a precedent for high-altitude balloon flights, with
approximately 70,000 weather balloons launched every year. However, weather balloons
reach certain height before they burst, whereas Project Loon balloons are designed to stay
aloft in the stratosphere for over 100 days at a time. There are similar balloons that are used
by other organisations to collect environmental and other data useful to the scientific
community, but this is the first time that long-duration balloons of this kind have been used
with the aim of providing Internet connectivity.

 WHICH TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES ARE THEY PARTNERING

WITH?

Project Loon has conducted connectivity tests with Vodafone in New Zealand, Telefonica
in Brazil, and Telstra in Australia. Loon also has a testing agreement with Telkomsel,
Indosat, and XL Axiata in Indonesia. They are open to partnering with telecommunications
companies interested in extending Internet connectivity to rural and remote areas in their
countries.

 WHAT KIND OF SPECTRUM WILL BE USED?

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 They enter into agreements with our mobile operator partners to use their licensed LTE
spectrum to serve their end-users, using the balloon network with the mobile operator's
core network.

 DOES LOON INTERFERE WITH CURRENT LTE NETWORKS?

Project Loon partners with telecommunications companies in each country they operate to
share and coordinate use of LTE spectrum. Upon commercial launch, the coverage
provided through Project Loon will co-exist with the cell tower coverage of their partner
network operator and will not interfere with that signal in any way.

CRITICISM

Project Loon has generally been well received, although Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project
developers and astronomers have raised concerns that the lower of the two ISM bands that Loon
uses (2.4 GHz) will interfere with the mid-band frequency range (0.5 GHz–3 GHz) used in the
SKA project. Google has not yet specified the costs of this project.

New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key delivered a speech at the launch event in Christchurch
stating that the Internet is important for New Zealand to help it globally distribute what it produces
in a low cost way as the next 4 billion people come online; Key also acknowledged the potential
of utilizing Loon for disaster recovery.

PROJECT LOON IN INDIA

The department of National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been commissioned to decide the
location and help with the requirements for the pilot.

Started in 2013, the project has run its experimental pilot in New Zealand, California’s Central
Valley, northeast Brazil, South Africa, Sri Lanka (in February), as well as in Indonesia.

When Google approached various Indian ministries with the proposal last year, the project was
shot down owing to concerns over the spectrum bandwidth required by Google for transmission
(700 to 900 megahertz (MHz)). Since this spectrum is already occupied by telecom service
providers it could lead to cellular interference.

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Further, the Civil Aviation ministry feared the interference of the balloons with flight paths; the
Home ministry raised suspicions on surveillance and the Defense ministry had problems with the
balloons floating over military establishments.

Telecom operators have urged the Telecom ministry to ensure that broadcast frequencies are
allocated only through allocation.

BSNL has been coordinating with Google on the Loon project for space, spectrum coordination
and equipment testing. In an interview with the Economic Times, Anupam Shrivastava, Chairman
and Managing Director, BSNL said that they are evaluating two airwave bands – 700 Mhz and
2500 Mhz, with the latter being the preferred choice, since no approval is required from the telecom
department. They had also initially proposed Madhya Pradesh as the place for pilot.

While Facebook is pursuing similar aspirations through their solar-powered drones, satellites and
lasers, Microsoft is looking at its ‘TV white space’ transmissions, the unused portions of wireless
spectrum in the frequency bands (generally set aside for television) for providing broadband
connectivity. Currently, it is running pilots in 10 countries across the world.

CONCLUSION

Project Loon is no panacea. No number of helium-filled balloons will solve every problem that
prevents people, particularly those in developing countries, from participating fully in the Internet.
However, implementing a large-scale High-Altitude Platform in rural, remote and underdeveloped
areas will go a long way toward bringing the Internet to the 4.4 billion people who currently lack
access. Together with other infrastructure improvements and improvements to educational systems
in countries with low literacy, a project like Project Loon could make a significant impact on
closing the digital divide. And, in fact, a well-implemented HAP could make those other changes
more likely, both by increasing demand for the services needed to make available Internet useful,
and by simplifying the logistics of planning and implementing government services in areas that
previously lacked lines of communication. In an article critical of both Project Loon and
Internet.org, Newsweek technology columnist Kevin Maney opined, “if past is any prologue,
before a sky-based system can get deployed, it gets rendered obsolete and too expensive, and
networks on terra firma expand enough to take a chunk of the customers the sky system had been
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counting on serving. At some point, the sky project faces reality and tells its rocket scientists to
pack it in” [19]. Maney is correct that none of the world’s many HAP efforts have yet come to
fruition. That clearly provides ample reason to be skeptical of Project Loon. However, in the last
two years, Google has provided many reasons to be optimistic, too. Google has already had
significant successes in improving the speed of Internet access balloons can provide, the
geographical range a balloon can reach, and the lifespan of any given balloon. There is therefore
reason to think that Project Loon may well succeed where others have failed, potentially expanding
online access to many of the 4.4 billion people who currently lack any access to the Internet.

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REFERENCES
1. https://www.google.co.in/#q=comments+of+people+on+project+loons
2. http://www.wired.com/business/2013/06/google_internet_balloons/all/google.com/loon
3. www.youtube.com/ProjectLoon
4. www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/06/26/what-do- you-think-of-project-loon/
5. http://www.google.com/loon/
6. https://plus.google.com/+ProjectLoon/about
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Loon
8. http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/534986/project-loon/
9. https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ProjectLoon/posts
10. http://googleblog.blogspot.in/2013/06/introducing-project-loon.html

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