The folks over at Google's Loon broadband balloon division say that advancements in their machine learning software mean they're now able to deliver more bandwidth -- using fewer balloons. According to a post on Google Plus by the company's X "Moonshot" division, advancements in machine learning techniques applied to the division's navigation algorithms means they're now able to get "teams of balloons to cluster together over a particular region of the earth." Project Loon balloons operate 12 miles above the planet.
"This has enormous implications for Loon’s economic and operational viability: we can put together a Loon network over a particular region in weeks not months and we can get greater value out of each individual balloon," says the company. "Overall this means a 100x reduction in the total number of balloons we’d need, which has huge implications for the costs of operating a Loon-powered network."
With Loon, which was introduced by Google back in 2013, ground base stations set some sixty miles apart communicate with solar-powered radio transmitters affixed to the balloons, and Google steers the balloons using wind as they ride the 40th parallel.
Loon saw plenty of critics early on who claimed Google would be lucky to keep its broadband balloons aloft for more than a couple of days. Now, Google's busy keeping balloons in the air for hundreds of days over thousands of kilometers.
But the company admits that it was among the skeptics regarding whether the technology would work.
"It’s still a surprise to many of us that Loon is looking as promising as it is; for years, the team focused their efforts on proving that Loon wouldn’t work," notes Google's Astro Teller in a post over at Medium. "Even the Project name tells you that our mindset when we got started was more “worth a shot” rather than “this could work.” Yet with each passing year, we keep finding the next steps on the path to making balloon-powered Internet a reality."
Ultimately Google says that the focus of Loon won't be on bringing more competition to bear on existing markets, but delivering connectivity to developing nations and during emergencies.