Facebook suggests using space lasers for global communication.

There are several global Internet projects now, and the implementation of the idea is very different for different companies. So, someone creates balloons with suspended network equipment. Someone else launches small satellites into space to form a global network.

Facebook has previously offered to create a network of unmanned drones that could provide communications for people in hard-to-reach regions. Now Facebook’s plans have changed, instead of drones it is proposed to use a space laser.

And this plan is already being implemented , the company plans to test the theoretical calculations of its employees in practice. All this will be checked with the help of two observatories that will be built on Mount Wilson, California. There are already two observatories that serve science, now two more will appear in order to ensure the operation of the Facebook laser system.

Both observatories are being built by PointView, a small company that received construction permission from Los Angeles County.

This organization also developed an experimental satellite for Facebook called Athena. In April, the company requested permission from the FCC to test radio communications for broadband access to the network.

However, the application is still pending due to the suspension of the US government. Nevertheless, all documents submitted by the company say that it plans to use laser communication technology. It is possible for Athena and the device that is planned to be created in the future.

Facebook has been working on various communication technologies for a long time, including optics and lasers. The latter can provide much more bandwidth than radio transmitters. In addition, the laser is extremely difficult to intercept in order to intervene in a communication session. However, if we are talking about communication from space with the Earth, then atmospheric phenomena, including cloudiness, can create a known problem.

As for the now closed project on the creation of Aquila drones, which carry the E-band millimeter-wave radio communication transceivers, they were also used to test laser communication systems. Tests have shown a stable 10 Gbit / s link with the ground station, over which the drone flew.

The construction of observatories began in July, the facilities were first tested in mid-December last year. If the stations are really designed for conducting sessions of "laser communication", then their device should be very similar to the device of those objects that held communication with wireless drones. So far, new observatories have not yet been built, but this is a matter for the near future.

Scientific papers on laser communication, the authorship of Facebook employees, first began to appear in 2017, in 2018, the work of employees continued. The authors of the works published a technical description of various system components, including an optical modem. “The results of the work are evaluated in terms of application for space missions,” said the publications. According to the developers, their projects were intended for use in the aerospace industry, the goal is to continue the development of the Facebook idea of ​​new communication systems.


In the video above, one of the developers of the laser communications system talks about laser satellites as a game-changer for developing countries in terms of networking technologies. “Internet access for all will provide new opportunities for the population, including education and business development,” said the speaker, Rachel Anicheto. "Laser communication systems are a reliable and valuable technology that can be used to connect disconnected regions."

Despite the fact that the system presented earlier is somewhat different from what Facebook is preparing now, it is generally clear what this is all about. It is possible that remote regions will be connected to the global network not by means of drones, but by means of laser beams. And here we should not forget about Ilona Mask and OneWeb with their projects of deploying global satellite communications networks.