Facebook is working to connect the world through various technologies including drones, satellites, and free space optics. Their goal is to provide affordable basic internet access globally. They are developing solutions tailored to different population densities, such as high altitude drones for medium density areas and satellites for low density areas. Challenges include overcoming the physics of signal loss over distance for aerial platforms and the high costs of satellite deployment.
Big Broadband: Public Infrastructure or Private MonopoliesWayne Caswell
This paper contrasts the different incentives of incumbent ISPs, municipalities and other stakeholders, suggesting that the cost of extending fiber closer to premises is high enough to cause IPSs to cherry pick the most profitable customers, leaving others to fend for themselves. That’s where public broadband comes in, but the politics can pose obstacles for municipalities that want their own networks, so this paper also includes a section explaining the fears of various stakeholders. Incumbent phone companies, for example, fear competition from VoIP alternatives and are using their deep pockets and powerful lobbyists to delay competition as long as they can.
The report presents an analysis of Sling TV, an American over-the-top internet television service launched in 2015, and its market. Including how it draws attention to the fast-growing consumer base of cable-cutters and how they have affected traditional cable services for switching to streaming services. It Incorporates studies on customers' budgets and describes how it fits in line with Sling's TV business model vs. its competitors. In addition, you will find information on how Sling TV could utilize the new broadband speed of 5G to increase its monthly subscribers and including suggestions of possible partnerships to increase product awareness and its popular a-la-carte TV streaming service.
Florida Broadband Plan - Using broadband infrastructure to promote jobs creation, workforce development and entrepreneurship education through the building of social entrepreneurship and asset-based community development modalities.
Big Broadband: Public Infrastructure or Private MonopoliesWayne Caswell
This paper contrasts the different incentives of incumbent ISPs, municipalities and other stakeholders, suggesting that the cost of extending fiber closer to premises is high enough to cause IPSs to cherry pick the most profitable customers, leaving others to fend for themselves. That’s where public broadband comes in, but the politics can pose obstacles for municipalities that want their own networks, so this paper also includes a section explaining the fears of various stakeholders. Incumbent phone companies, for example, fear competition from VoIP alternatives and are using their deep pockets and powerful lobbyists to delay competition as long as they can.
The report presents an analysis of Sling TV, an American over-the-top internet television service launched in 2015, and its market. Including how it draws attention to the fast-growing consumer base of cable-cutters and how they have affected traditional cable services for switching to streaming services. It Incorporates studies on customers' budgets and describes how it fits in line with Sling's TV business model vs. its competitors. In addition, you will find information on how Sling TV could utilize the new broadband speed of 5G to increase its monthly subscribers and including suggestions of possible partnerships to increase product awareness and its popular a-la-carte TV streaming service.
Florida Broadband Plan - Using broadband infrastructure to promote jobs creation, workforce development and entrepreneurship education through the building of social entrepreneurship and asset-based community development modalities.
Why Broadband Matters: A Look at its Impact and Application for CitiesEd Dodds
By Julia Pulidindi May 2013 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004-1763 | 202-626-3000 | Fax: 202-626-3043 | www.nlc.org National League of Cities
Proposals to introduce new high speed broadband services onto Britain's rail network this week may sound like great news for companies who can benefit from the remote working possibilities this would bring – but the likelihood of this being established effectively has been questioned.
IWMW 2000: Town and Gown Finding Common Ground on the WebIWMW
Slides for the plenary talk on "Town and Gown Finding Common Ground on the Web" presented at the IWMW 2000 event held at the University of Bath on 6-8 September 2000.
See http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2000/sessions .html#rowlatt
Internet Service Provider by Satellite .pdfAfrikanet2
In a world that thrives on connectivity, the quest for reliable internet services has led to innovative solutions, and one such breakthrough is the Internet Service Provider (ISP) by satellite. This PDF serves as a comprehensive guide, shedding light on the technology, its benefits, and the transformative impact it can have on bridging the digital divide.https://afrikanet.com/fr/our-service/internet-by-satellite/
Why Broadband Matters: A Look at its Impact and Application for CitiesEd Dodds
By Julia Pulidindi May 2013 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004-1763 | 202-626-3000 | Fax: 202-626-3043 | www.nlc.org National League of Cities
Proposals to introduce new high speed broadband services onto Britain's rail network this week may sound like great news for companies who can benefit from the remote working possibilities this would bring – but the likelihood of this being established effectively has been questioned.
IWMW 2000: Town and Gown Finding Common Ground on the WebIWMW
Slides for the plenary talk on "Town and Gown Finding Common Ground on the Web" presented at the IWMW 2000 event held at the University of Bath on 6-8 September 2000.
See http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2000/sessions .html#rowlatt
Internet Service Provider by Satellite .pdfAfrikanet2
In a world that thrives on connectivity, the quest for reliable internet services has led to innovative solutions, and one such breakthrough is the Internet Service Provider (ISP) by satellite. This PDF serves as a comprehensive guide, shedding light on the technology, its benefits, and the transformative impact it can have on bridging the digital divide.https://afrikanet.com/fr/our-service/internet-by-satellite/
The demand for bandwidth is soaring worldwide. More people in more places are connecting for work,
entertainment, social communication, and education, and they’re increasingly using mobile phones, tablets,
and other easy-to-carry devices. And in many developing parts of the world, mobile phones are often the only
internet-access technology that’s both affordable and available.
In the era of technology and innovation, one thing which is everywhere is the Internet. It has become an inevitable part of our lives, which can help in accessing all the content around the globe. It helps in staying connected, reaching technology, gathering information, giving visibility, etc very smoothly with the ease of doing it all anywhere we want. But despite being such an old invention, still many people are deprived of it. This paper focusses on various techniques and initiatives taken to make the internet available to all and also the existing techniques are discussed in detail. Anshika Gupta "Internet for Everyone" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-5 , August 2020, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd33040.pdf Paper Url :https://www.ijtsrd.com/engineering/information-technology/33040/internet-for-everyone/anshika-gupta
Above the Clouds: Unleashing Connectivity with Internet Service Providers by ...Afrikanet2
In the dynamic landscape of digital connectivity, satellite internet service providers have emerged as transformative players, reaching beyond traditional boundaries to connect communities worldwide. This PDF delves into the pivotal role of internet service providers by satellite, exploring their impact on overcoming geographical challenges, empowering remote regions, and contributing to a connected global future.https://afrikanet.com/fr/our-service/internet-by-satellite/
internet service provider by satellite .pdfAfrikanet2
In the dynamic landscape of digital connectivity, satellite internet service providers have emerged as transformative players, reaching beyond traditional boundaries to connect communities worldwide. This PDF delves into the pivotal role of internet service providers by satellite, exploring their impact on overcoming geographical challenges, empowering remote regions, and contributing to a connected global future.https://afrikanet.com/fr/our-service/internet-by-satellite/
Cellular Connectivity: Changing the Landscape of the Cellular Backhaul Market...ST Engineering iDirect
The demand for connectivity is surging worldwide. Today more than ever, more people in more places are connecting for work, entertainment, social communications, and education. Increasingly, they’re using smartphones, tablets, and other easy-to-carry devices. And in many underdeveloped parts of the world, smartphones are often the only Internet access technology that’s both affordable and available.
As a result, mobile networks are poised to become the primary way in which we connect. According to the 2018 Ericsson Mobility Report, there will be 7.2 billion smartphone subscriptions by 2023. Total data traffic has surged by 400% from 2013 to today and is projected to explode another 500% by 2023.
Flying Hope: Balloon bring Internet to everywhere
Project loon is a research and development project being enveloped by Google. It is a network of balloons travelling on the edge of space, designed to provide ubiquitous Internet connectivity. The balloons float in the stratosphere, twice as high as airplanes and the weather. 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.
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What Benefits Does the Internet of Things Take from Satellite Communication?damienwoods
The Internet of Things (IoT), as its name implies, relies heavily on the Internet, but another technology has played a vital role in helping the connected global economy develop, and that is the satellite technology.
The lack of connectivity in rural and suburban areas prevents businesses, innovation, school homework activities, telemedicine, and a lot of things that we cannot realize. The broadband availability is the new electricity. In depth studies support that broadband plays fundamental role in accelerating the economic and social development of a country. A broader base of people accessing the internet translates into more commerce and improved educational opportunities. The connectivity boosts the economical development and innovation in all possible sectors of a country such as health, agriculture, education and consequently improvement of the skilled labor. So, it is imperative to provide ways for million of people to access the internet with a very low-cost. Universal broadband access allows the society to meet part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing - in a global partnership – which aims the end of poverty based on strategies to improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth. Universal Broadband has a potential to reduce poverty and hunger, provide access to health systems, minimize the gender differences and inequalities between affordable and less affordable population, provide access to better education, economic growth, innovation culture, and provide positive impacts in environmental, social and governance (ESG).
MARINET – National Technology Initiative (NTI) is a key long-term program of the public-private partnership in the development of promising new markets based on high-tech solutions that will determine development of the global and Russian economy in the next 15-20 years.
MARINET was established in 2015 and involves a wide range of organizations providing advanced technologies for the maritime industry – from the leading corporations and universities to startup companies and research teams. Currently it joins several hundreds representatives from technology companies, leading universities, research and scientific centers, development institutions, business associations, ministries and government agencies.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
Removing Uninteresting Bytes in Software FuzzingAftab Hussain
Imagine a world where software fuzzing, the process of mutating bytes in test seeds to uncover hidden and erroneous program behaviors, becomes faster and more effective. A lot depends on the initial seeds, which can significantly dictate the trajectory of a fuzzing campaign, particularly in terms of how long it takes to uncover interesting behaviour in your code. We introduce DIAR, a technique designed to speedup fuzzing campaigns by pinpointing and eliminating those uninteresting bytes in the seeds. Picture this: instead of wasting valuable resources on meaningless mutations in large, bloated seeds, DIAR removes the unnecessary bytes, streamlining the entire process.
In this work, we equipped AFL, a popular fuzzer, with DIAR and examined two critical Linux libraries -- Libxml's xmllint, a tool for parsing xml documents, and Binutil's readelf, an essential debugging and security analysis command-line tool used to display detailed information about ELF (Executable and Linkable Format). Our preliminary results show that AFL+DIAR does not only discover new paths more quickly but also achieves higher coverage overall. This work thus showcases how starting with lean and optimized seeds can lead to faster, more comprehensive fuzzing campaigns -- and DIAR helps you find such seeds.
- These are slides of the talk given at IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, ICSTW 2022.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
zkStudyClub - Reef: Fast Succinct Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Regex ProofsAlex Pruden
This paper presents Reef, a system for generating publicly verifiable succinct non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs that a committed document matches or does not match a regular expression. We describe applications such as proving the strength of passwords, the provenance of email despite redactions, the validity of oblivious DNS queries, and the existence of mutations in DNA. Reef supports the Perl Compatible Regular Expression syntax, including wildcards, alternation, ranges, capture groups, Kleene star, negations, and lookarounds. Reef introduces a new type of automata, Skipping Alternating Finite Automata (SAFA), that skips irrelevant parts of a document when producing proofs without undermining soundness, and instantiates SAFA with a lookup argument. Our experimental evaluation confirms that Reef can generate proofs for documents with 32M characters; the proofs are small and cheap to verify (under a second).
Paper: https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1886
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Welcome to the first live UiPath Community Day Dubai! Join us for this unique occasion to meet our local and global UiPath Community and leaders. You will get a full view of the MEA region's automation landscape and the AI Powered automation technology capabilities of UiPath. Also, hosted by our local partners Marc Ellis, you will enjoy a half-day packed with industry insights and automation peers networking.
📕 Curious on our agenda? Wait no more!
10:00 Welcome note - UiPath Community in Dubai
Lovely Sinha, UiPath Community Chapter Leader, UiPath MVPx3, Hyper-automation Consultant, First Abu Dhabi Bank
10:20 A UiPath cross-region MEA overview
Ashraf El Zarka, VP and Managing Director MEA, UiPath
10:35: Customer Success Journey
Deepthi Deepak, Head of Intelligent Automation CoE, First Abu Dhabi Bank
11:15 The UiPath approach to GenAI with our three principles: improve accuracy, supercharge productivity, and automate more
Boris Krumrey, Global VP, Automation Innovation, UiPath
12:15 To discover how Marc Ellis leverages tech-driven solutions in recruitment and managed services.
Brendan Lingam, Director of Sales and Business Development, Marc Ellis
State of ICS and IoT Cyber Threat Landscape Report 2024 previewPrayukth K V
The IoT and OT threat landscape report has been prepared by the Threat Research Team at Sectrio using data from Sectrio, cyber threat intelligence farming facilities spread across over 85 cities around the world. In addition, Sectrio also runs AI-based advanced threat and payload engagement facilities that serve as sinks to attract and engage sophisticated threat actors, and newer malware including new variants and latent threats that are at an earlier stage of development.
The latest edition of the OT/ICS and IoT security Threat Landscape Report 2024 also covers:
State of global ICS asset and network exposure
Sectoral targets and attacks as well as the cost of ransom
Global APT activity, AI usage, actor and tactic profiles, and implications
Rise in volumes of AI-powered cyberattacks
Major cyber events in 2024
Malware and malicious payload trends
Cyberattack types and targets
Vulnerability exploit attempts on CVEs
Attacks on counties – USA
Expansion of bot farms – how, where, and why
In-depth analysis of the cyber threat landscape across North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
Why are attacks on smart factories rising?
Cyber risk predictions
Axis of attacks – Europe
Systemic attacks in the Middle East
Download the full report from here:
https://sectrio.com/resources/ot-threat-landscape-reports/sectrio-releases-ot-ics-and-iot-security-threat-landscape-report-2024/
Enhancing Performance with Globus and the Science DMZGlobus
ESnet has led the way in helping national facilities—and many other institutions in the research community—configure Science DMZs and troubleshoot network issues to maximize data transfer performance. In this talk we will present a summary of approaches and tips for getting the most out of your network infrastructure using Globus Connect Server.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
In his public lecture, Christian Timmerer provides insights into the fascinating history of video streaming, starting from its humble beginnings before YouTube to the groundbreaking technologies that now dominate platforms like Netflix and ORF ON. Timmerer also presents provocative contributions of his own that have significantly influenced the industry. He concludes by looking at future challenges and invites the audience to join in a discussion.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf
Facebook Connectivity Lab
1. Connecting the World from the Sky
Last August, Facebook partnered with leading technology companies to launch Internet.org — a
global effort to make affordable basic internet services available to everyone in the world.
Connecting the world is one of the fundamental challenges of our time. When people have
access to the internet, they can not only connect with their friends, family and communities,
but they can also gain access to the tools and information to help find jobs, start businesses,
access healthcare, education and financial services, and have a greater say in their societies.
They get to participate in the knowledge economy.
Building the knowledge economy is the key to solving many of our big social and economic
challenges, and creates new growth and opportunities for people in every country. A recent
study by Deloitte found that the internet is already an important driver of economic growth
in many developing countries. Expanding internet access could create another 140 million
new jobs, lift 160 million people out of poverty, and reduce child mortality by hundreds of
thousands of lives. Connectivity isn’t an end in itself, but it’s a powerful tool for change.
2. However, there are significant obstacles to building the knowledge economy, and the internet
is growing very slowly. Today, only around 2.7 billion people have access to the internet — just
a little more than a third of the world’s population. That number is only growing by about 9%
every year.
If we want to connect the world, we have to accelerate that growth. That’s our goal with
Internet.org.
Internet.org progress to date
In my last paper, I outlined a plan to deliver basic internet services to everyone by working to
decrease the costs of connectivity, building more efficient services that use less data, and by
partnering with mobile operators on new models for access that can help the industry grow
while also bringing more people onto the internet.
Since then, we’ve achieved promising early results from our first set of partnerships. In the
Philippines, we worked with mobile operator Globe to offer free data access to our apps, make
it easier for people to register for a data plan and get a loan for their plan. In just a few months
we helped double the number of people using mobile data on Globe’s network and grew their
subscribers by 25%. In Paraguay, by working with TIGO we were able to grow the number of
people using the internet by 50% over the course of the partnership and increase daily data
usage by more than 50%. These two partnerships alone helped almost 3 million new people
access the internet.
These are still early partnerships, and over the coming years we will expand these efforts in
additional markets. By working together with operators to drive awareness and demand for
internet services, and by collaborating on new models for access that decrease the cost of
data, we think we can bring billions more people onto the internet over the next few years.
But partnerships are only part of the solution. To connect everyone in the world, we also need
to invent new technologies that can solve some of the physical barriers to connectivity. That’s
why Facebook in investing in building technologies to deliver new types of connectivity on the
ground, in the air and in space.
Different communities require different technology
Facebook’s approach to developing new platforms is based on the principle that different
3. communities need different technical solutions.
Our research has shown that approximately 80-90% of the world’s population lives today in areas
already covered by 2G or 3G networks. These environments are mostly urban or semi-urban, and
the basic cell and fiber infrastructure has already been constructed here by mobile operators. For
most people, the obstacles to getting online are primarily economic.
For the remaining 10-20%, the economic challenges also apply, but in this case they also explain
why the basic network infrastructure has yet to be built out. The parts of the world without
access to 2G or 3G signals are often some of the most remote places on Earth, where physical
access to communities is difficult. Deploying the same infrastructure here that is already found
in urban environments is uneconomical as well as impractical.
But deploying the same infrastructure solutions for everyone is also unnecessary when we
consider the different population densities found in different communities. In dense urban
areas, greater network capacity is needed to serve a larger population. That means we need to
build cell towers, small cells or a big network of wi-fi access points. But in the less urban and
less connected markets, there are also fewer people distributed over a wider area. Deploying
other infrastructure solutions like satellites might be more efficient and cost effective.
Our strategy is to develop different types of platform to serve different population densities.
Coverage Heat Map
4. Platforms at different altitudes
Higher altitudes generally means beams
are more spread out on Earth, but giving
more trunking opportunities far away
from the sites of interest.
5. Dense urban areas: in urban environments, wireless mesh networks can provide simple to
deploy and cost effective solutions. We will discuss this further in a later paper.
Medium density areas: for limited geographical regions, unmanned aerial vehicles can pro-
vide a novel and efficient method of access. High altitude solar-powered aircraft can be quickly
deployed and have long endurance.
Low density areas: across the largest areas of territory with the lowest population densities,
satellites can beam internet access to the ground. Communications satellites today are expensive
to deploy, but space-based methods of connectivity are becoming smaller and cheaper to launch.
Our teams in Facebook’s Connectivity Lab are working on projects in each of these areas.
The following sections of this paper will focus on how we’re doing this for aerial and space-based
platforms.
The physics of aerial connectivity
Before discussing the relative costs, benefits and capabilities of these platforms, it’s important to
understand the fundamental constraints we need to consider while working on aerial connectivi-
ty. These are not only issues of cost, efficiency and deployment, but also the basic laws of physics.
Themostimportantconstrainttoconsideristhatasyouincreasealtitude,assumingallelseisequal,
the signals emitted by aerial platforms cover a wider area and therefore become weaker. More
specifically, the power of a radio signal weakens as a square of distance.
If you consider cell towers, they can provide really strong signals across relatively small areas.
And stronger signals creates the ability to deliver higher capacity. A plane at an altitude of 20
kilometers will allow you to reach people more than 100 kilometers away, but the signal loss
will be significantly higher than would occur for terrestrial networks. And if you send up a
satellite that can beam internet across an entire continent, it might have wide reach across a
large territory, but its signal will be a lot weaker than almost any other option for connecting.
Boosting the signal in order to achieve a high bandwidth capacity is also very impractical. Radio
signals get weak very quickly, so they require a large amount of power to strengthen. Since
satellites generally rely on solar power as their energy source, generating a lot of power (would
need to square to make up the difference) would mean constructing either huge, unstable
structures, which are impractical, or nuclear powered satellites, which are very expensive.
6. So physics creates a number of challenges for deploying aerial platforms for connectivity, and
creates different costs and benefits for each platform. For lower population densities, where
people are spread out across a large area, the higher up you go, the more cost effective it
becomes to place trunk stations and to deliver the internet. But signal loss will also be higher,
so satellite access is only really a way of providing a basic internet experience for remote
communities. Likewise, for high population densities, only lower altitude platforms will be truly
effective, and connection speeds will be faster and the experience better for a lot of people.
Given these challenges, Facebook is working on a range of technologies that will provide dif-
ferent options for connecting people.
Free space optics
Free space optical communication, or FSO, is a way of using light to transmit data through
Physics of electromagnetic propagation
As radio waves or light propagate, everything else being equal, at a distance 4x from the source, a signal is 16
times weaker than at a distance 1x.
7. space. These are basically invisible laser beams in the infrared part of the spectrum.
FSO is a promising technology that potentially allows us to dramatically boost the speed of
internet connections provided by any of the previously mentioned platforms. The lasers used
in FSO systems provide extremely high bandwidths and capacity, on par with terrestrial fiber
optic networks, but they also consume much less power than microwave systems. Because
you can make the beam so much narrower, this allows you to focus all of your power exactly
where you want it to go.
Using FSO technology could boost the signals being sent from Earth to orbit, and then be-
tween satellites in an orbital constellation. Potentially, the same system can also dramatically
increase the speed of internet connections on the ground that are provided by satellite. If a
laser receiver is mounted at a destination, a laser-equipped satellite can transmit data to it.
Using FSO to connect people on the ground would dramatically increase the utility of satellites
in providing internet access to larger segments of unconnected populations.
At the same time, FSO has a number of significant weaknesses. The narrow optical beams are
hard to orient correctly and need to be pointed very precisely. The level of accuracy required
is the equivalent of needing to hit a dime from 10 miles away, or hit the statue of liberty from
California. Laser systems also require line of sight between both ends of the laser link, meaning
that they don’t work through clouds and are very vulnerable to bad weather conditions. As a
result, backup radio systems are needed.
Despite these weaknesses, if we can overcome these problems, FSO can provide ways to con-
nect people that are a lot better and more cost effective. We’ve already started hiring world
experts on FSO, and we’re going to invest in exploring the full potential of this technology over
the coming years.
Drones and High Altitude Long Endurance systems
High altitude drones are one major area we’re focused on developing. To understand the
reasons for this, it is helpful to consider some of our technical constraints.
We want to:
• Fly as close to the ground as possible in order to maximize signal strength.
8. • Fly at a high enough altitude where the wind is not very strong in order to maximize
endurance.
• Fly outside of regulated airspace for safety and quick deployment.
• Be able to precisely control the location of these aircraft, unlike balloons.
• Build the smallest structure possible so it requires minimal energy to stay aloft.
• Build a large enough structure that can effectively harvest all the energy it needs
from the sun.
• Build the cheapest structure so we can cost effectively produce enough to span many
areas.
• Build a re-usable structure to make it more cost effective as well.
Based on these constraints, drones operating at 65,000 feet are ideal. At this altitude, a drone
can broadcast a powerful signal that covers a city-sized area of territory with a medium pop-
ulation density. This is also close to the lowest altitude for unregulated airspace, and a layer in
the atmosphere that has very stable weather conditions and low wind speeds. This means an
aircraft can easily cruise and conserve power, while generating power through its solar panels
during the day to store in its batteries for overnight use.
With the efficiency and endurance of high altitude drones, it’s even possible that aircraft could
remain aloft for months or years. This means drones have more endurance than balloons,
while also being able to have their location precisely controlled. And unlike satellites, drones
won’t burn up in the atmosphere when their mission is complete. Instead, they can be easily
returned to Earth for maintenance and redeployment.
We’re still finalizing the communication equipment payload, including FSO systems. If the
technical hurdles can be overcome with free space optics, the value of this solution will only
increase. But even equipped with microwave antennae, this system can potentially connect a
lot more people to the internet in an efficient and cost effective way.
Our team is actively working on building our first aircraft now. We recently announced that key
members from Ascenta, whose founders created early versions of Zephyr, which became the
world’slongestflyingsolar-poweredunmannedaircraft,willbejoiningourConnectivityLabtowork
9. on these aircraft. We expect to have an initial version of this system working in the near future.
Satellites and low population density areas
Despite the clear strengths of drone-based connectivity solutions, there will still be places
where it remains uneconomical or impractical to deploy drones or to provide the internet
connection to them. In these situations, satellites may prove a cheaper alternative for beaming
internet access to communities.
There are two main types of orbits that Facebook is considering for deploying satellites: low
Earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO).
Low Earth orbit
Low Earth orbit extends anywhere from 160 kilometers to 2,000 kilometers above the Earth.
As a LEO satellite orbits, the Earth turns underneath. LEO is the simplest and easiest orbit to
reach, and this is why the vast majority of satellites are deployed here.
LEO satellites have some clear strengths. Satellites in this orbit are close to Earth, so they can
provide a usable signal while using less power. This means LEO satellites can be smaller and
therefore cheaper to launch. There’s also comparatively less signal latency at this orbit, so it’s
easier to use real-time services like the web or voice calling.
However, the signal is still weak and can only serve a small population density – probably less than
100peoplepersquarekilometer.Italsorequiresantennastobeinstalledatgroundstationstotrack
their movements. And because LEO satellites don’t orbit at the same speed as the Earth spins, an
entire constellation of satellites is necessary to maintain constant coverage. This drives up the cost
considerably.
Geosynchronous Earth orbit
A geosynchronous orbit is an orbit around the Earth at the same speed that the planet is
rotating at. To hold an orbit at this distance from the planet, a satellite holds steady at 35,786
kilometers above sea levels.
A satellite in this orbit can stay pointed at one region indefinitely. This means the base stations
and trunk stations can be simpler and cheaper to configure since the beams don’t need to be
constantly tracking the moving constellations of satellites overhead.
As discussed earlier, with FSO technology it becomes possible to achieve much faster data
speeds. With conventional microwave signals, it’s much harder to deliver a high capacity signal
10. as a geosynchronous satellite is 60-90 times further away. Since signals weaken as a square of
distance, this becomes orders of magnitude worse.
This FSO approach is much harder for LEO because of satellite movement, but there are still
considerable technical challenges to be solved here.
Satellites are expensive and slow to develop
Ultimately, space platforms are much more complex to develop and deploy than other com-
peting technologies. Even if you can build satellites for relatively cheaply, transport to space
can cost millions — or in some cases tens or hundreds of millions — of dollars.
Navigating the regulatory issues can be a slow and expensive process too. ITU licenses for reg-
ulated microwave spectrum can take 5-7 years to achieve, though FSO remains unregulated.
In spite of the challenges, satellites offer the potential to deliver connectivity solutions when all
others fail. We’re currently exploring both LEO and geosynchronous approaches.
Deployment
From our work examining the different technologies for offering aerial solutions for connec-
tivity, it’s clear that each platform has strengths and weaknesses. Some of these weaknesses
will have to be fully solved in order to make the platforms viable and cost effective.
One major advantage of aerial connectivity, however, is that deployment to people’s homes is
relatively simple.
Relatively cheap devices already exist that can receive signals from the sky and broadcast wi-fi
to mobile phones. These take the form of simple and durable boxes, and can become cheaper
and capable of handling more kinds of signals over time. Even if everyone doesn’t own one,
someone in a village or community still may – a local store that wants to attract customers, a
community hub or non-governmental organizations working in the area. Civil society organiza-
tions and governments would be ideal for disseminating these units throughout communities
in developing countries.
This is a very different scenario from typical terrestrial network deployments. Installing tradi-
tional network infrastructure, like cell towers and fiber, requires digging. This means manual
construction, modifying structures and building other physical infrastructure, and lots of reg-
ulatory approval. Having a network that depends on lots of facilities and hardware on the
11. ground also makes your network subject to the insecurities of the ground – theft, looting, war
and natural disasters.
By comparison, aerial connectivity is relatively plug-and-play. You can get an internet box and
pick up signal from whatever is overhead.
Our approach
I hope this paper provides an interesting and useful overview of some of the technologies that
can help bring internet access to everyone in the world.
Facebook’s Connectivity Lab is building a team to develop these technologies, including areas
such as drones, satellites, mesh networks, radios and free space optics, as well as other prom-
ising areas of research. We’ve hired some of the leading experts in these fields from NASA’s
Jet Propulsion Lab, Ames Research Center and other centers of aerospace research. If you’re
excited about working on this mission, we’d love to talk to you too.
Internet.org is a partnership between companies, non-profits and governments. No one
company can do this work by itself, and Facebook will not deploy these technologies alone.
We’re looking forward to working with our partners and operators worldwide over the coming
months and years. Together we can develop new solutions to these important problems, and
deliver on the promise of a connected world.