Google's Project Loon uses high-altitude balloons placed in the stratosphere at around 18km to create an aerial wireless network and provide internet access to rural and remote areas. The balloons act as floating wireless towers, connecting to antennas on the ground. Google has conducted experimental launches in New Zealand, Brazil, Australia and plans to partner with countries like India and Sri Lanka to expand internet access using this technology. The balloons are constructed of polyethylene plastic and can remain floating for over 100 days powered by an onboard solar panel and battery.

1. Survey of Project Loon
Shreya Chakrabarti M.S Computer Science,
Dr.Arjan Durresi, Professor, Computer and Information Science
Department of Computer and Information Science, IUPUI, Indianapolis, IN, USA;
(Image Citation: http://images.hngn.com/data/images/full/93252/project-loon.jpg)
Abstract
A Balloon generally is associated with Harmless Happiness almost since one’s childhood.
Imagine a day when you see balloons flying in the sky throughout the day wouldn’t it be
celebration of life? Google X (Research and development wing of Google) is set to use the same
strategy to provide the rural and remote areas of the world with modern day Happiness “The
Internet”. 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. 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.

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Table of Contents:
Introduction………………………………………………………………..3
Technology………………………………………………………………...4
Equipment………………………………………………………………….5
Countries Participating…………………………………………………….6
Conclusion………………………………………………………………....8
List of Acronyms…………………………………………………………..9
References………………………………………………………………....9
Citations…………………………………………………………………...9

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Introduction
Google has branded itself from being just a startup 12 years back to the second name for “The
Internet”. The company has not stopped there and is continuously adding the world with its
newer innovations almost every day. For the experimental projects and some of the most
innovative ideas google created Google X, a semi-secret research and development facility
located miles away from its headquarters in California. Work at the lab is overseen by Sergey
Brin, one of Google's co-founders and President, while scientist and entrepreneur Astro Teller
(Captain of Moonshots) directs day-to-day activities. The lab started up in 2010 with the
development of a self-driving car. Since then Google X has taken up many other projects like
Google Glass, Wing, An artificial neural network for speech recognition and computer vision,
the web of things, a way of connecting real-world objects to the Internet, Long lasting
smartphone batteries and Project Loon.
Although a majority of the world rejoices and experiences the boons of Internet today, a chosen
few are still deprived of this blessing. The world statistics reflect the following figures
Project Loon, is a google initiative to connect this other half of the world to the Internet. The
Project derives its name for its association with both Flight and Insanity. The project was a secret
venture by Google up until 14 June 2013 when Google announced it as one of its official project.
Worldwide Internet Users
2005 2010 2014
World
Population
6.5 Billion 6.9 Billion 7.2 Billion
Internet
Users
84% 70% 60%
Non-
Internet
Users
16% 30% 40%
Source: International Telecommunications Union

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Soon after the announcement 30 pumpkin sized balloons were seen up around 20kms (12 miles)
high in the skies of Tekapo Area, South Island, New Zealand where these balloons were
launched on an experimental basis to test their working. Fifty users from this area tested the
aerial network with the help of special antennas. After this initial experiment Google has great
plans of sending a little over 300 balloons in the skies of Australia, Chile, Argentina and India.
Google also promises that their technology will be of great use during the time of natural and
human disasters.
Technology
The technology used Google for its loon project can be described in simple terms as a network of
Balloons. As per this technology the balloons would be released in the stratosphere layer of the
Earth’s atmosphere (20 Kms above the surface of the Earth). This layer is best suited for the
project as the winds in this layer are generally mild and steady ranging from 5 to 20 mph and
each layer of wind varies with direction and magnitude. Thus, taking advantage of this natural
setup the Balloons can move with the wind, to be arranged to form a large communication
network.
The Balloons in the air are comparable to a floating reception and transmission antenna.
(Image Citation: http://i1.wp.com/www.techsharx.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/the-project1.jpg?resize=700%2C368)
These balloons are launched into the stratosphere 20kms above the earth’s surface. Google
suggests that stratosphere is best suited for this project as the winds are mild in this layer of the
atmosphere ranging from 5 to 20 mph.
The residencies participating in the study have special antennas fitted on their respective roofs.
These antennas send signal to the balloons in the surrounding area, once the balloon receives the

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signal it passes it on to the nearest neighboring balloons. These balloons create a network in
themselves by passing the received signal amongst themselves.
Thus, the passing signal is received by the balloon closest to the rural area or an area deprived of
any network towers unlike bigger cities and popular destinations. This balloon will now pass on
the signal it receives to the local ISP provider who is responsible for passing the network to the
local residents. Thus, the objective of the project to connect the entire world into the global
portal of the internet is achieved. Major advantage of this project is that it connects a large
number of areas together without major cost to the network provider of constructing and
maintaining a network tower.
Equipment
The equipment used by Google for its Project is the man’s simplest, cheapest and favorite flying
machine “A Balloon”. These stratosphere roaming balloons however are modified a little to fit
the requirements of supplying internet.
Google Balloon Specifications
 Balloon Material : Polyethylene Plastic
 Thickness of Material: 3mm
 Height: 12 meters tall
 Diameter: 15 meters
 Temperature withstanding capacity: Negative 117 Degree Fahrenheit
 Gas Usedfor Inflation: Helium
 Floating capacity : 100 Days
 Solar Panel Power Generation Capability : 100 Watts
 Antenna for Reception and Relaying of up to 4G LTE Signals

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Fig: 1 Balloon Architecture
Project Loon’s balloon envelopes are made from sheets of polyethylene plastic and stand fifteen
meters wide by twelve meters tall when fully inflated. They are specially constructed for use in
super pressure balloons, which are longer-lasting than weather balloons because they can
withstand higher pressure from the air inside when the balloons reach float altitude. A parachute
attached to the top of the envelope allows for a controlled descent and landing whenever a
balloon is ready to be taken out of service.
This balloon carries a solar panel to self-charge its own battery on-board. The small basket like
box that the structure carries is the heart of the system. The box contains circuits that control the
system, namely instruct it with the directions to move, it contains radio antennas to communicate
with other balloons in the vicinity and also antennas to communicate with the ground base
station.

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Countries Participating in the Project
Project Loon began with a pilot test in June 2013, when thirty balloons were launched from New
Zealand’s South Island and beamed Internet to a small group of pilot testers. The pilot test has
since expanded to include a greater number of people over a wider area. (Citation:
https://www.google.com/loon/where/).
After the Pilot test Google is making headway with other countries to launch its Loon Project.
In June 2014 Google tested the balloon powered internet venture in Piaui, Brazil. Google sent 5
balloons into the stratosphere as part of partnership with Brazilian Government to provide the
countries remote areas with Internet inability.
Google also conducted some tests in Australia during this time which lead to the Balloon record
time of keeping the loon afloat for 100 days straight. Not many details for this experiment are
available in papers and on the web except for the record time.
In 2014 Google has partnered with French Space Agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
(CNES) for assisting with floating hotspots and the agency will in turn help in Project Loon. A
specialized lab has been setup for recording and studying of the various experiments conducted
with the Loon.
The year 2014 was a big year for google as the balloon recorded multiple record times of staying
afloat ranging from 50 days to improving until the capacity of 187 days (above 6 months).
After these successful experiments Google has moved forward with proposing its services to
multiple other countries and is gaining quick momentum.
On July 2015 Google signed a contract with Government of Sri Lanka to provide internet access
to the entire country via Google Loons. As a result of this Sri-Lanka will be one of the very few
countries by the end of 2018 to become a country with full Internet Access.
Beginning of 2016 India too has welcomed Google Loon Project with open hands. Below is a
famous Picture which was very popular on twitter and Facebook feed for a very long time and is
hence proof that people in India are very excited about the Project launch.

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(Image Citation: http://www.thecountrycaller.com/public/images/uploads/1457366441-11796-Google-To-Partner-With-Indian-Telecom-
Providers-For-Project-Loon-Tests.jpg)
Google is partnering with Indian Telecom Companies like Airtel, Vodafone etc. to provide
internet to the remote areas in India, thus contributing in development of the country.
Conclusion
As the Internet makes the world a smaller place it is important that the entire Population of the
world stay aboard with the progressive path. Although internet is increasingly becoming a
necessary commodity it is geographically and technically a challenge to connect all the places of
the globe Newer and advanced technologies like Google Loon will allow human kind to progress
beyond imagination. With the world increasingly connected to the internet problems like lack of
education, lack of information and lack of resources in some areas of the world can be solved
easily.
It can be easily predicted that Google Loon will gain high momentum in the coming few decades
and very soon the world would be a tiny island!

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List of Acronyms
Project Loon, Google Balloon, Balloon Internet, Google X
References
https://www.google.com/loon/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Loon
https://www.youtube.com/user/ProjectLoon
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534986/project-loon/
Citations:
Image Citation:http://images.hngn.com/data/images/full/93252/project-loon.jpg
Image Citation: International Telecommunications Union
Image Citation: http://i1.wp.com/www.techsharx.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/the-
project1.jpg?resize=700%2C368
Image Citation: http://www.thecountrycaller.com/public/images/uploads/1457366441-11796-
Google-To-Partner-With-Indian-Telecom-Providers-For-Project-Loon-Tests.jpg
https://www.google.com/loon/where/