Project Uses Light Signals to Provide High-speed Internet

A project by Google's parent company Alphabet has successfully used light beams to send high-speed internet signals across communities in India and Africa.

The latest project is one of several that aims to provide internet services to underserved, rural areas around the world.

Another, run by SpaceX chief Elon Musk¹, uses thousands of satellites to provide internet access worldwide. Social media service Facebook has also looked at bringing high-speed internet to rural communities. One of its possible solutions involves aircraft-based systems to beam internet signals to the ground.

In developed countries, high-speed internet access is provided by fiber²-optic cables. In fiber-optic systems, light signals are carried over long distances using fibers³ covered by cables. These systems are highly effective, but they can be extremely costly⁴ and require major deployment⁵ operations.

For this reason, many parts of the world -- especially rural and underdeveloped areas -- are not able to build and operate fiber-optic networks. The process can also be costly and complex in some city environments as well. This prevents millions of people across the world from having access to the internet and all that it offers.

The new system being tested in India and Africa offers a partial solution to this problem. It was developed by Alphabet's X development team, also known as the "moonshot factory."

Like fiber-optics, the system uses light to carry high-speed internet signals. But the light travels as beams through the air, without the need for fiber or cables. The beams can transmit high-speed data between two points with the help of receiving devices attached to structures. The technology is called Free Space Optical Communications (FSOC).

The project is called Taara. The idea for it came out of another Alphabet project called Loon⁶. Loon aimed to use high-flying balloons to transmit internet signals to underserved areas on the ground. But after major research, development and testing, Alphabet announced in January that it could not make Loon successful and was ending the project.

The Loon team, however, had looked at the use of FSOC technology to create data links between balloons flying in the air. The Taara team built on this development and created a version of the system to operate on the ground.

Taara's latest project used an FSOC system to transmit high-speed data signals between two large African cities. The two cities are Brazzaville, in the Republic of the Congo, and Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The two cities are only 4.8 kilometers apart, separated by the Congo River. But Taara said in a statement that high-speed internet access is five times costlier⁷ in Kinshasa because the fiber connection has to travel more than 400 kilometers around the river. The transmission of data signals is possible as long as there is a direct line of sight between the system's receiving devices.

The system can be affected⁸ by some kinds of weather, such as heavy fog, or by birds or other animals getting close to the equipment. But the Taara team says it has already made progress in getting the system to adjust to such environments to avoid any service outages.

After deploying⁹ its "pointing and tracking" equipment to beam connectivity across the river, Taara said the link provided nearly 700 terabytes of data in 20 days with 99.9 percent availability. It noted¹⁰ that that amount of data would be equal to watching a FIFA World Cup match in high-definition (HD) 270,000 times.

Baris Erkmen is the director of engineering for Taara, which has reported similar results in tests of the system in India. He said the team admits that it cannot expect to see "perfect reliability¹¹" in the system through all kinds of weather and conditions.

However, he added: "We're confident Taara's links will continue to deliver similar performance and will play a key role in bringing faster, more affordable¹² connectivity to the 17 million people living in these cities.

Words in This Story

beam – n. a line of light shining from something

access – n. the right or ability to approach, enter or use

cable – n. a wire covered by plastic that carries electricity, telephone or data signals

fiber – n. a piece of a structure or object that resembles a thread

transmit – v. to send out signals

adjust – v. to change something slightly so that it works better

track – v. to record the progress or development of something over a period

reliable – adj. able to be trusted or believed

affordable – adj. reasonable priced and able to be bought by most people

1 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

2 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

3 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

4 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

5 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

6 loon   

n.狂人

参考例句：

• That guy's a real loon.那个人是个真正的疯子。
• Everyone thought he was a loon.每个人都骂他神经。

7 costlier   

adj.昂贵的( costly的比较级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的

参考例句：

• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather. 鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。 来自互联网
• Disagreements among creditors can be costlier still. 债权人之间的分歧会加大重组的费用。 来自互联网

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 reliability   

n.可靠性，确实性

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• I can assure you of the reliability of the information.我向你保证这消息可靠。

12 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。