SDN in the stratosphere: Loon's aerospace mesh network

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544216.3544231

by mlerner • 4 years ago

35 11 4 years ago

dl.acm.org

ggm• 4 years ago

A truly amazing project. Predicting SDN choices so it's not just reacting to signal loss but making pre-emptive decisions to be able to route around.

tjmc4• 4 years ago

I've never understood why they opted for balloons over high altitude solar drones like Zephyr (1) which are much more maneuverable and can stay over a particular area.

1. https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/defence/uas/uas-...

aaron695• 4 years ago

Zepher's payload is 5kg and only stays up for a month and costs $$$$.

Balloons are a bag that can carry tonnes and last forever in theory.

The obvious choice is balloons.

You can tether balloons for local.

In practice what works best is a hard question.

What will the military fund etc.

tjmc4• 4 years ago

How do you tether a balloon at 30,000ft?

Perhaps a happy medium would be a solar airship with a rotor for maneuvering during the day.

an_ko• 4 years ago

I'm only guessing, but perhaps because balloons have fewer moving parts? They're the lowest-tech aircraft. Minimise aerospace engineering, focus on networks for now.

londons_explore• 4 years ago

The project started ~a decade ago, and back then a drone that could stay airborne 24x7 wasn't really doable - at least not with several kg of radio equipment and several hundred watts of power for networking gear.

Even today that's challenging - today's 24x7 drones glide all night because that's more efficient than carrying the weight of a battery that can last all night.

tjmc4• 4 years ago

Your point about needing to glide all night is interesting. Is this true for Zephyr as well?

TruthWillHurt• 4 years ago

Baloons are simpler, sturdier and much cheaper.

dgnemo• 4 years ago

Mostly payload and Airborne time. Idk what is the current status of Zephyr (google search suggests 26 days?) but Loon balloons were consistently reaching 300 days of airborne time.

philipkglass• 4 years ago

Zephyr's latest flight had 64 days airborne:

https://newatlas.com/aircraft/zephyr-8-mission-ends-abruptly...

Unfortunately, it ended with a crash.

SDN in the stratosphere: Loon's aerospace mesh network

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