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A new venture on Lanai will test high-altitude, solar-powered drones meant to deliver expanded cellphone coverage from the skies.
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The visionary future of communications is nearly here, and it’ll be hovering 12 miles above us in the stratosphere.
In a couple of months, an experimental solar-powered flying wing with a 260-foot-long span is expected to be launched from a Lanai field, in a test-fly joint venture between unmanned aircraft systems developer AeroVironment and Japan’s SoftBank, involving Hawaii researchers. The hope is that one day, the craft will seed a network of stratospheric drones providing 5G cellphone coverage.
This drone-in-space experiment aims to see if the no-fuel aircraft, dubbed the HAWK30, can stay aloft for months at a time to provide global cell connectivity. The experimental craft requires a team of 40-45 engineers, pilots and ground crew — so even a non-rocket scientist can see that success of this craft could power economic development opportunity for Hawaii, especially if a global drone network would eventually number in the thousands, as some envision. That prospect could raise tangent issues in the distant future: Thousands of drones in the stratosphere; plus the possibility of using them for surveillance?
But for now, consider this an offshoot evolution of the space race. On the ground, there’s a heated rush toward 5G — the fifth generation of digital cellular technology that provides broadband access, with faster connections and much more capacity. South Korea launched the first sizeable usage in April; 5G service is just now being tried in a few U.S. cities.
Having space-drone 5G relay stations would make for a brave new world — and possibly could start from a humble launch-field on Lanai.
