Is it a Loon or is it a drone? Google seeks experimental radio license in US Google's asked the United States' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to let it play with millimetre-wave technology America-wide for two years. In a filing that's sparked “Project Loon coming to America?” speculation, the company has filed a heavily-redacted request with the FCC for permission to run unspecified …
> "Google has a coordination agreement in place with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory to ensure that that operations under [REDACTED] current experimental authorizations ... do not cause interference to radio astronomy observations at NRAO’s Owens Valley location."
I bet the agreement states that when Google gives the 'high sign,' the astronomers kick back for a while, with every hour down earning them oh... say about $50,000? That's not even petty cash for Google, but it would be rich lifeblood to the typical radio astronomy outfit stuck in out in the boonies.
...but it is now all pervasive - its phones tracks you, your search history is monitored, WiFi cameras watch you at home, their cars will drive you and their drones monitor the sky - does anyone else thinks this looks suspiciously like the outsourced arm of the US 'intelligence' agencies.
I'm not a tin foil hatter, but if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.
...with all the hype and supposed development around drones and product delivery...
As far as I can see they are severely lacking in payload capacity/range with no likely mid term solution.
Even if that were resolved there is the not insignificant matter of and glacial progress surrounding managing airspace, ask Lester!
And finally there is the matter of transfer of ownership. Would the shipper transfer anything of value to something they couldn't positively identify as secure, to someone they couldn't identify, or transport it via something which could easily be intercepted, knocked or blown out of the sky with relative ease or generally be forcibly disabled and robbed. Equally, Would the development and infrastructure economics work for low value items?
It strikes me as a solution to a problem which doesn't really exist.....
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