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back to article Base stations get high on helium, ride MUTANT kite-balloons at the football

A team of European boffins has hoisted a mobile network base station into the air from a balloon/kite combination. Yet unlike similar schemes, this one is intended for everyday use, not just for emergencies. In a paper published by Cornell University, the team demonstrates that modern small cell technology can be combined with …

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  1. Tom 7

    Anything over 200' is liable to be shot down

    That would do me but there are laws about what you put up in the sky - up to 60 meters without a license - and planning permission will be needed too.

    Having said that I've just been on googlyearth and if I can get some decent gyroscope control I should be able to do 11g to a mates near the exchange , 11n if I'm lucky.

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    1. Chris Miller
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      Re: Anything over 200' is liable to be shot down

      Just to confirm: you are talking about 'permanent* structures'? 60m sounds awfully low - most kites can fly higher, and it would make Chinese lanterns illegal (not necessarily a bad thing, I know).

      * And at what stage does something become 'permanent'. If I take it down every night, would that count?

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      1. M Gale
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        Re: Anything over 200' is liable to be shot down

        I think the UK limit for model aircraft (and kites, by the way) is 400 feet, though obviously the heart of Africa and other such places will have different laws.

        Personally I know I've had models at over 1,000 feet AGL. It's nice to flip the thing into a dive and be high up enough for the bottom-mounted camera to see the very-nearby clouds peeling away and the dive to last for quite a long while. Not so nice to HAVE to put the craft into a dive after it starts disappearing into said clouds. That's between you, me and the rest of the Internet though. Keep it quiet, 'kay?

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        1. C 18
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          Boffin

          Re: Anything over 200' is liable to be shot down

          >Not so nice to HAVE to put the craft into a dive after it starts disappearing into said clouds. That's between you, me and the rest of the Internet though. Keep it quiet, 'kay?

          Oh, oh, oh... me, me, me!

          Yes, you at the back with your hand about to fall off if you wave any harder... what?

          I know what he should do... he should get one of these helikite thingys and use it as an intermediate base station for his RC aeroplane, then he can find BRITNEY or PARIS or whatever else the lads have left drifting around up there, probably an empty pizza box if the last model is anything to go by...

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    And of course you could always use a balloon shaped like a huge pair of balls... ;-)

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      ( . ) ( . )

      >...a huge pair of ballsboobs

      There, fixed them for you...

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  3. peter 45
    Unhappy

    Threaded unreadable

    Why has the layout changed. The threaded comments are unreadable now, and following the comments by newest or oldest is impossible.

    Change it back please

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  4. no_RS

    Didn't Richard Branson back a similar idea for Wi-Fi coverage using tethere balloons.

    Agree comments structure change is pretty naff.

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  5. Nigel 11

    Why?

    What is the advantage of the "extra lift" from a kite design? Surely on a calm day, it either displaces enough air to keep its payload and the cable aloft, or it doesn't and sinks to the ground! Alternatively if it's trustably windy, why bother with the helium?

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    1. Nigel 11
      Reply Icon

      Re: Why?

      I'm also wondering, if it's tethered, why not an electrically powered aeroplane for calm conditions, turning into a tethered glider whenever there's enough wind? (Electric power from the ground, via the tether).

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    2. Captain DaFt
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      Re: Why?

      " What is the advantage of the "extra lift" from a kite design? "

      Simple, the balloon keeps it in the air... except when it's windy.

      Balloons tend to drift with the wind, and the tether causes them to swing low to the ground.*

      With the kite part added, it now lifts into the wind and maintains a more vertical orientation.

      *Had an incident near here with a new car dealership's grand opening a while back. Large balloons holding strings of pennats aloft as an attention getter. Wind picked up, and the balloons pulled their tethers nearly horizontal across the highway, into traffic. Not pretty.

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