A world where internet is affordable and accessible to everyone : Project Taara

Project Taara

Hello tech enthusiasts!!

Information – Internet – Power. The modern world has undergone a substantial transformation as a result of the power of the internet. Thanks to the internet, gathering knowledge has become so much easier nowadays. In fact, that’s what we are doing even right now. Gathering knowledge by reading online articles.

Our daily routine is set up in a way that we spend most of our time in front of our laptops, computers or mobile phones. So that, a high-speed internet is a major requirement. Hence the need of high-speed internet keeps rising day by day. Though it is a fast-paced world we are living in, do you know that still there are areas in the world that haven’t got even the basic 2G or 3G coverages.

No Coverage

According to the United Nations, nearly 3 billion people or 37% of the world’s population still offline. Moreover, the UN’s International Telecommunication Union has estimated that 96% of the 2.9 billion people have never accessed the web. So this digital divide risk has become the ‘New face of inequality’. Just imagine how our lives would change if we got to live in such an area.

No Internet

That is the why the Google’s parenting company ‘Alphabet’ took up the challenge to think of a potential solution to overcome this problem. As a result, Alphabet’s moonshot lab X has built up “Project Taara” to give it a shot.

What is Project Taara?

The whole story started with the initiation of the project loon. It was a project involving sending hot air balloons to deliver Wi-Fi access to rural and underserved areas. Anyway, in January 2021, Alphabet marked the end of the project loon. But some aspects of the loon project’s technological innovations were still under development. Free Space Optical Communications (FSOC) is such a concept which figured out to be a reliable solution to send data between balloons flying on the stratospheric winds. According to google, FSOC is basically a fiber optic connection without the wires. However it needs a direct line of sight. Later this concept was taken under consideration by the Alphabet’s X labs and as a result the ‘Project Taara’ is already enhancing the connectivity in Africa & India.

Google Alphabet launches Project Taara

Project Taara

Google Alphabet launches Project Taara

Taara uses light to transfer data through the air at extremely high speeds as a very narrow, invisible beam. Very much like the fiber, but without the cable connections. As long as there’s a clear line of sight, Taara can transmit data up to 20 km apart. Hence it uses light, there is no need to dig trenches or lay cables because the terminals can be placed above ground. This is one of the biggest plus points of this project. It solves the issues of how to cross rivers and other geographical barriers that cost a lot of time and money to overcome when depending on cables to establish a connection.

This light beam, which has a width of a chopstick, can hit a 5-centimeter target up to 10 kilometers away. The two terminals are placed high up and they can automatically alter their mirrors by up to 5 degrees to maintain a perfect connection.

Tracking system

Tracking system

“ Taara’s terminal search for each other, detecting the others beam of light, and lock-in like a handshake to create a high bandwidth connection”, Taara’s director of engineering, Baris Erkmen explains.

 Taara has kept on ticking even in the face of bad weather, haze, flock of birds or other unforeseen challenges.

Technology is the only way we can make impossible things possible. It is so much impressive to see how these emerging technologies it selves solve those technological problems. Still there is a long journey ahead of us in telecommunication field, but there’s no doubt every step forward along the way is a big hurray!!. Let’s hope our destination ‘ a world where internet is affordable and accessible to everyone ‘ is not too far away.

Kanchana Gunasinghe