Google has asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for permission to test airborne and terrestrial transmitters in the 71 GHz to 76 GHz and 81 GHz to 86 GHz bands (the E-band).
In addtion to Google’s effort to commercialize balloon-based Internet access, even across the United States, the tests would be part of Google's effort to prepare for use of millimeter wave frequencies to support Internet access by unmanned aerial vehicles.
Google’s proposed terrestrial operations comply with the technical standards set forth in the FCC’s Part 101 rules for fixed microwave services, Google says. But Google says its terrestrial antennas will be pointed upward.
Google also is testing use of unmanned aerial vehicles to support Internet access, as Facebook is doing as well. In its tests of UAVs, Google is said to be experimenting with millimeter-wave frequencies now seen as the next frontier for fifth generation mobile networks.
The disadvantage: signal propagation constraints will require fancy signal processing and beam-forming antennas. The advantage: huge amounts of delivered bandwidth, perhaps 40 times greater than what is possible with 4G networks.
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