No more stationary than a satellite. As far as I know, fixed-position
satellite dishes work just fine. Get the altitude about right, get the
azimuth sort of in the right direction, and the reflector produces some
gain, which is what you need.
The signal's strong enough that you don't need a super high gain
antenna, so it doesn't have to be aimed directly at the satellite -- or
airplane, in this case. A small dish isn't all that directional,
anyway; its diffraction spread is pretty substantial.
If you're using a 6 meter dish, on the other hand, it's something else
again. It's got a much tighter pattern, and you'd better be aiming it
carefully.
At least that's how I understand it.
On 08/05/2016 05:15 PM, MJ wrote:
"small towers and dishes" ? Will the plane be stationary?
Mark Jordan
On 05-Aug-16 17:28, Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
Thanks -- that makes sense.
On 08/05/2016 02:26 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Ah, here we are:
"With Aquila, we've designed a new aircraft architecture, one that
can support staying in the air for months at a time. Aquila is solar
powered, and when launched, it will create a 50-km communications
radius for up to 90 days, beaming a signal down to the people in
that area. This signal will be received by small towers and dishes
that will then convert it into a Wi-Fi or LTE network that people
can connect to with their cellphones and smartphones."
https://code.facebook.com/posts/993520160679028/building-communications-networks-in-the-stratosphere/
In other words, the airplane replaces the infrastructure between
towers, and it also allows for smaller towers. Probably cheaper ones
too.
It says they want to reduce communication costs by an order of
magnitude.
- Jed
