Facebook has revealed it is developing an unmanned helicopter drone it hopes to fly into disaster zones to restore connectivity when the online infrastructure has been damaged.
The VW Beetle-sized Tether-tenna chopper will dangle fiber and power cables hundreds of feet to the ground in the hope of providing temporary Wi-Fi access during the crisis
This means the drone, revealed on stage at the F8 conference (via Recode), will be able to eventually remain airborne for weeks and months at a time.
Related: Facebook F8: day one highlights
“When completed,” the company wrote on its Code blog, “this technology will be able to be deployed immediately and operate for months at a time to bring back connectivity in case of an emergency — ensuring the local community can stay connected while the in-ground connectivity is under repair.”
Facebook says it in the early days of development and ‘lots of work’ is needed to ensure it’ll be able to run autonomously for months at a time.
The development combines two areas in which Facebook has been exceptionally active during recent years.
The Safety Check feature allows people to tell friends and family they’re safe during a crisis, while the firm has long been working on drone technology to provide internet access in remote areas.
After all, it’s hard to check-in as ‘safe’ with no connectivity.
Have you ever had to use Facebook’s Safety Check feature? How useful would these drones be? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
