Balloons for Emergency Communications: Not Just Hot Air

Something is stirring in the realm of lighter-than-air. NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently gave California-based Aeros $35 million to develop a 500-foot-long helium-filled airship that’s purported to carry more than 60 tons of cargo. And Google is floating Project Loon, the idea that Internet connectivity can be established on a network of balloons 12 miles up in the air. Balloons also are being tested to lift wireless communications platforms high above areas stricken by disaster.

Although balloons aren’t the only method for doing so, they have some unique characteristics that might help round out disaster response at the local level. The Federal Communications Commission, Federal Emergency Management Agency and others are looking at Deployable Aerial Communications Architecture (DACA) for emergency communications, hoisted above the Earth on aircraft, drones, helicopters, satellites or balloons. So just how well would a balloon-based communications system work, and could local authorities launch and manage it? To find out, Oceus Networks and two of its partners -- Space Data, and NTIA Public Safety Communications Research -- conducted a test in July in Adams County (CO), one of the first areas to pilot FirstNet, a nationwide public safety wireless network. The test temporarily used FirstNet bandwidth to avoid interference issues and a special “steerable” balloon package.