Google’s Sibling Firm To Offer 1.6 Tbps Internet Speed; Here’s The Science Behind It

Aalyria, a new startup under Google’s parent firm Alphabet, has announced its ambitious plans to deliver high-speed internet of 1.6 terabits per second over long distances. That's way ahead of the gigabit service consumers can get with existing internet services. The company claims its technology can provide internet to remote areas on Earth as well as to the rovers on Mars and Moon.

Aalyria is banking on two technologies dubbed Spacetime and Tightbeam. The former is a software platform built to manage networks of satellites, aircraft, urban meshes, and ground stations. Tightbeam, on the other hand, uses lasers that transmit data through the atmosphere at 100 to 1000 times faster speed than any other service out there.

"We can orchestrate high-speed urban meshes and global unified network operations, and we can help connect the next three billion people," said Chris Taylor, CEO of Aalyria. "We can do this today – and at scale."

When Will This Service Go Live?

Google’s sibling company believes the project can take another six to nine months to deploy. Aalyria also has government backing, receiving an initial $8 million contract with the Defense Innovation Unit to build a secure internet network in space for private as well as public sectors.

Aalyria has spent years fine-tuning its offering and will be locking horns with Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite-based internet service that has been stretching its arms in the remotest areas of the world with its high-speed internet.

These signal-based internet firms aim to offer internet to places where setting up the physical infrastructure isn’t possible or very expensive. By leveraging laser tech, high-speed internet can be beamed to such areas without having to rely on older satellite systems.

Satellite-Based Internet On The Rise

Elon Musk’s Starlink has managed to beam high-speed internet to Native American tribes which were earlier receiving internet speeds of as low as 0.3 to 0.7 Mbps. The US government has also announced plans to shell out $401 million to deploy high-speed internet in rural parts of the US.

Aalyria is a more sophisticated version of Loon, a project that Alphabet pulled the plug on last year. Loon deployed stratospheric balloons to provide internet but was shut down after the company realized it was financially unsustainable. Let’s hope Aalyria doesn’t suffer the same fate as Loon and sets a new benchmark in satellite-internet space.

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