Facebook hits 20Gbps in testing for internet drone data transmission

Facebook has succeeded in transmitting data at almost 20Gbps between two towers in Southern California in tests of a technology key to its plans to deliver internet service to rural areas using drones. The tests were conducted earlier this year and made use of frequencies in the so-called E-band, a group of millimeter wave frequencies between 60 and 90GHz. Such signals are capable of high-bandwidth data transmission but are susceptible to attenuation from distance, weather, and obstacles, so they are typically used for short-range, point-to-point transmissions. Facebook used a 60-centimeter dish to send data over a 13-kilometer link between Malibu and Woodland Hills. That test initially shot data at between 100Mbps and 3Gbps and allowed engineers to collect transmission data on clear days and during clouds, fog, high winds, and rain, Facebook said in a Thursday blog post.