Taara light at the end of the tunnel

Taara Project. © X Development LLC.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is working to develop high-speed internet using a laser beam. We previously talked about the Taara Project here, and Google recently took stock of the project’s progress. The Taara laser beam establishes a 20GB/s link between Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two large cities separated by the enormous Congo River.

The link has been working for 20 days now, and the company says it has served up nearly 700TB of data so far, with a 99.9% availability rate. One of the technology’s main challenges is overcoming natural interferences such as rain, haze, birds flying by, and even a curious monkey. Alphabet engineers developed a system where two terminals’ light beams seek each other out, then lock onto one another, which reduces the effects of interferences other than monkeys clinging to the transmitter. As with all internet connectivity technology, Alphabet recognizes that wireless optic is not a silver bullet, but it can fill the gap when faster and more reliable technology such as fiber optic isn’t viable.

⇨ Ars Technica, Ron Amadeo, “Alphabet’s laser-Internet system has sent 700TB of data with 99.9% uptime.”

2021-09-16