We picked up a "what’s old is new again" story from the local Oregonian newspaper today on using blimps as floating platforms for wireless communication platforms. These unmanned lighter than air ships would hover in the stratosphere (hence the name "stratellites") serving as a comparatively low-tech substitute for expensive satellite technology. Another alternative would be to replace multiple (and unsightly) cell towers with these high-flying wireless platforms.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor
of Projection Monthly

This lighter than air platform is banking on the wireless revolution to drive a new aloft-distribution approach for delivery of everything from wireless internet to cell phone network signals in a more cost effective manner than traditional terrestrial or earth orbiting networks.

Prototypes from various companies include a helium-filled solar-powered version that are used to fill gaps in cellular coverage and high-flying models that can deliver DTV signals to a region the size of Texas with the appropriate radio equipment.

Space Data Corp. targets corporate air-to-ground communication needs and uses balloon-borne technology to bring its SkySite communications network solution to remote areas, including construction sites and rural low-coverage areas. The company plans to test fly a balloon next month over North Dakota to demonstrate the technology.

According to the Oregonian article, the company is currently in negotiations with several cell phone vendors and could launch its first commercial balloon as early as next year over West Texas.

Another company, Sanswire Networks, developed a prototype blimp that targets high-flying satellite communications replacements with a low-cost blimp alternative. Last November, the company announced successful demonstrations of the technology for military purposes and plans to collaborate with Wi-Fi providers to supply these signals to consumers.

Our take: With all the new wireless network alternatives coming on line, from Qualcomm’s Media FLO mobile video to Clearwire’s Wi-Fi, the demand for cell tower space will be at a premium. A substitute, low-cost approach that eliminates the need for cell-towers seems like a good idea.

Lighter-than-air ships were stillborn in the 1930’s with the crash (and coincidentally, first live remote radio broadcast) of the Hindenburg. Beyond the Goodyear blimp, and other promotional and military uses, the technology never came to fruition. But with the rise of wireless networking and demand for ever-larger bandwidth needs, perhaps lighter-than-air technology has finally found the "killer-app" by providing floating communications platforms-first in rural areas and next, to the masses.

Look, up in the sky-it’s not superman, but rather your cell tower unbound from the shackles of earth–perhaps sooner than you may think. –SS