Facebook is working on a small helicopter that can be used to deliver internet access during emergencies. The helicopter, known as Tether-tenna, was announced at F8. It’ll offer an “instant infrastructure” when needed.
When completed, this technology will be able to be deployed immediately and operate for months at a time to bring back connectivity in case of an emergency, – Yael Maguire, Facebook
Tether-tenna works by connecting to a fiber line and electricity. From there, it can cover a large area by going up hundreds of feet.
This is still in the early stages of development and lots of work is needed to ensure that it will be able operate autonomously for months at a time, but we’re excited about the progress so far, – Maguire
In some of the initial testing, the helicopter has run for up to 24 hours continuously.
