"Internet drone" Titan from Google will go on a test flight in a few months

At MWC, Google Inc., represented by Sandar Pichai, announced that the Titan unmanned vehicle will go on the first test flight later this year. According to the plan, this unmanned vehicle will distribute the Internet in difficult-to-reach regions, along with balloons from Project Loon. The technology of creating UAVs was purchased together with the development company in 2014.

Titan can stay in the air for a long time, as well as carry a payload - network equipment to ensure coverage of remote regions.

According to Sandar Pichai, now the Titan project is at about the same development stage as Project Loon was at a couple of years ago. Now the Titan team has several prototypes of ultra-light solar-powered UAVs that can go up to the stratosphere. This allows coverage of a large area. UAVs can also be used as an auxiliary tool in regions where there is Internet, but the network capacity is not enough for everyone. They can also work as independent units, for example, in regions affected by an earthquake or flood, natural phenomena, which usually destroy most of the communications in the region.
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It is worth noting that Loon and Titan are not competitors. On the contrary, these two projects complement each other. If Project Loon balloons are located in about the same place, and it’s quite difficult to control their movement, then Titan is a maneuverable device that can be easily sent to the necessary region where communication is urgently needed. Titan UAV can be compared with an ambulance that arrives quickly, does its job, and leaves.

According to representatives of the corporation, now there is hope for a successful start of the project to connect to the Network of Regions where there is no connection, or it is of poor quality. And in such regions live about 4 billion people.