Connecting the World one Carbon Fiber Airplane at a Time

Today there are over seven billion people on Earth, but only roughly three billion
people are connected to the Internet. Considering how far we have come with only a
fraction of the population able to access online education and information valuable
to improving every day life, imagine the progress we will make when we add the
thought and creativity of another four billion people. Aquila is a program within the
Connectivity Lab at Facebook focused on progressing the state of connectivity
through a network of unmanned aerial systems. These systems include a carbon
fiber airframe, state of the art battery technology, free space optical payloads, and a
fully autonomous autopilot. However, even after pushing the boundary on current
material solutions, further progress is required to close the performance cycle and
develop a cost-effective system. In addition, high barriers to entry from a material
property database perspective limit the speed at which new solutions can be
progressed. Even with these challenges, the value of connectivity justifies the work
required to push the state of these technology and develop an industry to support a
high altitude aerial network.