Cell service get clobbered by a hurricane? Fly in a drone.
The rash of devastating storms that knocked out power and phone service to millions in the U.S. last year laid bare how vulnerable those technological lifelines are to extreme weather. Some companies are trying to use one of this decade’s coolest developments — remote-controlled drones — as a temporary fix.
At a small municipal airport not far from the beaches of southern New Jersey last week, Verizon tested a 200-pound unmanned aircraft with a 17-foot wingspan, carrying a “femtocell,” or small flying cell site designed to provide service to an area that has lost coverage.
“Bridges may be out, roads out, things washed away. But flying this cell site might be the very fastest way to deliver very badly needed service to first responders on the ground,” says Christopher Desmond, a principal engineer for Verizon’s network.
The test is the latest in a series of exercises Verizon has been conducting with drones since 2016. Verizon’s intent is to supply a precise “cone of coverage” to the first responders who request communications help in the wake of a disaster, though anyone in that coverage area would also be able to get a signal.
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