Translator: Hiroshi Uchiyama Reviewer: Zsófia Herczeg
Today, about one half of the world's population
does not have access to Internet.
Imagine not having access
to the knowledge database on the World Wide Web.
Or imagine not having access to the tools or apps on our phones
that help make our lives easier every day.
For me personally,
video conferencing through the Internet
is what has allowed me to connect with my family
across the world in the Philippines.
I am passionate about using my technical background
as an aerospace engineer to find ways
so that everyone can experience the opportunities
provided by the Internet.
This is a map by Facebook Connectivity Lab
showing Internet connectivity throughout our world.
You can see brightly lit areas in North America and Europe
contrast against regions
that are dimly lit or even in the dark
in Asia, Africa, and South America.
Not only do the populations in some of these dark regions
lack access to Internet,
some of these populations may lack access to resources,
such as sufficient food, clean water, and education.
Some research studies have shown
that if we could provide these populations with access to Internet
that they could rise out of poverty.
Internet access can empower these populations
by providing them with opportunities for education
and for developing businesses.
A child in a remote African village without schools
can learn math, science, or programming
by watching online tutorials.
Or a merchant on a remote island in the Philippines
can learn to develop an online website
in order to sell his products to the online market
and have an extra source of income to support his family.
Some of you may have already heard of this solution
of using Internet access to help solve world poverty.
However, have you actually heard of a practical solution
of how we can connect 3.9 billion people
around the world to the Internet?
Let me tell you,
it is a significant technical challenge to connect the unconnected.
So there have been two primary ways of providing Internet access,
both of which have limitations.
The first method has been through fiber optic cables.
This is a map showing fiber optic cables throughout our world.
They are dug underground, under sea,
or even strung on utility poles.
Installing these cables can be significantly expensive,
estimated to be between 20 to 40 thousand dollars per mile.
There are also legal barriers such as land rights
for where we can install these cables.
Also consider that it may be impractical
if not impossible to install these cables
wherever we may need to connect people.
The second method has been through communication satellites.
These satellites typically lie in geostationary Earth orbit in space.
And they provide Internet to regions where they lie directly above.
These satellites are comparable to about a five ton school bus.
It is between tens to hundreds of millions of dollars
to design and build these large satellites.
And on top of that, 90 million dollars to launch one of these satellites
on a SpaceX Falcon 9.
These satellites typically use
what is known as radio frequency communication systems,
or also known as RF.
The limitation is that the frequencies in these types of systems
are highly regulated.
This is a chart of the United States frequency allocations.
You can see that it is highly congested
for typical satellite radio frequencies.
Many of the major players in the industry already own the most ideal frequencies.
So there has been an ongoing debate between which of these two platforms
we should use to connect the unconnected.
Fiber-optic cables in the ground or satellites in space
or maybe a combination of two.
But these have limitations.
Why not find an alternative method
that utilizes the advantages of each?
Take the high-performance of high-speed fiber-optic communication
and the ability of satellites to lie directly overhead regions of interest.
This alternative method could be to utilize
what is known as free space optical communication,
also known as laser communication.
Laser communication is a method of using light to carry data.
This light transmits and propagates through free space
rather than just inside of fiber optic cables.
Laser communication offers several advantages
over the radio frequency systems used on today's communication satellites.
So if you have never heard of laser communication,
I wouldn't be surprised if you're picturing red laser beams
like that from a laser pointer
shooting from satellites down through our sky.
Although this is a great way to picture it artistically,
this is not quite the case.
The light from laser communication is actually not visible.
It is in the near infrared spectrum.
Second, the light from an optical beam
from a low-Earth orbit satellite
would actually spread to encompass a fraction of a city,
not just a small dot you may see from a laser pointer.
In comparison, a radio frequency signal would spread to encompass
a portion of a continent or even a few countries.
This presents the first advantage of laser communication -
that the narrow optical beam can make it much more secure
than radio frequency communication systems.
However, there comes a challenge of pointing this precise beam.
If the satellite and the laser communication were off,
pointing this beam by even just one degree,
it would completely miss the planet.
The second advantage
is that laser communication frequencies are currently not regulated.
Laser communication uses much higher frequencies
than the typical satellite radio frequencies.
However, consider that clouds can block these higher frequencies,
meaning that we have to be strategic in where we can apply laser communication.
A third advantage is that laser communication
can achieve much higher data rates
than the radio frequency communications,
while reducing size, weight, and power.
Let me give you a key example.
So you can see NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
also known as MRO.
So MRO orbits around Mars,
and its mission is to take high-resolution images of the Martian surface.
One of these high-resolution images
is comparable to about seven HD movies, to put that into perspective.
MRO uses a radio frequency communication system,
and it transmits data back to Earth
using that 10-foot wide antenna that you see on top of the spacecraft.
At the data rate of 6 megabits per second,
it takes an hour and a half to send back just one image back to Earth
However, if we were to switch that system with a laser communication system,
we would be able to send one of those images
or seven HD movies back to Earth in around just five minutes.
at a data rate of 100 megabits per second.
That is 17 times faster.
And on top of that,
we can get rid of that 10-foot wide antenna
you see on the top of the spacecraft
and replace it with just a half-foot aperture telescope.
You can see that laser communication can be quite a game-changer.
Laser communication has actually already been demonstrated in space.
Between 2013 to 2014,
NASA and MIT Lincoln Laboratory demonstrated laser communication
from the LADEE spacecraft orbiting the moon all the way to Earth
at a data rate of around 600 megabits per second.
That's now 42 HD movies from the moon to Earth in around five minutes.
And in 2008,
the German Aerospace Center and TESAT
demonstrated laser communication much closer to home,
from a low-Earth orbit satellite to Earth
at six gigabits per second.
Now we're talking around 420 HD movies
from space to Earth in around five minutes.
Based on the success of these laser communication demonstrations,
even commercial industry has taken an interest.
You may have heard both SpaceX and Telesat
have opposed mega constellations of low-Earth orbit satellites
with laser communication serving as the cross links.
And now beyond commercial interest
other groups have found interest in using laser communication
toward their mission to connect the unconnected,
or also to better connect other populations.
However, rather than using laser communication on satellite platforms,
they found other creative platforms to utilize this technology.
Google X had previous efforts of using laser communication
between high-altitude balloons.
And in current efforts through the free- space optical communication project,
Google X is taking the same laser communication technology
but using it on the ground to help underconnected populations in India.
You may have also heard
how Facebook had previous efforts of using laser communication
between high altitude solar-powered drones.
Based on the development of these technologies,
you can see that laser communication is a viable technology
to connect the unconnected especially for people in very hard-to-reach places.
Keep in mind that as we continue to connect people to the Internet,
we're providing them with life-changing opportunities.
So join me as I continue to develop new technology,
or as I find ways, alternative ways, to use existing technology
to make the greater impact of connecting the unconnected.
(Applause)