First of all I applaud all the efforts being done here. Second this makes me think of a modern day xanadu project started by Ted Nelson.
Has anyone considered the following distribution method? You do not need satellites to distribute a signal. Many great things have been accomplished by bouncing signals and waves off the atmosphere or even ricocheting off the moon. Just possible food for thought when it comes to cutting expenses. What would be the benefits or the set backs to this idea?
I’ve already brought up the sky wave idea, and the moon bounce thing suffers from severe free space attenuation and the fact that the moon is a relatively poor radio reflector. The wifi signal is so wideband, that tens of killowatts, a 40+ decibel gain beam transmitter antenna, and a dish antenna for the very sensitive receiver would be required. But if you could justify turning up the transmitter power high enough to be heard by way of a moonbounce, you could rest assured that not only your target area, but all of the moon facing Earth could receive your signal.
And the doppler shift would likely be too severe for wifi to be correctable.
Am already working, as have others been, on distributing digital data using Skywave Radio Propagation. The Outernet Broadcast-Audio Project uses the skywave distribution model over Shortwave radio frequencies. This is actually tested weekly by VOA Radiogram, if you are interested in “tuning-in” on some transmissions.
Skywave benefits: Quick to implement, provides worldwide coverage, cheaper than satellites
Skywave drawbacks: Slow data rate, noisy RF channel, Shortwave fades in-and-out on a daily schedule
Moonbounce is just not possible with this project.
Radio has not really been an interest of mine (the technical aspects) and to find out you can bounce waves of the atmosphere is amazing to me, I never even realised that was possible…
Doppler on the moon is not much of a problem. The moon is moving pretty slowly (~500 m/s) compared to LEO (7800 m/s).
A bigger problem is the poor reflection. Bouncing a signal off the moon and
receiving it back on Earth is harder (less signal return) than going one way
to Mars !.
@snyder
I can’t believe I missed this one. The doppler shift of a moonbounce would be a problem sometimes, as that’s right at the edge of the wifi standard’s correctability. Keep in mind, wifi was never designed for objects that communicate while in motion relative to each other at all.