SoftBank obtains patents from Alphabet subsidiary Loon for internet balloons

SoftBank has obtained about two hundred patents from Alphabet subsidiary Loon that Loon wanted to use for the internet balloon project. Loon has since stopped developing these balloons, but SoftBank still has its own, similar plan.

Not all of the two hundred patents have been approved yet; some are still awaiting approval. With these patents, SoftBank claims to have approximately five hundred HAPS-related patents. The patents cover network technologies, services, activities and aircraft for HAPS. It is not clear whether SoftBank paid for the patents.

HAPS is short for High Altitude Platform Stations. They are unmanned, electric planes that are powered by solar panels. These must fly in the stratosphere, twenty kilometers away from the earth, and provide the earth with data connections. SoftBank subsidiary HAPS Mobile is working on the drones.

Alphabet pulled the plug on Loon in January, because the costs for the project turned out to be too high. The project started in 2013. Loon did not use airplane drones like SoftBank, but balloons. These hovered at the same height as HAPS and provided LTE connections to Earth. A large part of the Loon patents have also been made available to the general public, for example for research purposes.

An internet drone from HAPS Mobile