The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) yesterday unveiled Taiwan’s first domestically produced tethered high-altitude balloon, which can be used to restore communications in emergencies.
The high-altitude platform has the potential to quickly help restore communications after a disaster, boosting Taiwan’s network resilience, the ministry said.
At an unveiling ceremony at Taitung County’s Luye Highlands (鹿野高台), Minister of Digital Affairs Huang Yen-nun (黃彥男) said that high-altitude balloons are one of the viable solutions to build resilience in network communications, as Taiwan is faced with many natural disasters.
Photo: Liu Jen-wei, Taipei Times
Huang described the efforts as the “pride of Taiwan,” as the technology itself was developed totally in-house.
Telecom Technology Center chief executive officer Lin Hui-tang (林輝堂), who was also at the event, said the balloon can reach an altitude of 800m and provide network coverage across 380km2.
The project is a joint collaboration between the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and National Taipei University of Technology, Lin said.
Photo courtesy of Ministry of Digital Affairs
The Taiwan-developed balloon can stay airborne for more than 14 days and is powered by hydrogen fuel cells for stable, low-pollution operation, the ministry said.
It has a load capacity of 50kg and can be equipped with mobile base stations and power equipment to support post-disaster communication and improve coverage in remote areas, the ministry said.
There are three types of high-altitude communication platforms: drones, tethered helium balloons and high-altitude airships, the center said.
The balloon technology is already relatively mature, the center said, citing the platform’s huge payload and the fact that it can stay in the air for longer.
Related projects are also being carried out in Japan, the Czech Republic, the US and the UK, it said.
As the technology matures further, Taiwan-developed balloons could be used to improve network coverage, and support rescue teams and stranded people with reliable messaging, calls and video streaming during post-disaster scenarios, it said.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm named Trami at 2am yesterday, and is projected to move west-northwest toward waters east of Luzon Island, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Trami’s center was 700km east of Manila, or 1,180km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving in a northwesterly direction. It was carrying maximum sustained winds of 65kph, with gusts of up to 90kph, CWA data showed. The weather agency forecast the center of the storm would be over waters 470km east-northeast of Manila or 820km southeast of Oluanpi at 8am today, and urged ships
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday temporarily shut down the nation’s nuclear energy generation as the state-run utility started regular maintenance on the remaining reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant for 41 days. The No. 2 reactor of the nation’s only active nuclear plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春) is set to be decommissioned next year. The No. 1 reactor has been offline since July. The shutdown is to perform equipment maintenance and fuel replacement in preparation for the power plant’s next operating cycle, Taipower said in a statement. With support from other energy sources, Taipower would ensure sufficient power supply
TROUBLED WATERS: The ministers also said they opposed China’s obstruction of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and the militarization of disputed features G7 defense ministers in a joint statement on Saturday singled out China over a number of concerns, including its “provocative actions” near Taiwan. The defense ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US gathered in Naples, Italy, from Friday to yesterday for the group’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defense. In the joint declaration, they stressed “enduring unity and common determination to address, in a cohesive and concrete manner, security challenges, at a time in history marked by great instability.” In addition to voicing support for Ukraine, expressing concern about the escalating conflict in the Middle East and condemning
BIGGEST TROUBLEMAKER: China should not be carrying out any such exercises given the threat to regional peace and stability, Premier Cho Jung-tai said yesterday The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that live-fire Chinese drills in a province facing Taiwan are part of routine annual drills, but also possibly part of China’s “deterrence effect” in the waters of the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration, in a notice late on Monday, said an area around Niushan Island in China’s Fujian Province would be closed off for four hours from 9am yesterday for live-fire drills. Niushan sits just south of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands. The ministry in a statement said that the exercises are part of routine Chinese training and it was keeping a close watch, but