Vilnius Gediminas Technical University

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2018-03-05

Flying house: new experiment by VGTU “LinkMenų fabrikas” and Tele2

The team of engineers from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University together with Tele2 – major telephone operator in the Nordic and Baltic countries has pushed the boundaries of our imagination once again. After developing a 4G internet driven vehicle control system, the team strikes again presenting the flying house. Blue wooden house weighting 1,5 tons is flying around Lithuania demonstrating the high coverage of new service by Tele2.

From now on Tele2 clients have access to the internet anywhere in Lithuania for free. The “Free Internet” service is provided as a gift to Tele2 clients who have at least three telephone numbers registered under one name.

Mindaugas Savickas, Marketing director at Tele2, says that the potential of the “Free Internet” service has been demonstrated by a new project implemented by the Tele2 together with the creativity and innovation centre “LinkMenų fabrikas” at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU): a house flown by a hot air balloon. The house, capable of flying at the height of 500 meters, is the third project by Tele2 Innovation Office and second together with VGTU. This time, the team of 20 experienced engineers worked on this project.

“We wanted to demonstrate that Tele2’s home internet is available not only on the ground, but also high in the air anywhere in Lithuania. All you need is the mobile router. This complex project proves that everything is possible when you cooperate with professionals from VGTU “LinkMenų fabrikas”. Also we are very grateful for the contribution of top balloonists Vytautas Samarinas, founder of Orobalionai.lt, and Laurynas Komža, the President of the Balloon Club Lituanica,” says Marketing director at Tele2.

Mykolas Bistrickas, Project manager at VGTU “LinkMenų fabrikas” and a person responsible for the technical implementation of the project, said that Tele2’s ambition to build a flying house was quite a challenge.

“Usually, people build houses to stand firm on the ground for as long as possible, but not for flying. If we want a house to fly, we need to rethink the whole structure from scratch. This means that we cannot rely on conventional solutions. For example, regular windows will break upon landing, because the point load changes the tension, and everything brittle breaks,” M.Bistrickas described the process of the flying house design.

He says, that the main challenge was to find the right balance between the safety and weight of the flying house. One cannot take-off if the house is too heavy. The house becomes lighter if you discard some structural elements, but then the resistance of the structure is too weak, and, again, take-off is impossible. It took quite some time until the team from VGTU “LinkMenų fabrikas” found the right balance between the weight of the house and its resistance to impact, moisture, and friction.