A plan to attach electronic equipment to weather balloons high above North Dakota to fill gaps in cellular coverage has yet to get off the ground.

Extend America, a Bismarck-based wireless telecommunications company, and Chandler, Ariz.-based Space Data Corp. are developing the balloon-borne cellular technology.

Jerry Knoblach, the CEO of Space Data, said electronics for the balloon technology called SkySite are still being tested. He said a trial balloon is tentatively slated to be launched in late June, over the Bismarck area.

Former Gov. Ed Schafer, the chief executive officer Extend America, thought the test would happen in early spring.

"I was excited, but I'm kind of down in dumps now," Schafer said. "It's still being tested on the bench. It takes time."

The idea is to launch weather balloons some 20 miles above North Dakota, where stratospheric winds would push them across the state at about 30 mph.

Each balloon would deliver voice and data service to an area hundreds of miles in diameter. Knoblach said more powerful equipment is being developed to achieve that goal. The equipment must fit in a package weighing no more than 6 pounds.

Once the balloons transit the state's stratosphere, the electronic gear would be jettisoned remotely and fall to the earth with a parachute. The electronic equipment would be recovered through the use of a global positioning satellite device.

Knoblach said permits have been obtained from the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct the tests.

Knoblach said his company has launched thousands of the free-floating balloons in several states to track data for oil company vehicles, wells and pipelines over the past year. But the balloon-borne cellular technology being developed for North Dakota is believed to be the first of its kind, he said.