HALO NETWORK

A SEMINAR REPORT
Submitted by
NIKHIL DEV.B
in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree
of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
in
COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY,
KOCHI-682022

AUGUST 2008
DIVISION OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
KOCHI-682022
Certificate
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M").D'(,2( K S5&'!!)' D".D(8$& P!#!" S
Seminar Guide Head of the Department
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Although a single sentence hardly suffices, I would like to thank
almighty god for blessing me with his grace and taking my endeavor to a
successful culmination.
I also express my gratitude to D". D(8$& P!#!",HOD and my
seminar guide for providing me with adequate facilities, ways and means
by which I was able to complete this seminar. I express my sincere
gratitude to him for his constant support and valuable suggestions without
which the successful completion of this seminar would not have been
possible.
I thank M").D'(,2( K S5&'!!)' my seminar guide for her
boundless cooperation and helps extended for this seminar. I would like
to extend my gratitude to all staff of Department Of omputer !cience
for the help and support rendered to me. I have benefited a lot from the
feedback, suggestions and blessings given by them.
I would like to extend my gratitude to all of my friends for their
help and support rendered to me in the various phases of this seminar.
NIKHIL DEV.B
ABSTRACT
"he #igh Altitude $ong Operation %etwork
"&
is a broadband
wireless metropolitan area network, with a star topology, whose solitary
hub is located in the atmosphere above the service area at an altitude
higher than commercial airline traffic. "he #A$O'(roteus airplane is the
central node of this network. It will fly at altitudes higher than )*,+++ ft.
"he signal footprint of the network, its ,one of ommerce,, will have a
diameter on the scale of *++ km. "he initial capacity of the network will
be on the scale of *+ -b's, with growth beyond *++ -b's. "he network
will serve the communications needs of each subscriber with bit rates in
the multimegabit per second range. A variety of spectrum bands licensed
by the . for commercial wireless services could provide the needed
millimeter wavelength carrier bandwidth. An attractive choice for the
subscriber links is the $&D! band.
"he airplane/s fuselage can house switching circuitry and fast
digital network functions. An &&0 antenna array and its related
components will be located in a pod suspended below the aircraft
fuselage. "he antenna array will produce many beams, typically more
than *++. Ad1acent beams will be separated in frequency. 2lectronic
beamforming techniques can be used to stabili3e the beams on the
ground, as the airplane flies within its station keeping volume. .or the
alternative of aircraft4fixed beams, the beams will traverse over a user
location, while the airplane maintains station overhead, and the virtual
path will be changed to accomplish the beam4to4beam handoff. .or each
isolated city to be served, a fleet of three aircraft will be operated in shifts
to achieve around4the4clock service. In deployments where multiple cities
will be served from a common primary flight base, the fleet will be si3ed
for allocating, on average, two aircraft per city to be served. .light
operational tactics will be steadily evolved and refined to achieve
continuous presence of the node above each city. &any services will be
provided, including but not limited to "* access, I!D% access, 0eb
browsing, high4resolution videoconferencing, large file transfers, and
2thernet $A% bridging.
C'(6#!"-:
I,#"+&5-#$+,
:.: I,#"+&5-#$+,
(assage of the *556 "elecommunications Act and the slow growth of infra4
structure for transacting multimedia messages 7those integrating voice, text, sound,
images, and video8 have stimulated an intense race to deploy non4traditional infra4
structure to serve businesses and consumers at affordable prices. "he game is new and
the playing field is more level than ever before. Opportunities exist for entrepreneurs
to challenge the market dominance en1oyed for years by incumbents. %ew types of
service providers will emerge.
An electronic ,information fabric, of a quilted character9including space, at4
mospheric, and terrestrial data communications layers9will emerge that promises to
someday link every digital information device on the planet. (acket4switched data
networks will meld with connection4oriented telephony networks. ommunications
infrastructures will be shared more efficiently among users to offer dramatic reduc4
tions in cost and large increases of effective data rates. An era of inexpensive band4
width has begun which will transform the nature of commerce.
"he convergence of innovative technologies and manufacturing capabilities af4
fecting aviation, millimeter wave wireless, and multi4media communications indus4
tries enables Angel "echnologies orporation and its partners to pursue new wireless
broadband communications services. "he #A$O: %etwork will offer ubiquitous ac4
cess to any subscriber within a ,super metropolitan area, from an aircraft operating at
high altitude. "he aircraft will serve as the hub of the #A$O: %etwork serving tens
to hundreds of thousands of subscribers. 2ach subscriber will be able to communicate
at multi4megabit per second data rates through a simple4to4install subscriber unit. "he
#A$O: %etwork will be steadily evolved at a pace with the emergence of data com4
munications technology world4wide. "he #A$O: %etwork will be a universal wire4
less communications network solution. It will be deployed globally on a city4by4city
basis.
"he equipment needed to perform the functions of this broadband wireless ser4
vice will be evolutionary in nature, not revolutionary. &ost of the technology already
exists. "he engineering effort will be focused primarily at adapting and integrating the
existing components and subsystems from terrestrial markets into a complete network
solution. (roven technology will be used to the maximum extent. !ince the #A$O:
Aircraft are operated from regional airports, the equipment will be routinely main4
tained and calibrated. "his also allows for equipment upgrades as technology ad4
vances yield lower cost and weight and provide increased performance.
:.2 W$"!/!)) B"+(&*(,& C+..5,$-(#$+,) M(";!#
"here are various facts that show the strong interest in wireless communica4
tions in the ;nited !tates<
)+ million subscribers to wireless telephone service
=> million dollars annual revenue for wireless services
?>,+++ cell sites with ?@ billion dollars cumulative capital investment
A+B annual growth in customers
=) million personal computers sold each year
)+ million ( users with Internet access
,"he demand for Internet services is exploding and this creates a strong de4
mand for broadband, high data rate service. It is expected that there will soon be a
worldwide demand for Internet service in the hundreds of millions,. 7$ou -erstner,
IC&, April *55@8 "he growth in use of the 0orld 0ide 0eb and electronic commerce
will stimulate demand for broadband services.
:.< A B"+(&*(,& W$"!/!)) M!#"+6+/$#(, A"!( N!#3+";
#A$O: Aircraft (rovides 0ireless Croadband !ervices over &etropolitan enters
An airplane specially designed for high altitude flight with a payload capacity
of approximately one ton is being developed for commercial wireless services. It will
circle at high altitudes for extended periods of time and it will serve as a stable plat4
form from which broadband communications services will be offered. "he #igh Alti4
tude $ong Operation 7#A$O:8 Aircraft will maintain station at an altitude of )= to
6+ thousand feet by flying in a circle with a diameter of about ) to > nautical miles.
"hree successive shifts on station of > hours each can provide continuous coverage of
an area for =A hours per day, @ days per week. !uch a system can provide broadband
multimedia communications to the general public.
One such platform will cover an area of approximately =>++ square miles en4
compassing a typical metropolitan area. A viewing angle of =+ degrees or higher will
be chosen to facilitate good line4of4sight coverage at millimeter wave 7&&08 fre4
quencies 7=+ -#3 or higher8. Operation at &&0 frequencies enables broadband sys4
tems to be reali3ed, i.e., from spectrum bandwidths of * to 6 -#3. &&0 systems
also permit very narrow beam widths to be reali3ed with small aperture antennas. .ur4
thermore, since the aircraft is above most of the earth/s oxygen, links to satellite con4
stellations can be implemented using the frequencies overlapping the 6+ -#3 absorp4
tion band for good immunity from ground4based interference and good isolation from
inter4satellite links.
"he #A$O: %etwork can utili3e a cellular pattern on the ground so that each
cell uses one of four frequency sub4bands, each having a bandwidth up to 6+ &#3
each way. A fifth sub4band can be used for gateways 7connections to the public net4
work or dedicated users8. 2ach cell will cover an area of a few square miles. "he en4
tire bandwidth will be reused many times to achieve total coverage throughout the
=>++ square mile area served by the airborne platform. "he total capacity of the net4
work supported by a single airborne platform can be greater than *++ -bps. "his is
comparable to terrestrial fiber4optic 7.O8 networks and can provide two4way broad4
band multimedia services normally available only via .O networks.
"he #A$O: %etwork provides an alternative to satellite4 and ground4based
systems. ;nlike satellite systems, however, the airborne system concentrates all of the
spectrum usage in certain geographic areas, which minimi3es frequency coordination
problems and permits sharing of frequency with ground4based systems. 2nough
power is available from the aircraft power generator to allow broadband data access
from small user terminals.
:.= A N!3 L(2!" $, #'! W$"!/!)) I,%"()#"5-#5"!
Daytheon "I !ystems and Angel "echnologies orporation have the opportun4
ity to serve the growing wireless communications market by using a #A$O: Air4
craft that transmits high4speed data traffic throughout a metropolitan region. "he goal
is to interconnect more than *++,+++ subscribers within a metropolitan center and its
surrounding communities through a star topology network. "his #A$O: %etwork
has the benefits of low cost, high flexibility, and high quality of service.
#A$O: Aircraft provide a new layer in the traditional hierarchy of wireless
communications. "he #A$O: %etwork can be thought of as a ,tall tower, approach
that provides better line of sight to customers without the high cost of deploying and
operating a satellite constellation.
"errestrial "owers
HALO> A$"-"(%#
$ow 2arth Orbit 7$2O8 !atellites
-eostationary 2arth Orbit 7-2O8 !atellites
E=++ feet
:0 .$/!)
A++ miles
==,?++ miles
"his paper will describe the architecture and the concept of operations of the
#A$O: %etwork. It will also describe key characteristics of the #A$O: Aircraft
and the communications payload and subscriber units. A companion paper* entitled
,"he one of ommerce:, covers the business and market aspects of the #A$O:
%etwork. "he paper by D1uknic= provides an overview of the various options and
highlights the unique advantages of stratospheric platforms for providing wireless
communications services.
C'(6#!"-2
THE HALO NETWORK CONCEPT
2.: O8!"(// C+,-!6#
"he attributes of the #A$O: %etwork are illustrated in the figure below. &any
types of subscribers will benefit from the low price of #A$O: %etwork broadband
services9schools, families, hospitals, doctors/ offices, and small to medium si3e busi4
nesses. "he equipment will connect to existing networks and telecommunications
equipment using standard broadband protocols such as A"& and !O%2". "he
#A$O: -ateway provides access to the (ublic !witched "elephone %etwork
7(!"%8 and to the Internet backbone for such services as the 0orld 0ide 0eb and
electronic commerce.
#igh4!peed Data $inks "ransmitted Over &illimeter 0ave .requencies (rovide
Croadband Data !ervices to Farious 2nd4;sers
2.2 K!2 F!(#5"!)
"he key features of the #A$O: %etwork are summari3ed below.
!eamless ubiquitous multimedia services
Adaptation to end user environments
2nhanced user connectivity globally
Dapidly deployable to sites of opportunity
!ecure and reliable information transactions
Candwidth on demand provides efficient use of available spectrum
2.< S!"8$-! A"!(
&ost metropolitan areas will fit within a signal ,footprint, of A+46+ miles
diameter. "he following figure shows the coverage of a )+4mile #A$O: %etwork
service4area footprint for the %ew Gork ity metropolitan area. %otice that ,double
coverage, of certain areas occurs due to overlapping ad1acent footprints. "his
provides higher reliability links and reduces blocking factors on requests for service.
"he footprint over &anhattan covers A.> million households or *=.) million people.
2.= S!"8$-! A##"$*5#!)
"here are various classes of service to be provided. A consumer service would
provide *4) &bps communication links. A business service would provide )4*=.)
&bps links. !ince the links would be ,bandwidth4on4demand,, the total available
spectrum would be time4shared between the various active sessions. "he nominal data
rates would be low while the peak rates would expand to a specified level. A gateway
service can be provided for ,dedicated, links of =)4*)) &bps.
Cased on the $&D! spectrum and )4fold reuse, the service capacity would be
*+,+++ to @),+++ simultaneous, symmetrical "* circuits 7*.) &bps8 per ommunica4
tions (ayload. "he #A$O: Aircraft would provide urban and rural coverage from a
single platform to provide service to<
a. *++4@)+,+++ subscribers
b. A+46+ mile diameter service area 7*,=)+ to =,>++ square miles8
overage of the %ew Gork ity &etropolitan Area by #A$O: Aircraft
2.=.: S6!-#"5. O6#$+,)
"here are various options for spectrum utili3ation, the main options being
spectrum at => -#3 for the $ocal &ultipoint Distribution !ervice 7$&D!8 and the
microwave point4to4point allocations at ?> -#3. "he . is expected to allocate >)+
&#3 of spectrum between =@.) and =>.?) -#3 for the $&D! service. "he system
characteristics described in this paper are for the $&D! frequency.
2.=.2 N!#3+"; A--!))
Farious methods for providing access to the users on the ground are feasible.
"he figure below shows one approach where each spot beam from the payload an4
tenna serves a single ,cell, on the ground in a frequency4division multiplex fashion
with ) to * frequency reuse, four for subscriber units and the fifth for gateways to the
public network and to high4rate subscribers. Other reuse factors such as @<* and 5<*
are possible. Farious network access approaches are being explored.
ell overage by .requency Division &ultiplexing using !pot Ceams
2.=.< N!#3+"; S!"8$-!)
"he #A$O: node provides a multitude of connectivity options as shown be4
low. It can be used to connect physically separated $ocal Area %etworks 7$A%s8
within a corporate intranet through frame relay adaptation or directly through $A%
bridges and routers. Or it can provide videoconference links through standard I!D%
or "* interface hardware. "he #A$O: %etwork may use standard !O%2" and A"&
protocols and equipment to minimi3e the cost of the equipment and to take advantage
of the wide availability of these components.
"he #A$O: %etwork Accommodates a Fariety of Interfaces
C'(6#!"-<
HALO NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
<.: N!#3+"; E/!.!,#)
"he ma1or elements of the #A$O: %etwork are shown below. "he #A$O:
%etwork interfaces to the (ublic !witched "elephone %etwork 7(!"%8 and to the In4
ternet backbone through the #A$O: -ateway. On the subscriber side, the #A$O:
%etwork provides connectivity to local networks of various kinds.
"he #A$O: %etwork Architecture
<.2 N!#3+"; A"-'$#!-#5"!
At the apex of a wireless one of ommerce:, the payload of the #A$O:
Aircraft becomes the hub of a star topology network for routing data packets between
any two subscribers possessing premise equipment within the service coverage area. A
single hop with only two links is required, each link connecting the payload to a sub4
scriber. "he links are wireless, broadband and line of sight.
Information created outside the service area is delivered to the subscriber/s
consumer premise equipment 7,(2,8 through business premise equipment 7,C(2,8
operated by Internet !ervice (roviders 7,I!(s,8 or content providers within that re4
gion, and through the #A$O: -ateway 7,#-,8 equipment directly connected to dis4
tant metropolitan areas via leased trunks. "he #- is a portal serving the entire net4
work. It avails system4wide access to content providers and it allows any subscriber to
extend their communications beyond the #A$O: %etwork service area by connect4
ing them to dedicated long4
<.< F$!/& +% V$!3
Angel assumes the ,minimum look angle, 7i.e., the elevation angle above the
local hori3on to the furthest point on the orbit as seen by the antenna of the premise
equipment8 is generally higher than =+ degrees. "his value corresponds to subscribers
at the perimeter of the service footprint. In contrast, cellular telephone designers as4
sume that the line of sight from a customer to the antenna on the nearest base station
is less than * degree. Angel chose such a high look angle to ensure that the antenna of
each subscriber/s premise equipment will very likely have access to a solid angle
swept by the circling #A$O: Aircraft free of dense ob1ects, and to ensure high
availability of the service during heavy rainfall to all subscribers.
"he high look angle also allows the sharing of this spectrum with ground4
based wireless networks since usually high4gain, narrow beams are used and the an4
tenna beams of the #A$O: and ground4based networks will be separated in angle
far enough to ensure a high degree of signal isolation.
!ervice area
C'(6#!"-=
HALO AIRCRAFT
"he #A$O: Aircraft is under development and flight testing is expected to
occur by mid4*55>. "he aircraft has been specially designed for the #A$O: %et4
work with the ommunications (ayload (od suspended from the underbelly of its fu4
selage.
#A$O: Aircraft with !uspended ommunications (ayload
"he #A$O: Aircraft will fly above the metropolitan center in a circular orbit
of five to eight nautical miles diameter. "he ommunications (ayload (od is mounted
to a pylon under the fuselage. As the aircraft varies its roll angle to fly in the circular
orbit, the ommunications (ayload (od will pivot on the pylon to remain level with
the ground. Other details on the aircraft can be found in the one of ommerce: pa4
per.
C'(6#!"-?
COMMUNICATIONS PAYLOAD
"he #A$O: %etwork will use an array of narrow beam antennas on the
#A$O: Aircraft to form multiple cells on the ground. 2ach cell covers a small geo4
graphic area, e.g., A to > square miles. "he wide bandwidths and narrow beam widths
within each beam or cell are achieved by using &&0 frequencies. !mall aperture an4
tennas can be used to achieve small cells. .or example, an antenna having a diameter
of only one foot can provide a beam width of less than three degrees. One hundred
dish antennas can be easily carried by the #A$O: Aircraft to create one hundred or
more cells throughout the service area. If lenses antennas are utili3ed, wider beams
can be created by combining beams through each lens aperture, and with multiple
feeds behind each lens multiple beams can be formed by each compound lens.
If >)+ &#3 of spectrum is assumed, then a minimum capacity of one full4du4
plex O4* 7)*.>A &bps8 channel is available per cell. .or example, a single platform
reusing >)+ &#3 of spectrum in *++ cells would provide the equivalent of two,
O4A> fiber optic rings. #igher capacities are possible by increasing the number of
cells. Cy using Asynchronous "ransfer &ode 7A"&8 technology with over4the4air dy4
namic bandwidth allocation, this capacity can be shared by multiple users in an effi4
cient manner. An A"&4like packet switch on the #A$O: Aircraft provides the net4
work switching capability to cross4connect all users within the coverage area as well
as connections to other users through gateways. "he elements in the communications
payload are shown below. It consists of &&0 transceivers, pilot tone transmitter,
high4speed modems, !O%2" multiplexers, packet switch hardware and software, and
associated ancillary hardware such as power supplies, processors, etc.
.unctional Clock Diagram of the ommunications (ayload
"he ma1or design options for antennas in the ommunications (ayload are to
utili3e either platform4fixed beams or earth4fixed beams. .or the case of platform4
fixed beams, each antenna would have a fixed field of view. "he total field of view for
the entire #A$O: %etwork would be the sum of these fields of view of the individu4
al antennas. "he network could initially have a small footprint and as demands on the
#A$O: services increase, additional antennas could be added to the ommunica4
tions (ayload. "his results in a modular design, readily adaptable for growth.
(latform4fixed beams are simpler to construct generally, but require the ,han4
doffs, between beams to be accomplished by the packet switching equipment as the
beams ,sweep, across the ground with the movement of the aircraft. #owever, the
cost and performance penalties for frequently changing the virtual path through the
packet switch may be appreciable.
An alternative is to electronically steer the beams so they remain ,fixed, on
the ground as the aircraft moves. "hese results in more electronic and physical com4
plexity for the antennas, but this may be a good trade4off to make since the burden on
the packet switch and its network management software would be greatly reduced.
"hese trade4offs are still being assessed.
.or the case of earth4fixed beams, each antenna would have a wider field of
view than the sum of the beams in that antenna since each beam can be steered in all
directions. 2ach beam could be capable of steering throughout the #A$O: footprint,
or could be assigned a smaller portion. If there are ,gaps, in the required coverage
due to such things as rivers, hills, or forests, then the earth4fixed beams can be steered
away from these undesirable coverage 3ones and more efficient usage of the antennas
might result compared to the case of platform4fixed beams.
.
C'(6#!"-6
SUBSCRIBER UNITS
A block diagram describing the (2 7and C(28 is shown below. It entails
three ma1or sub4groups of hardware< "he D. ;nit 7D;8 which contains the &&0
Antenna and &&0 "ransceiverH the %etwork Interface ;nit 7%I;8H and the applica4
tion terminals such as (s, telephones, video servers, video terminals, etc. "he D;
consist of a small dual4feed antenna and &&0 transmitter and receiver which is
mounted to the antenna. An antenna tracking unit uses a pilot tone transmitted from
the ommunications (ayload to point the antenna toward the airborne platform.
"he &&0 transmitter accepts an $4band 75)+ 4 *5)+ &#38 I. input signal
from the %I;, translates it to &&0 frequencies, amplifies the signal using a power
amplifier to a transmit power level of *++ 4 )++ m0 of power and feeds the antenna.
"he &&0 receiver couples the received signal from the antenna to a $ow %oise
Amplifier 7$%A8, down converts the signal to an $4band I. and provides subsequent
amplification and processing before outputting the signal to the %I;. Although the
&&0 transceiver is broadband, it typically will only process a single A+ &#3 chan4
nel at any one time. "he particular channel and frequency is determined by the %I;.
.unctional Clock Diagram of the !ubscriber 2quipment
"he %I; interfaces to the D; via a coax pair which transmits the $4band "I
and DI signals between the %I; and the D;. "he %I; comprises an $4band tuner
and down converter, a high4speed 7up to 6+ &bps8 demodulator, a high4speed modu4
lator, multiplexers and de multiplexers, and data, telephony and video interface elec4
tronics. 2ach user terminal will provide access to data at rates up to )*.>A &bps each
way. In some applications, some of this bandwidth may be used to incorporate spread
spectrum coding to improve performance against interference 7in this case, the user
information rate would be reduced8.
"he %I; equipment can be identical to that already developed for $&D! and
other broadband services. "his reduces the cost of the #A$O: %etwork services to
the consumer since there would be minimal cost to adapt the $&D! equipment to this
application and we could take advantage of the high volume expected in the other ser4
vices. Also, the #A$O: D; can be very close in functionality to the D; in the other
services 7like $&D!8 since the primary difference is the need for a tracking function
for the antenna
C'(6#!"-@
SUMMARY
"he #A$O: %etwork is capable of providing high rate communications to
users of multimedia and broadband services. "he feasibility of this approach is reas4
onably assured due to the convergence of technological advancements. "he key en4
abling technologies at hand include<
-aAs D. devices which operate at &&0 frequencies
A"&'!O%2" "echnology and omponents
Digital !ignal (rocessing for 0ideband !ignals
Fideo ompression
Fery Dense &emory apacity
Aircraft "echnology
"hese technologies are individually available, to a great extent, from commer4
cial markets. "he #A$O: %etwork seeks to integrate these various technologies into
a service of high utility to small and medium businesses and other multimedia con4
sumers at a reasonable cost.
REFERENCE
%. olella and J. &artin, K "he cone of ommerce K ,(roc. Of the !(I2 Inter4
national !ymposium on Foice, Fideo, and Data ommunications < Croadband
2ngineering for &ultimedia &arkets,*55@.
-. D1uknic , J. .reidenfelds, et al. L2stablishing 0ireless ommunications
!ervices via #igh Altitude Aeronautical (latforms< A concept 0hose "ime
#as omeM L I222 ommunications &aga3ine , !eptember *55@.
www.angeltechnologies.com'techpapers