HAAPS High Altitude Aeronautical Platforms

Affordable bandwidth will be as essential to the Information Revolution in the21

st century as inexpensive power was to the Industrial Revolution in the 18 th a
nd 19 th centuries. Today’s global communications infrastructures of landlines, ce
llular towers, and satellites are inadequately equipped to support the increasin
g worldwide demand for faster, better, and less expensive service. At a time whe
n conventional ground and satellite systems are facing increasing obstacles and
spiraling costs, a low cost solution is being advocated. This paper focuses on a
irborne platforms- airships, planes, helicopters or some hybrid solutions which
could operate at stratospheric altitudes for significant periods of time, be low
cost and be capable of carrying sizable multipurpose communications payloads. T
his report briefly presents an overview about the internal architecture of a Hig
h Altitude Aeronautical Platform and the various HAAPS projects.
HAAPS
High Altitude Aeronautical Platform Stations (HAAPS) is the name of a technology
for providing wireless narrowband and broadband telecommunication services as w
ell as broadcasting services with either airships or aircrafts. The HAAPS are op
erating at altitudes between 3 to 22 km. A HAPS shall be able to cover a service
area of up to 1 000 km diameter, depending on the minimum elevation angle accep
ted from the user s location. The platforms may be airplanes or airships (essent
ially balloons) and may be manned or un-manned with autonomous operation coupled
with remote control from the ground. While the term HAP may not have a rigid de
finition, we take it to mean a solar-powered and unmanned airplane or airship,
capable of long endurance on-station –possibly several years.
Various types of platform options exist: SkyStation™, the Japanese Stratospheric P
latform Project, the European Space Agency (ESA) and others suggest the use of a
irships/blimps/dirigibles. These will be stationed at 21km and are expected to r
emain aloft for about 5 years. Angel Technologies (HALO™), AeroVironment/ NASA (He
lios) and the European Union (Heliplat) propose the use of high altitude long en
durance aircraft. The aircraft are either engine or solar powered and are statio
ned at 16km (HALO) or 21km (Helios). Helios is expected to stay aloft for a mini
mum of 6 months whereas HALO will have 3 aircraft flying in 8hour shifts. Platfo
rms Wireless International is implementing a tethered aerostat situated at ~6km.
A high altitude telecommunication system comprises an airborne platform – typical
ly at high atmospheric or stratospheric altitudes – with a telecommunications payl
oad, and associated ground station telecommunications equipment. The combination
of altitude, payload capability, and power supply capability makes it ideal to
serve new and metropolitan areas with advanced telecommunications services such
as broadband access and regional broadcasting. The opportunities for application
s are virtually unlimited. The possibilities range from narrowband services such
as paging and mobile voice to interactive broadband services such as multimedia
and video conferencing. For future telecommunications operators such a platform
could provide blanket coverage from day one with the added advantage of not bei
ng limited to a single service. Where little or unreliable infrastructure exists
, traffic could be switched through air via the HAPS platform. Technically, the
concept offers a solution to the propagation and rollout problems of terrestrial
infrastructure and capacity and cost problems of satellite networks. Recent
developments in digital array antenna technology make it possible to construct 1
00+ cells from one platform. Linking and switching of traffic between multiple h
igh altitude platforms, satellite networks and terrestrial gateways are also pos
sible. Economically it provides the opportunity for developing countries to have
satellite-like infrastructure without the funds flowing out of the country due
to gateways and control stations located outside of these countries.
System Architecture and Parameters
General Architecture
A typical HAAP-based communications systems structure is shown .
HAAP Feeder-band beam User-band beam
Ground Station
Public/Private networks Coverage Area
The platform is positioned above the coverage area. There are basically two type
s of HAAPS. Lighter-than air HAAPS are kept stationary, while airplane-based HAA
PS are flown in a tight circle. For broadcast applications, a simple antenna bea
ms signals to terminals on the ground. For individualized communication, such as
telephony, "cells" are created on the ground by some beam forming technique ino
rder to reuse channels for spatially separated users, as is done in cellular ser
vice. Beam forming can be as sophisticated as the use of phased-array antennas ,
or as straightforward as the use of lightweight, possible inflatable parabolic
dishes with mechanical steering. In the case of a moving HAAP it would also be n
ecessary to compensate motion by electronic or mechanical means inorder to keep
the cells stationary or to "hand off" connections between cells as is done in ce
llular telephony. For a given platform altitude h, the diameter of the HAPS foot
print can be computed using the formula:
Equation leads to a minimum elevation angle of γ = 15 de
rees for a footprint diam
eter of d=152km and a minimum elevation an
le of γ = 0 de
rees for a footprint dia
meter of d=1'033km (both at a platform altitude h = 21 km).
Onboard Equipment
Dependin
on the application, HAAP-based communications system could be implemen
ted in many ways. A typical desi
n will seek hi
h reliability, low power consump
tion and minimum wei
ht and size for the onboard portion of the system. That wou
ld lead to an architecture which places most of the system on the
round by limi
tin
airborne components to a multichannel transponder, user-beam and feeder-bea
m antennas and associated antenna interfaces.
10MHz
LNA1 BPF Frequencydivision mux
: : :
Beam formin
matrix
LNA50
: : :
BPF
500 MHz
HPA BPF
D
BPF HPA1 Frequencydivision demux
: : :
BPF
: : :
HPA50
LNA
BPF
500 MHz Sin
le- beam antenna(to
round station)
10 MHz Multibeam antenna (to users)
The fi
ure shows a code-division multiple access (CDMA) system built around a st
andard satellite-like transponder bandwidth of 500 MHz. The transponder bandwidt
h can accommodate upto 50 antenna beams with 8 spread spectrum carriers/beam(ass
umin
1.25 MHz bandwidth). Carrier si
nals comin
from a
round cell(ie., from a
particular beam)and received by the onboard antenna are first amplified in low-
noise amplifiers(LNAs). They are then limited to the standard 10MHz bandwidth by
band-pass filters(BPFs), and frequency division mulitplexed. Before transmittin

to the
round station, multiplexed si
nals are amplified in the hi
h-power amp
lifier(HPA), BPFed to the transponder bandwidth and passed throu
h the diplexer
(D). Si
nal path in the opposite direction is similar and includes an additional
demulitplexin
sta
e. If commercial off-the-shelf equipment is to be used onboa
rd, it will have to be placed in a chamber with climate and air-pressure control
to prevent freezin
, overheatin
due to reduced heat convection) and dielectric
breakdown.
Ground Installations
Communications between the HAAP and the
round would typically be concentrated i
nto a sin
le
round installation or perhaps into two locations for redundancy. T
here would be considerable advanta
e to collocatin
RF units, base stations and
mobile switchin
centers(MSCs). 1 0 Frequency -division 1 demux 2
D BPF LNA Frequency -division mux
500 MHz
BPF LNA
500 MHz Sin
le-beam antenna(to airborne platform)
. : : : 50 1 : : : 50
Multicarrier CDMA base station equipment
MSC
PSTN The
round system in fi
ure corresponds to the onboard equipment from the p
revious fi
ure. Carrier si
nals comin
from the air-borne station are filtered b
y a BPF, amplified in LNAs, demultiplexed in the demux and passed to the CDMA ba
se stations. In this case the base station consists only of a radio channel fram
e, since there is no need for power- amplifier and antennainterface frames for e
very base station; a common wide band power amplifier and an antenna will serve
all the collocated base stations. From the base stations, the si
nals are passed
in the usual manner to the mobile MSC and public switched telephone network (PS
TN). The return si
nal path towards the airborne station is similar except for t
he inverse multiplexin
operation in the MUX and hi
h power amplification by HPA
.
Power System & Mission Requirements
Various power system components and mission requirements affect the sizin
of a
solar powered lon
endurance aircraft. The aircraft power system consists of pho
tovoltaic cells and a re
enerative fuel cell. for the power system, the
reatest
benefit can be
ained by increasin
the fuel cell specific ener
y. Mission requ
irements also substantially affect the aircraft size. By limitin
the time of ye
ar the aircraft is required to fly at hi
h northern or southern latitudes a si
n
ificant reduction in aircraft size or increase in payload capacity can be achiev
ed. Due to the hi
h altitude at which these aircraft will be required to fly (20
km or hi
her) and the required endurance (from a few weeks to a year) the metho
d of propulsion is the major desi
n factor in the ability to construct the aircr
aft. One method of supplyin
power for this type of aircraft is to use solar pho
tovoltaic (PV) cells coupled with a re
enerative fuel cell. The main advanta
es
to this method over others such as open cycle combustion en
ines or air breathin

fuel cells is that it eliminates the need to carry fuel and to extract and com
press air at altitude which can be a si
nificant problem both in
atherin
the r
equired volume of air and in rejectin
the heat of compression.
In order for a solar powered aircraft to be capable of continuous fli
ht, enou
h
ener
y must be collected and stored durin
the day to both power the aircraft a
nd to enable the aircraft to fly throu
hout the ni
ht. The propulsion system con
sists of an electric motor,
ear box and propeller. The aircraft with amorphous
silicon cells performed better than the CLEFT GaAs powered aircraft at lower asp
ect ratios and both amorphous silicon and CLEFT GaAs performed si
nificantly bet
ter then the GaAs/Ge and silicon powered aircraft. As the efficiency increases,
the correspondin
reduction in aircraft size decreases. Fuel cell performance ha
s a si
nificant impact on size and performance of a solar powered aircraft. Ther
e are modest size reductions with increasin
fuel cell efficiency; however, the
size reductions which are
ained by an increase in the specific ener
y of the fu
el cell are substantial. Aircraft size increases si
nificantly with increasin
a
ltitude. The specified time of year (date) and latitude determines the char
e/di
schar
e period for the ener
y stora
e system as well as the amount of total sola
r ener
y available. The winter solstice, December 22, is the date with the lon
e
st dischar
e period and smallest amount of available solar ener
y. This date was
chosen as the baseline because it is the time of lowest daily avera
e solar flu
x in the northern hemisphere and therefore represents a worst case situation. An
y aircraft power system and mission confi
uration which is feasible at this date
would be capable of operatin
throu
hout the year. However, by varyin
the requ
ired latitude throu
hout the year, aircraft size can be reduced. Payload and pay
load power required also has an effect on the aircraft size. Mission requirement
s will mostly determine the amount and type of payload. In most situations li
ht
wei
ht, low power instruments, similar to satellite equipment, will need to be u
sed. If very li
ht wei
ht amorphous silicon arrays or any thin film array of sim
ilar performance can be mass produced, they would have si
nificant advanta
es ov
er individual-celled ri
id arrays. The main advanta
e would be their incorporati
on onto the win
s of the aircraft. Since they are flexible and can be made in la
r
e sheets they can conform to the shape of the win
. This allows for fairly eas
y installation directly over the win
surface. Also there would be no need to wi
re each individual cell to
ether as is necessary with individual ri
id cells. In
order to make the commercial construction and maintenance of this type of aircr
aft practical ,li
ht wei
ht, flexible PV arrays will need to be used.
HAAP-BASED COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
One of the most attractive features of an airborne platform-based wireless syste
m is its very favourable path-loss characteristic relative to either terrestrial
or satellite systems. 100,000Geo * (36,000 km) 10,000-
1000LEO(900 km) 100Airship(22 km) 10-150 -140 -130 -120 -110 -100 -90 -80 -70 -6
0
A typical path loss vs. distance is shown for terrestrial and non-terrestrial sy
stems. For nonterrestrial systems, free space path loss is inversely proportiona
l to square of distance. In terrestrial systems, path loss is a stochastic varia
ble(often determined empirically) and ratio is 1/r4. The more favourable propa
a
tion characteristics in satellite systems are offset by the
reat distance. Even
LEO distances cause path losses comparable to those in a relatively lar
e terre
strial cell.: path loss to a LEO at 900 km altitude equal to path loss alon

ro
und at 10 km. An airship at 22 km altitude to a point on
round directly below i
t, path loss is same as at the ed
e of a relatively small terrestrial system cel
l with approximately 2km radius. Th ener
y bud
et of the user link in an airborn
e-based system is enhanced by Ricean and not Raylei
h type fadin
and hi
h
ain
platform antennas. Therefore, the system can operate with conventional cellular/
PCS handsets and relatively simple onboard equipment. The power requirements of
the onboard equipment are within limits of the onboard amplifier and power suppl
y. Fi
ure shows covera
e of terrestrial and HAAP-based systems.
HAAP RH 12 mi Tower RT
α
The ntenn  g in in terrestri l systems is GT =10-17dB while n irborne ntenn 
g in is GH = 30-35 dB. For  terrestri l nd  HAAP b sed system to m int in th
e s me qu lity of service, the Sign l to noise r tio should be the s me t the e
dge of their respective cover ge re s. SNR α (P x G) / Rn P- tr nsmitter power ,
G- ntenn  g in N- p th loss exponent h s v lues 2 to 5.In free sp ce prop g tio
n, n=2, in suburb n type,n=3.84 nd in highly urb n, n= 5. HAAP tr nsmitter powe
r, PH = (GT RH2)PT / (GH RTn) HAAP b sed telephone systems would void the cost
of communic tion links required to connect geogr phic lly dispersed b se st tion
s th t re required in terrestri l systems. This centr lized rchitecture c n l
so result in improved efficiency of ch nnel re liz tion-  l rge trunk being mor
e efficient th n multiple sm ller ones. If  HAAP b sed system is used to provid
e cellul r cover ge, the tot l offered lo d is served by  centr l f cility. The
no: of ch nnels do not h ve to be dimensioned ccording to busy hour tr ffic bu
t to ver ge tr ffic in the re , since ll v il ble ch nnels c n be sh red mo
ng ll the cells nd loc l tr ffic pe ks re smoothed out. In  HAAPSb sed syste
m the no: of ch nnels required to cover the entire re  is less th n th t of ter
restri l systems nd therefore lesser no: of b se st tions.
The CDMA c p city c n be incre sed by improving the ccur cy of the power contro
l lgorithm. Two m in f ctors influence errors in power control- the dyn mic r n
ge of sign l ttenu tion nd distribution of f st f des. Both re reduced in HAA
PS-b sed system. In terrestri l c ll dyn mic r nge of sign l ttenu tion is 69-8
0dB while it is 12-22 dB in HAAPS. The Rice n distribution of f des in HAAPS sys
tem yields n ddition l energy g in which is  function the Reci n f ctor.
Comp rison Of Wireless Systems
The high- ltitude pl tforms h ve m ny of the dv nt ges of both terrestri l nd
s tellite systems, while t the s me time voiding m ny of their pitf lls.
Issue Av il bility nd cost of mobile termin ls
Prop g tion del y
Terrestri l Wireless Huge cellul r/PCS m rket drives high volumes resulting in s
m ll, low-cost , lowpower units. Not n issue
S tellite Speci lized, more stringent requirements le d to expensive. C uses not
ice ble imp irment in voice communic tions in GEO ( nd MEO to some extent). High
-power h ndsets due to l rge p th losses(possibly llevi ted by c reful ntenn 
design). Consider ble new technology for LEOs nd MEOs; GEOs still l g cellul r/
PCS in volume, cost nd perform nce.
High-Altitude Pl tform Terrestri l termin ls pplic ble.
Not n issue
He lth concerns with r dio emissions from h ndsets
Low-power h ndsets minimize concerns.
Power levels like in terrestri l systems(except for l rge cover ge re s). Terre
stri l wireless technology, supplemented with spot-be m ntenn s; if widely depl
oyed, opportunities for speci lized equipment (sc nning be ms to follow tr ffic)
. One pl tform nd ground support typic lly enough for initi l commerci l servic
e. C p city incre se through spot-be m resizing nd ddition l pl tforms; equipm
ent upgr des rel tively e sy.
Communic tions technology risk
M ture technology nd well-est blished industry.
Deployment timing
System growth
Deployment c n be st ged; subst nti l initi l build-out to provide sufficient co
ver ge Cell-splitting to dd c p city, requiring system reengineering; e sy equi
pment upd te/rep ir.
Service c nnot st rt before the entire system is deployed.
System c p city incre sed only be dding s tellites; h rdw re upgr de only with
repl cement s tellite.
System complexity due to motion of components
Only user termin ls re mobile.
Motion of LEOs nd MEOs  m jor source of complexity, especi lly when inters tel
lite links re used. High for GEOs nd especi lly LEOs due to continu l l unches
to repl ce old or f iled s tellites. Free-sp ce-like ch nnel with Rice n f ding
; p th loss roughly 20dB/dec de; GEO dist nce limits spectrum efficiency. Gener 
lly not v il ble(high power sign ls in Iridium to trigger ringing only for inco
ming c lls). L rge regions in GEO; glob l for LEO nd MEO. Problem only t low l
ook ngles. Single g tew y collects tr ffic from  l rge re .
Motion low to moder te(st bility ch r cteristics to be proven).
Oper tion l complexity nd cost
Well-understood
Some propos ls require frequent l ndings of pl tforms (to refuel or to rest pilo
ts). Free-sp ce-like ch nnel t dist nces comp r ble to terrestri l.
R dio ch nnel "qu lity"
Indoor cover ge
R yleigh f ding limits dist nce nd d t  r te; p th loss upto 50dB/de cde; good
sign l qu lity through proper ntenn  pl cement. Subst nti l cover ge chieved.
Subst nti l cover ge possible.
Bre dth of geogr phic l cover ge Sh dowing from terr in Communic tions nd power
infr structure; re l est te
A few kilometers per b se st tion. C uses g ps n cover ge; requires ddition l e
quipment. Numerous b se st tions to be sited, powered nd linked by c bled or mi
crow ve. M ny sites requires for cover ge nd c p city; "sm rt" ntenn s m ke th
em more visible; continued public deb tes expected.
Hundreds of kilometers per pl tform. Simil r to s tellites.
Comp r ble to s tellite.
Esthetic issues nd he lth concerns with towers nd ntenn s
E rth st tions loc ted w y from popul ted re s.
Simil r to s tellites.
Public s fety concern bout flying objects
Not n issue.
Occ sion l concern bout sp ce junk f lling to E rth.
500 ... 36'000 km
L rge cr ft flo ting or flying overhe d c n r ise signific nt objections.
3 ... 22 km 16 ... 19 km
Height over ground level
5 ... 250 m
Lifetime C p city Orbit
up to 15 ye rs high
up to 15 ye rs low geost tion ry only on equ tori l pl ne or non-geost tion ry l
nd nd se  possible Low Not possible High l unching costs Well known nd proven
technologies
up to 5 ye rs medium “geost tion ry” nywhere on the world
Cover ge F de m rgin Indoor reception Rem rks
only l nd nd shore possible High Possible M inten nce possible High number of t
r nsmitters necess ry Well known nd proven technologies
l nd nd se  possible Medium ?? M inten nce nd re-deployment possible Unsolved
power problems
V rious HAAPS Projects
HAPS h ve been proposed using both irship technology nd high ltitude ircr ft
.
Airship Technologies
The ide  is to keep unm nned Zeppelin-like b lloons geost tion ry t n ltitude
of 3 km to 22km.E ch HAPS sh ll provide mobile nd fixed telecommunic tion serv
ices to n re  of bout 50 km to 1'000 km di meter, depending on the minimum el
ev tion ngle ccepted from the user's loc tion. To provide sufficient c p city
in such l rge re s, spot be ms h ve to be foreseen. One of the m in ch llenges
is to keep the pl tforms st tion ry. Winds of up to 55 m/s c n occur t these l
titudes.
1.Sky St tion
Sky St tion is the n me of n irship system pl nned by the US comp ny “Sky St tio
n Intern tion l”. The number of pl tforms will depend on the dem nd (250 pl tforms
re nnounced). The b lloons will be covered with sol r cells, giving energy to
the electric l motors. The d t  r tes foreseen for the fixed services re 2 Mbp
s for the uplink nd 10 Mbps for the downlink. The d t  r tes foreseen for the m
obile services re 9.6 - 16 kbps for voice nd 384 kbps for d t . The cost of th
e entire project for  worldwide bro db nd infr structure is estim ted t $2.5 b
illion. The st rt of the service is now postponed to 2002. For  l ter ph se, r 
dio links interconnecting the different pl tforms re pl nned.
Initi lly, Sky St tion intended to use ion engines for the steering of the pl tf
orms. Very little published inform tion is v il ble on this technology. The fe 
sibility of sufficiently powerful nd efficient ion engines h s cre ted  lot of
deb te [5]. In ny c se, Sky St tion h s pp rently chosen to use convention l
electric motors nd lightweight propellers, inste d. More det ils of the propuls
ion engines re not yet publicly v il ble.
2.Str tS t
Str tS t is n irship system pl nned by the UK b sed comp ny “Adv nced Technology
Group(ATG)”. With both civili n nd milit ry pplic tions, the Str tS t cost effe
ctive nd s fe solution for geo-st tion ry telecommunic tions p ylo ds bove l r
ge customer concentr tions. The irship in the str tosphere is well bove conven
tion l ir tr ffic nd presents no thre t. Its che p l unch costs, comp red to t
he convention l s tellites llows those in the industry to t lk of reducing the
cost of c lls from  mobile telephone, by n order of m gnitude, thereby c pturi
ng  high proportion of the m rket. The sol r rr y provides the sole source of
renew ble energy for the irship. The rr y is pl ced over the upper qu rter of
the hull nd extends over pproxim tely three-qu rters of the
length of the cr ft. The rr y c n be re ligned to the d ily sun loc tion/ ngle
by the roll rot tion of the whole irship. The irship is propelled nd steered
by me ns of  'Contr -Rot ting Coned Rotor' mounted on  t ilcone t the re r of
the envelope, s p rt of  compound propulsion system. This unit provides longi
tudin l thrust (to counter the prev iling str tospheric winds) nd l ter l force
(for m neuvering) to en ble the irship to hold st tion within  1 km cube.
3.Str tospheric Pl tform System from J p n
The Wireless Innov tion Systems Group of the Yokosuk  R dio Communic tions Rese 
rch Center in J p n .The irship h s  semi-rigid hull of ellipsoid l sh pe with
n over ll length of ne rly 200 m. It is composed of n ir-pressurized hull fo
r m int ining  fixed contour, nd intern l b gs filled with the buoy nt helium
g s. Two ir b llonets re inst lled inside the hull to keep the irship t  re
quired ltitude. For  lo d b l nce to the lifting force, c ten ry curt ins re
connected to  lower rigid keel, directly tt ched to the envelope. Propulsive p
ropellers re mounted on both the stem nd stern of the irship, nd t il wings
re inst lled on the re r end of the hull. A sol r photovolt ic power subsystem
of sol r cells nd regener tive fuel cells is provided to supply  d y/night cyc
le of electricity for irship propulsion
4.ARC System
The Airborne Rel y Communic tions (ARC) System is the n me of n irship pl tfor
m pl nned by the US comp ny Pl tforms Wireless Intern tion l. The ARC system is
designed to oper te t lower ltitudes, 3 to 10.5 km. Origin lly known s “Aerost 
ts”, these irships were designed s irborne defense pl tforms for low-level r d 
r use. Inspired by the dirigibles th t monitor the border between the US nd Mex
ico, Pl tforms Wireless Intern tion l develops  system which sh ll provide fixe
d-wireless bro db nd s well s mobile services to re s of 55 to 225 km di mete
r per system nd servicing up to 1'500'000 subscribers (depending on system conf
igur tion nd ntenn  projection power).
An ARC irship is  46 m long helium-filled b lloon, which c n c rry lmost 700
kg of p ylo d. An irship configur tion is designed with two supporting ircr ft
s, which will be deployed to ensure uninterrupted service cover ge when severe w
e ther conditions (winds in excess of 145 km/h) or monthly servicing require the
tempor ry docking of the irship. Unlike the three str tospheric pl tform st ti
ons described bove, the ARC system is not using sol r cells. Electricity is sup
plied to the p ylo d vi   2.5 cm thick c ble. It lso incorpor tes  fibre-opti
c c ble link th t connects the irborne b se st tions to the rest of the network
. A “no-fly zone” must lso be cre ted so other ircr fts do not fly into the irshi
p or its c ble.
Aircr ft Technologies
Although the commerci l pplic tions re only st rting now to ppe r, the topic
of communic tion using n ircr ft is not new. Airpl nes h ve been used to bro d
c st TV over Vietn m from 1966 to 1972. High Altitude Aircr fts will oper te t
n ltitude of 16 km to 19 km, high bove commerci l irline tr ffic nd dverse
we ther.
1.HALO-Proteus
Angel Technology Corpor tion (USA) is pl nning to offer bro db nd telecommunic t
ion service using m nned ircr ft . A piloted, FAA-certified High Altitude Long
Oper tion (HALO) ircr ft will provide the “hub” of the network. Oper ting continuou
sly over e ch m rket in three eight hours shifts.
Consumers will be ble to ccess video, d t , nd the Internet t r tes r nging
from 1 to 5 Mbps.The technology of high ltitude m nned ircr ft is m ture. A br
o db nd wireless link t 52 Mbps h s been demonstr ted in August 1998.
2. SkyTower
Through funding support from NASA, AeroVironment h s developed n unm nned, sol 
relectric irpl ne c lled Helios which will be c p ble of continuous flight for
up to six months or more t 60'000 feet in the str tosphere, bove the we ther 
nd commerci l ir tr ffic (AeroVironment lso developed P thfinder Plus, Helios’ p
redecessor). Helios will provide a telecommunications platform from this positio
n in the stratosphere, acting as an 11-mile tall tower— hence the name “SkyTower” . Ae
roVironment officially formed SkyTower, Inc. in October 2000 to pursue commercia
l telecom opportunities enabled by AeroVironment’s
proprietary solar-electric aircraft technology. SkyTower’s stratospheric communica
tions networks are comprised of airborne segments (or payloads) which communicat
e with user terminals and gateway stations on the ground. The ground gateway sta
tions will serve as an intermediate interface between the aircraft and existing
Internet and PSTN connecting systems. When a signal passes from the end users up
to the airplane and then from the airplane to the ground gateway antenna, a gro
und switching router will determine whether the data should be directed to the I
nternet, a private data network, or the telephone network. These interactive net
work systems are being designed to maximize the overall throughput of the networ
k. Fixed wireless broadband total throughput is projected to be approximately 10
to 20 Gbps per platform with typical user transmission speeds of 1.5 Mbps or hi
gher (125 Mbps is feasible for a single user).
3. AVCS
General Atomics, a USA - San Diego based manufacturer of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
s (UAV), is developing an Aerial Vehicle Communications System, AVCS .Figure 7 s
hows the system architecture of AVCS.
No further information on AVCS (press releases or articles) could be found on th
e internet, apart from the official web site.
4. Heliplat
The Heliplat (HELIos PLATform) is being designed at Politecnico di Torino under
an ASI (Italian Space Agency) grant. Heliplat is an unmanned platform with solar
cell propulsion, which will be operated in the stratosphere. It will enable a p
ayload of about 100 kg, and offers an available power of some hundreds watt. The
present research proposal is devoted to the study of
possible applications of such a platform, not only for cellular/personal communi
cations, but also for localization and surveillance. The use of the platform as
base station (GSM or UMTS) can provide cellular telephony service to rural areas
with low user density, because large diameter cells can be easily implemented;
to increase the capacity of the public switched network in case of natural disas
ter, easily moving the platform if needed; to provide reliable telecommunication
services to the ships sailing transoceanic courses, using networks of aerial pl
atforms placed on the most important navigation lanes. The project is at an earl
y stage (see Figure 8).
Frequencies
WRC-97 has already designated in Resolution 122 a pair of 300 MHz frequency band
s around 47 GHz (downlink: 47.2 - 47.5 GHz and uplink: 47.9 - 48.2 GHz) for the
fixed services (FS) of highaltitude platform stations (HAPS). Due to the higher
rain attenuation in certain areas, WRC-2000 proposed to study an additional freq
uency allocation for HAPS between 18 and 32 GHz for ITUR Region 3 (Asia), focuss
ing particularly, but not exclusively, on the bands 27.5 - 28.35 GHz and 31.0 -
31.3 GHz . Studies have been started within ITU-R to achieve the most efficient
use of the spectrum and to define the technical sharing criteria. It must be not
ed that the FS (Fixed Service) is under national responsibility and that also th
e operation of such an aircraft requires the authorization from the local aviati
on administrations.
Advantages
HAPS do not require any launch vehicle, they can move under their own power thro
ughout the world or remain stationary, and they can be brought down to earth, re
furbished and re-deployed. Once a platform is in position, it can immediately be
gin delivering service to its service area without the need to deploy a global i
nfrastructure or constellation of platforms to operate. HAPS
can use conventional base station technology - the only difference is the antenn
a. Furthermore, customers will not have to use different handsets. The relativel
y low altitudes enable the HAPS systems to provide a higher frequency reuse and
thus higher capacity than satellite systems. The low launching costs and the pos
sibility to repair the platforms gateway could lead to cheap wireless infrastruc
tures per subscriber. Joint venture companies and government authorities located
in each country will control the Sky Station platforms serving their region to
ensure the best service offerings tailored to the local market. Offerings can ch
ange as a region develops. Each platform can be retrieved, updated, and relaunch
ed without service interruption. Sky Station platforms are environmentally frien
dly. They are powered by solar technology and non-polluting fuel cells. The rela
tively low altitudes compared to satellite systems - provide subscribers with sh
ort paths through the atmosphere and unobstructed line-of-sight to the platform.
With small antennas and low power requirements, the HAPS systems are suited for
a wide variety of fixed and portable user terminals to meet almost any service
needed. Since most communication equipment are located in the ground station, sy
stem administration will be easier than for typical dispersed terrestrial system
s.The single origin of the HAAP s beams that form coverage cells on the ground o
pens up the potential for flexible call configuration with onboard programmabili
ty- a process that is much easier than splitting a terrestrial cell and redesign
ing radio patterns to accommodate growth in terrestrial cellular systems. The fi
xed location of the HAAPs could be advantageous for situations where end-user ra
dios on the ground use directional antennas that are pointed to the signal sourc
e as in a wireless local access system. Here the end-user radios can be reassign
ed to different cells(beams) without having to redirect their antennas.
Applications
The large coverage area of a HAAP would tend to give it an advantage in two type
s of applications. One is where many widely separated customers receive the same
communication as in entertainment broadcasting. HAAP technology might be able t
o achieve many of the benefits of the GEO-based Direct Broadcast Satellite witho
ut having to transmit quite so homogeneously over so large an area. Unlike GEO-b
ased technology, upstream channels are also possible in HAAPs which would enable
interactive TV and Internet access capabilities. The other type of application
in which a HAAP s large coverage area ought to be advantageous is in telecommuni
cations for areas having a low density of customers, especially when prospective
customer s specific geographic locations are unknown. The cost per customer of
installing fixed facilities such as wire increases with decreasing customer dens
ity. Even though cellular , PCS and wireless systems do not depend on traffic de
nsity, cost per subscriber rises when the traffic density gets so low that many
underutilized base stations have to be installed to achieve geographic coverage.
Here both satellites and HAAPs come into play. Eventhough satellites are more a
dvantageous at times, HAAPs provide a large coverage area along with indoor sign
al penetration. HAAPs at the same time uses much of the same equipment as terres
trial systems. A single HAAP s coverage area of 100 km would cover a metropolita
n city and in such cases, it is used to support commercial services and advertis
ing with lesser time and investment.
HAAPs would eliminate high visible antenna towers that sometimes cause public re
sistance to terrestrial systems. HAAPs give better signal quality and fewer "hol
es" in radio coverage. But in tunnels and deep basements, coverage requires repe
aters or macrocells. A HAAP system with a coverage area with a look angle of 15
degree will give a line of sight communication. Thus the higher frequencies such
as LMDS, 38GHz, 47GHz and so on can be utilized for very wide band internet acc
ess, entertainment video and audio and videoconferencing. HAAPs technology becau
se it can be made to cover large areas quickly without having to rely on facilit
ies in the service area could be suited to applications that are temporary or li
mited. Examples of such services would be coverage for onetime seasonal vents, s
ervices for remote areas, temporary services in natural disasters or emergencies
. Ring-shaped clustering simplifies the design of steerable multibeam antennas -
Traditional arrangement of cells in a hexagonal pattern covering the plane is h
ow wireless coverage is provided in terrestrial systems. But when coverage is es
tablished from an antenna mount on a circling plane or an airship rotating aroun
d its central axis due to stratospheric winds, the "natural" cell shape is a geo
metric pattern invariant to such platform movements. Such coverage is made up of
a set of concentric rings. This arrangement is possible since cell shapes and t
heir relative positions are of no consequence to the operations of a cellular sy
stem and has certain advantages over traditional pattern. Here each cell has jus
t one or two neighbours which simplifies hand off algorithms.
HAAP
Cell1 Cell2 Cell3
GS
Cell scanning eliminates complex airborne antennas and saves power by focusing o
n smaller areas: The HAAP takes advantage of the "smart antenna" systems. Compar
ed to the terrestrial system in which sectorized antennas sent and receive radio
waves travelling along the ground , the HAAPs favourable "look angle" means tha
t its energy can be readily focused onto a confined area.. Depending on the appl
ication, the beam can visit a particular cell at regular or irregular intervals.
Regular visits are suitable for real time applications and services to meet qua
lity-of-service criteria like delay and delay variance. Random timed between vis
its can be used in non-timecritical applications such as internet access.
HAAP
While the beam is pointing to one of the cells, information is exchanged between
user terminals and the communications equipment on the platform: the traffic in
tended for that cell is buffered in the interval between successive beam visits
and then beamed down in a burst manner: likewise information in user terminal is
buffered until the control signal from the platform indicates that the beam is
pointing to the cell , triggering the beaming up of information bursts. If one b
eam is not enough to satisfy the capacity or delay requirements, two or more bea
ms can be used to scan the cells in a staggered manner. A variant of this approa
ch is a system in which beams have different roles "scout" beams scan the cells
in search of those in which there are data ready to send in user terminals; "tra
ffic" beams visit only the cell marked by "scout" beams either randomnly or acco
rding to some priority mechanism. Stratospheric radio-relay maritime communicati
ons system:Providing high quality telecommunications services including voice an
d data transmissions for maritime vessels crossing world oceans is one of the mo
st complex problems in telecommunication engg. Now, only GEO satellite system pr
ovide multichannel, long distance , reliable maritime commercial communication s
ervices. But due to bulky size of maritime satellite user terminals, satellite b
ased service is expensive. The HAAPs concept can solve this problem for many lar
ge world ocean shipping lanes. Chains of HAAPs positioned above these lanes woul
d operate as stratospheric radio-relay links, terminated by coastal radio center
s at each end of the transoceanic link. Operating frequencies for user, feeder a
nd inter-HAAP links are in the bands commonly used in satellite systems. The sys
tem can provide multichannel, reliable, cost-efficient Maritime communication se
rvice, including voice, data, video, paging and broadcasting. Platforms can eith
er be stationary or it may move at very low speeds along a race-like path with e
ndpoints close to land-based gateways. 600mi mm wave inter-HAAP radio link
HAAP HAAP HAAP
Ku band Feeder link To terrestrial networks Land based gateway
L band User beam
Ku band Feeder link To terrestrial networks
OCEAN
HAAP Issues
Inspite of many advantages there are many critical issues that the HAAPs technol
ogy is facing. The most critical issue is that- it still remains to be demonstra
ted that placing a platform at stratospheric altitude and "fixing" it reliably a
bove the coverage area is possible and that it can be done in a cost-efficient,
safe and sustained manner. It is still not proven that planes can fly at stratos
pheric altitudes for long stretches of time, that dirigibles can be stationed at
stratospheric altitude, and that the position of weather balloons can be contro
lled.
Another critical issue is the presence of winds in the stratosphere. The average
minimum stratospheric wind velocity is 30-40m/s and occurs between 65 000 and 7
5 000ft depending on latitude. Eventhough HAAPs are designed to withstand these
winds it may not be able to withstand sudden wind gusts resulting in temporary o
r total loss of communication. The instantaneous power P needed to counter the w
ind force exerted on airship is P=1/2ρCdScν3 Whe e ρ is the ai  desity, Cd is the d a
g coefficiet , Sc the ai ship c oss sectioal a ea ad ν, istataeous wid velo
city. The wid di ectio emais steady i this laye  fo  most of the yea  excep
t fo  a twice yea ly chage of 180deg ee. The techical p oblems a e still subst
atial: All mate ials must be lightweight, esistat to adiace at high altitud
es, ad at least fo  ai ships leakp oof fo  helium. The egies must be st og e
ough to keep the platfo ms statioa y at wids of up to 55 m/s. Flyig with sol
a  powe  is a possible solutio. Ai ships especially offe  eough a ea o thei 
evelope fo  the iteg atio of sola  cells. Fo  log edu ace missios oly pa
t of the collected i adiace is available fo  the di ect p opulsio. The est
has to be used to cha ge the ee gy sto age fo  the ight time. Sufficiet ee g
y has to be p oduced ad sto ed fo  the p opulsio ad the telecommuicatio. eq
uipmet.