IJECT Vol. 2, Issue 3, Sept.

2011

ISSN : 2230-7109(Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543(Print)

High Altitude Platforms (HAP) : A Review

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Dept. of ECE, CGC Gharuan, Punjab, India, Dept. of ECE, I.E.T Bhaddal, Ropar, Punjab, India 3 Dept. of ECE, C.I.E.T, Rajpura, Punjab, India 4 College of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China
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Divya, 2Tanvir Singh, 3Amritpal Singh, 4Amit Kumar

Abstract In Todays Scenario, The curves of Data and Voice Traffic showing the hockey stick effects on charts. To provide increased capacity, the cell sizes may be reduced, thus allowing the spectrum to be reused more often within a given geographical area. This philosophy leads to the concept of microcells for areas of high user density, with a base-station on perhaps every street corner. A solution to these problems might be very tall base stations masts with line-of-sight to users. However, these would be not only costly but also environmentally unacceptable. Another solution is use of HAPs i.e High Altitude Platform that uses crafts to operate in stratosphere at an altitude between 17 and 22 km for carrying communications relay payloads and operating in quasi stationary position. In this paper, we have discussed the concept of HAP along with its applications. Keywords : HAP, Wireless Communication, LOS, Airship HAP. I. Introduction HAP refers to the use of crafts to operate in stratosphere at an altitude between 17 and 22 km for carrying communications relay payloads and operating in quasi stationary position [1, 4]. HAP can be a manned or unmanned aeroplane,balloon, or anairship. All require electrical power to keep themselves and their payload functional. While current HAPs are powered by batteries or engines, mission time is limited by the need for recharging/refueling. Therefore, alternative means are being considered for the future. Solar energy is one of best options currently being used. It is actually solar powered and unmanned airship which is capable of long endurance on station up to few years. Payload can be complete base station or simply a transparent transponder. Several aircraft have operated at altitudes greater than 18 km (~60,000 ft.). Unfortunately, these vehicles are payload limited, duration limited, or both. Aerostats, which are tethered balloons, are capable of lifting heavy payloads about a fixed location for extended durations. The aerostats altitude is limited to 5 km by the weight of its tether cable. Carbon nanotube technology investments could someday yield extremely strong yet light-weight tethers which would allow aerostats to operate above 18 km [5, 6]. Fig. 1 shows the Lockheed Martin Tethered Aerostat.

i.e it delivers directly to a customers premises. It aims to deliver data at the rate of 2mbit/s. Hence it presents a challenge as radio spectrum is a limited resource. To provide bandwidth to large users, frequency reuse strategy must be adopted. But these frequencies can be reused only at a distance. Fig. 2a illustrates the cellular concept, where each hexagon represents a cell having a base station near its centre and employing a different frequency or group of frequencies represented by the colour. These frequencies are reused only at a distance, the reuse distance being a function of many factors, including the local propagation environment and the acceptable signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio [2]. To provide increased capacity, the cell sizes may be reduced, thus allowing the spectrum to be reused more often within a given geographical area, as illustrated in fig. 2 b.

Fig. 2 (a, b): Cell Structure To provide increased capacity cell sizes may be reduced so that spectrum can be reused. For this it is required to install a base station at the corner of each street. But it would lead to the large cost as backhaul connections are also required to serve them. And there will be environment impacts due to plethora or overabundance of base station antennas. Pressure on radio spectrum also leads to move towards higher frequency bands that are less heavily congested. The use of millimeter wavelengths implies line of sight propagation but local obstructions cause problems which can also be solved by large number of base stations. III. Alternatives to HAP Tall base station in supported with line of sight to users Drawback- Costly and environmentally unacceptable Satellite that can provide line of sight communication to users. Drawback- Free space path loss (FSPL) that requires sizeable antennas at ground terminals which further leads to lengthy propagation delay which is troublesome for speech and also may cause difficulties with some data protocols. Low earth orbits (LEO) satellites Drawback- Rapid handovers between cells to provide continuous coverage

Fig.1: Lockheed Martin Tethered Aerostat II. Benefits offered by HAP Offer high bandwidth services without dependence on fixed infrastructure and is a solution to the last mile problem

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ISSN : 2230-7109(Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543(Print)

IJECT Vol. 2, Issue 3, Sept. 2011

IV. Types of HAP A. Balloons Operate up to 5000 m altitude. Now a days new plastic envelope material is used that is strong, UV resistant and leak proof to helium which is much better than the hydrogen used at the earlier times which was hazardous. Main aim is to maintain station keeping in the face of winds and hence developing a stratospheric HAP capable of serving communication applications economically and with higher degree of reliability. Operating altitude of 17-22 km is chosen because in most regions of the world this represents a layer of relatively mild wind and turbulence. B. Airship HAPs It uses very large semi rigid or non-rigid helium filled containers of 100 m or more in length. Electronic motors and propellers are used for station keeping, and the airship flies against prevailing wind. Prime power for propulsion and station keeping and payloads is provided by lightweight solar cells in form of large flexible sheets that cover upper surfaces of airships. Power is stored in Regenerative fuel cells at day time which is used at night time for power requirements. It is easy to bring HAPs back to earth for service or replacement of fuel cells. Its sausage like formation aims to provide the lift while avoiding structural and aerodynamic problems associated with very large airships. C. Aeroplane HAPs Unmanned solar powered plane that flies against wind or in roughly circular tight path. The challenge faced by it is power balance. It has the goal of long endurance operation for commercial communications and other applications. It focuses on broadband telecommunication services, environmental monitoring and vehicle localization. It is a manned aircraft with pilots operating on an 8-hour shift. It operates at altitudes of 16-18 km to deliver broadband communication services over an area up to 40 km in diameter. It will maintain a quasi-stationary position by flying in a roughly circular path with diameter less than 13 km. the aircraft has proven to be low risk solution. D. UAV-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle It refers to small fuel unmanned aircraft, having short mission durations operating at modest altitudes. But the application of UAVs as communication nodes seems to be limited because of short endurance. It is more suited to less developed regions. V. Applications of High Altitude Platforms A. Broadband Wireless Access HAP provides very high data rates to user. The frequency allocation for HAPs is 47 or 48 GHz. It offers the bandwidth of twice of 300 MHz that allocates (i) 50:50 to user and backhaul links (ii) 50:50 to up and down links.The backhaul requirements are severe as the user links themselves based on the principle that goes up must come down. As no wireless link can provide the full backhaul capacity so it is required to handle it via a cellular scheme that further requires a number of distributed backhaul ground stations that would handle a greater capacity with higher order modulation schemes. However these ground stations are low profile and their location within coverage region is non-critical hence they will be probably situated on roofs of buildings
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B. 3G / 2G Applications HAPs may offer opportunity to deploy next generation i.e. 3G mobile cellular services, or necessarily current 2G services. A single base station on the HAP with a wide beam width antenna could serve a wide area which is advantageous over sparsely populated regions. Alternatively a number of smaller cells could be deployed with appropriate directional antennas. It benefits by (i) Covering a large region (ii) Organizing propagation paths (iii) Eliminating ground station installation C. Developing world applications (i) Rural Telephony (ii)Broadcasting (iii) Providing data services (iv) Benefits in regions where ground infrastructure is lacking or difficult D. Emergency or Disaster applications HAPs can provide all the services at the time of disaster or to restore the failure in core network. E. Military Communications It can benefit military communications as these can be rapidly deployed. They can act as nodes within existing military wireless networks or as surrogate satellites. But HAPs are vulnerable to enemy attack. Despite large size, their envelope is largely transparent to microwaves and they present an extremely low radar cross section. VI. Challenges Faced By HAPs A. System level requirements It may require to change the basic design of cellular type services i.e. angular variations and changes in link lengths. B. Propagation and diversity Propagation by HAP is not characterized at standard frequencies used i.e. 47 or 48 GHz. Rain attenuation is significant at these bands. Hence it is necessary to develop rainfall attenuation and scattering statistics. C. Modulation and coding In order to optimize network capacity , suitable modulation and coding schemes are require according to the conditions when attenuation is sever and when the conditions are good. D. Resource allocation and network protocols Channel assignment and resource allocation schemes will be different from terrestrial or a satellite cellular scenario. E. Antennas A large number of spot beams is required to be produced by collection of horn antennas which will affect intercellular interference [1]. F. Platform station keeping and stability Ability of HAP to maintain position reliable to face the winds is a major challenge. Due to bulky size of antenna, larger craft will be more stable. G. Handoff HAP schemes propose to use multiple spot beams over coverage area, to yield best capacity through frequency reuse. Although BWA network has fixed users, hence handoffs may occur as antenna beams move due to platform motion. This is in contrast to cellular schemes where handoffs occur due to motion of user.

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ISSN : 2230-7109(Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543(Print)

shortest days as HAPs are based on solar energy. Hence the available power needs to be used much efficiently through the spot beams. In fact solar planes may have less payload power as compared to planes powered by fuel that have high power available. 1. Ground based antennas should be fixed or steerable? : HAPs will vary in position both vertically and laterally. Hence when viewed from ground, angular variations will be there due to movements of winds. If this angular variation is greater than the bandwidth of the antenna that depends upon gain required to operate the link, it is necessary to use steerable ground terminal antenna. Changes in vertical height may be more significant to antennas at the periphery of coverage. But the requirement of steerable antennas will increase terminal costs but is necessary to achieve high link capacity. VI. Conclusion High Altitude Platform (HAP) is developing, low-cost and efficient communication technology which will work for the curves of Data and Voice Traffic showing the hockey stick effects on charts. Hence, it can be assumed that HAP will contribute to the telecommunication industry in the future. References [1] Reshad Rasul Kazi, High Altitude Platform: Solution for rainfall attenuation, May 2008. Online Available: http:// dspace.bracu.ac.bd/bitstream/handle/10361/145/ High%20Altitude% 20Platform.pdf?sequence=1. [2] Candida Spillard, Jose Riera, Boris Gremont, The HighAltitude Platform Generic System and PIMTs, Online Available: http://www.cost280.rl.ac.uk/documents/ WS3%20Proceedings/documents/WS3-010.pdf [3] Iskandar, Shigeru Shimamoto, The Channel Characterization and Performance Evaluation of Mobile Communication Employing Stratospheric Platforms, IEEE Comm. Mag., July 2005. [4] Mohammed, Z. Yang, Broadband Communications and Applications from High Altitude Platforms, IJRTE, Vol1 No.3, May 2009, Online Available: www.academypublisher. com/ijrte/vol01/no03/ijrte0103239243.pdf [5] Anthony Colozza, Brook Park, Ohio, James L. Dolce, High-Altitude, Long-Endurance Airships for Coastal Surveillance, Online Available: http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/ reports/2005/TM-2005-213427.pdf [6] Anthony Colozza, Initial Feasibility Assessment of a High Altitude Long Endurance Airship, Online Available: http:// gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/reports/2003/CR-2003-212724.pdf

Divya is pursuing her bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication from C.G.C. Group of Colleges, Gharuan, Mohali (Punjab Technical University), Punjab, INDIA. She has published a paper in International Journal. Her field of research is Wireless Communication Networks. Tanvir Singh is pursuing his bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication from I.E.T., Bhaddal, Ropar (Punjab Technical University), Punjab, INDIA. He is working as a budding researcher in field of research on topics Green Computing and Sustainability with a dream to create a Technical Advanced and eco- friendly world. He has published many papers in International Journals and conference proceedings. Amritpal Singh is pursuing his bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication from C.I.E.T., Rajpura, Patiala (Punjab Technical University), Punjab, INDIA. He is working as a researcher in field of Green Communication . Amit Kumar received his bachelors degree in Mathematics from the Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India, in 2002 and Masters degree in Computer Application from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India, in 2006. He completed his M.Phil. in Computer Science from Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamilnadu, India, in 2010. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Computer Science. He is working as a Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Computer Science, College of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China. He has many publications in National /International Conference proceedings and International Journals. He is a reviewer for many international Journals. His current interest includes Techno-Economic Analysis of Broadband Wireless. His future focus is to explore the Green Wireless Technologies and their Sustainable development.

181A International Journal of Electronics & Communication Technology

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