1. COMMUNICATION USING
HIGH ALTITUDE
AERONAUTICAL
PLATFORM STATIONS
(HAAPS)
PRESENTED BY:
KAUSTUBH S. ILMULWAR
COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGG.
THIRD YEAR (B.TECH)

2. OVERVIEW
WHAT IS HAAPS?
NEED FOR HAAPS IN BROADBAND COMMUNICATION?
HOW HAAPS WORKS?
DIFFERENT PROJECTS IN HAAPS COMMUNICATION?
ADVANTAGES OF HAAPS COMMUNICATION?

3. WHAT IS HAAPS?
a) High altitude aeronautical platform stations (HAAPS) is a
technology that is/can be used for providing broadband and
narrowband telecommunication services as well as broadcasting
services with either airships or aircrafts (both manned as well as
unmanned).
b) The HAAPS are made to operate at altitudes between 17 to 22 km
which belongs to the stratospheric layer of earth’s atmosphere.
Also, HAAPS are designed in a way to cover a service area of up to
18’000 sq.km
c) The platforms may be aircrafts or airships (essentially balloons)
and may be manned or unmanned (UAV’s) with autonomous
operation coupled with remote control from ground.

4. NEED FOR HAAPS IN
COMMUNICATION
a) Provision of bandwidth that can service multimedia applications like
Internet Telephony, Radio services, Television, video-on-demand and the
most relevant “INTERNET”.
b) Ability to operate in high frequency band on the Radio spectrum so as to
avoid congestion and to provide the much needed bandwidth.
c) Provision of increased capacity (up to 3G and more), either by
supporting more users/cells without degrading performance or
providing high bandwidth(s).

5. HAAPS NETWORK
COMMUNICATION
STRUCTURE
The platform is positioned above the
coverage area called as “CELLS”.
There are basically two types of
HAAPS. Lighter than air HAAPS are
kept stationary while aircraft-based
HAAPS are flown in a tight circle.
For broadcast applications, a simple
antenna beams signals to terminals
on ground stations.
For individualized telecommunication
such as “telephony”, cells are created
on ground by some beam forming
technique in order to reuse channels
for spatially separated users, as is
done in cellular telecommunication
services.

6. POWER SYSTEM
AND MISSION
REQUIREMENTS
 The aircraft power system consists
of photovoltaic cells and
regenerative fuel cells.
 The main advantages of this method
over open cycle combustion engines
or air breathing fuel cells is that it
eliminates the need to carry fuel and
to extract and compress fuel at
altitudes.
 The propulsion system consists of
gear box, propeller and an electric
motor.
 A single HAAPS can cover an entire
metropolitan city like New York,
Shanghai and Mumbai under high
speed broadband connection.

7. THE STRATXX XSTATION
 The picture shows the 18’000
cubic m STRATXX X-STATION at
Zeppelin Hangar at
Friedrichshafen, Germany.
 The X-STATION is unique due to
its innovative design which
allows communication payloads
to be lifted and maintained in the
environment prevailing at high
altitudes (low temp, low density
and high radiation)
 By using solar powered
propulsion systems, there is
minimal environmental impact.
Also, its perfect line of sight
minimises the electro-smog at
ground level.

8. WHY THE XSTATION?
 The X-STATION utilizes
thoroughly tested and proven
technologies for high altitude
balloons and UAV’s.
 The X-STATION is the high
altitude design platform
incorporating a blimp and
communication plane.
 The X-STATION solves ascent,
descent and geostationary
problems, and has low ground
infrastructure requirements.
 The X-STATION was the first
platform to validate the
Exhaustive Technical Feasibility
Studies (ETFS).

9. THE STRATXX
X-TOWER
 Consists of Geostationary
antenna carrier at lower
stratospheric altitudes to provide
GSM, TETRA and WIMAX
communication.
 The X-STATION has a completely
autonomous flying capability, up
to 160 miles/h wind force.
 The operation cost is much
higher as compared to the
STRATXX X-STATION because of
its automatic nature of
operation.

10. THE NASA
PATHFINDER
PLUS
 It was one of the two aircrafts
developed by AEROVIRONMENT
INC. under the NASA’s
Environmental Research Aircraft
and Sensor Technology (ERAST).
 The task was to study them as an
alternative for “atmospheric
satellites” and to provide
telecommunication services.
 The solar arrays (19% efficiency)
provide power for aircraft’s
motors, avionics and
telecommunication payloads.
 Can provide 1000 times the fixed
broadband communication
capacity using the same
frequency bands.

11. COMPARISON OF HAAPS WITH
COMPETING TECHNOLOGIES
• COMPARED TO SATELLITE
COMMUNICATION
1. Less expensive
2. Better link budgets.
3. Easy to recover and upgrade.
4. Fast to deploy.
5. Easy to relocate.
• COMPARED TO TERRESTRIAL
RADIO NETWORKS
1. Less environmental impact.
2. Large coverage areas.
3. Less rain attenuation.
4. Better Line of Sight.
5. Fast to deploy.

12. ADVANTAGES OF HAAPS OVER
SATELLITE COMMUNICATION
HAAPS proximity to the earth’s surface will allow several transmission
technologies to operate on the same platform – including TV and radio
broadcast, mobile telephony, VOIP, remote sensing and GPS.
HAAPS technologies can be deployed, redeployed and upgraded rapidly.
HAAPS provide infrastructure solutions with easy upgrades and are
favourably comparable with the existing communication infrastructures
such as terrestrial wireline or wireless communication.
HAAPS infrastructures are much cheaper than wireless terrestrial as well
as satellite telecommunication.
HAAPS are sustainable and environment friendly.
Estimated cost for HAAPS communication is around $ 20million and is 50
times lesser than satellite launching expenditure.

13. GO
GREE
N…