UK company Stratospheric Platforms Ltd (SPL) has proposed to the UK government complete 5G coverage of the UK with a small fleet of aircraft operating from Prestwick in Scotland. The company has been working on wide area 5G telecommunications systems since 2016. Backed by Deutsche Telekom, it has developed a high-altitude, hydrogen-powered aircraft High Altitude Platform (HAP) which can provide uninterrupted 5G connectivity direct to consumer smart phones across areas as wide as 140km and at the same time, direct broadband connectivity to properties. The coverage capability is suited to the challenging terrain of Scotland.
According to a SPL press release, the company’s Stratomast HAP delivers wide area, high data rate, flexible telecoms capability. Acting as a network of masts in the sky, a single Stratomast system provides a low cost means of guaranteeing 100% geographic connectivity to the whole of Scotland. Each aircraft can simultaneously provide home broadband services to properties in rural and remote areas and 4G/5G mobile phone coverage.
Each Stratomast HAP carries a large high-power telecommunications system capable of covering up to 15,000 square km. The aircraft and payload are powered by a hydrogen power system. A fleet of 21 aircraft, capable of providing 100% coverage over Scotland, require only 8 offshore wind turbines to generate the power needed to produce hydrogen from sea water and a service throughout the year with an availability greater than 99.9%.
The company says data rates provided by the Stratomast HAP are significantly higher than anything that can be provided by satellites and need no satellite ground station as essentially this is just a telecoms mast in the sky.
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