Next Generation Broadband Services from High Altitude Platforms

In this chapter the authors investigate the possibility and performance of delivering broadband services from High Altitude Platforms (HAPs). In particular, the performance and coexistence techniques of providing worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) from HAPs and terrestrial systems in the shard frequency band are investigated. The WiMAX standard is based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) technologies and has been regarded as one of the most promising 4G standards to lead 4G market and deliver broadband services globally. The authors show that it is possible to provide WiMAX services from an individual HAP system. The coexistence capability with the terrestrial WiMAX system is also examined. The simulation results show that it is effective to deliver WiMAX via HAPs and share the spectrum with terrestrial systems.