High-Altitude Platforms — Present Situation and Technology Trends

Authors

  • Flavio Araripe D'Oliveira Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço São José dos Campos/SP - Brazil
  • Francisco Cristovão Lourenço de Melo Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço São José dos Campos/SP - Brazil
  • Tessaleno Campos Devezas Universidade da Beira Interior Covilhã - Portugal Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica São José dos Campos/SP - Brazil

Keywords:

High Altitude Platform, High Altitude Airship, Stratospheric Satellite, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Technological Challenges, Technology Trends

Abstract

High-altitude platforms (HAPs) are aircraft, usually unmanned airships or airplanes positioned above 20 km, in the stratosphere, in order to compose a telecommunications network or perform remote sensing. In the 1990 and 2000 decades, several projects were launched, but very few had continued. In 2014, 2 major Internet companies (Google and Facebook) announced investments in new HAP projects to provide Internet access in regions without communication infrastructure (terrestrial or satellite), bringing back attention to the development of HAP. This article aims to survey the history of HAPs, the current state-of-the-art (April 2016), technology trends and challenges. The main focus of this review will be on technologies directly related to the aerial platform, inserted in the aeronautical engineering field of knowledge, not detailing aspects of the telecommunications area.

Author Biographies

Flavio Araripe D'Oliveira, Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço São José dos Campos/SP - Brazil

Divisão de Sistemas Aeronáuticos

Senior Engineer, Project Manager

Francisco Cristovão Lourenço de Melo, Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço São José dos Campos/SP - Brazil

Divisão de Materiais

Senior Researcher, Project Manager

Tessaleno Campos Devezas, Universidade da Beira Interior Covilhã - Portugal Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica São José dos Campos/SP - Brazil

Departamento de Engenharia Eletromecânica

Associated Professor

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Published

2016-08-10

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 3 (2016): Jul./Sep. 2016

Section

Review Articles

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0. Authors are free to Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially). JATM allow the authors to retain publishing rights without restrictions.