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Broadband for all from High Altitude Platforms - York leads international project

January 19, 2004

An international project aims to make Broadband available to remote rural areas and even moving trains, thanks to 'High Altitude Platforms' (HAPs). HAPs are airships or solar-powered aircraft, which are permanently located in the skies at an altitude of 20 km, above aeroplanes but below satellites.

This solution will be cheaper and more efficient than current technologies. High Altitude Platforms do not require underground cabling or masts - which can be both expensive and inconvenient - to deliver broadband.

HAPs can also serve mass markets with high-speed communications - unlike satellites. The HAPs technology is ideal for rural, suburban and other hard-to-reach areas, including users who are on the move.

"The opportunities offered by HAPs are exciting," said Dr David Grace,
the project's Principal Scientific Officer.   "Demand for fast
communication is increasing all over the world, and this technology offers a unique way of delivering broadband inexpensively to people wherever they are."

The project will deliver broadband connections which are 2,000 times faster than via a traditional modem and 200 times faster than today's 'wired' ADSL broadband.

The University of York leads the project, known as 'Capanina'. Researchers at York will investigate the most effective way to operate wireless communication links via HAPs, including fast propagation and resource management.

The team will develop HAPs-based systems which can use the spectrum efficiently to reach all areas. These systems will include steerable antennas which will use the latest digital signal processing.

York Electronics Centre will coordinate the international project and ensure that results from across the world are published and exploited.

The other European and Japanese partners will specialise in various aspects, including the development and construction of equipment for trials, the creation of business models, and free-space optical communications. These use 'line of sight' light beams to communicate at high speed between two locations.

The first objective of the Capanina project is to deliver high-speed broadband connections to rural areas across Europe. The team hopes to achieve this in the next four years.

Ultimately, the team will look at delivering Broadband to moving trains. This will involve 'smart' antenna systems, which link with access points on the train. This will give passengers high-speed Internet connections from 'Wi-Fi' enabled lap-tops.

York, University of