HAPS Cell Design Method for Coexistence on Terrestrial Mobile Networks

High-altitude platform stations (HAPSs), which directly deliver communication services to smartphones on the ground, are attracting much attention as novel mobile communication platforms for ultrawide coverage areas. A multi-cell configuration is needed to enhance communication capacity in wide areas. Assuming the use of a phased-array antenna, we proposed an optimization method for controlling antenna parameters, such as beamwidth and beam direction, to improve spectral efficiency. HAPSs are also promising disaster-resilient networks, as they can recover coverage immediately when coverage holes appear due to the breaking down of terrestrial base stations (BSs). Users can recover connections immediately during disasters through HAPSs that use the same frequency band as terrestrial networks. However, in this scenario, HAPSs become a source of interference in terrestrial networks, so network operators should avoid affecting existing terrestrial networks through HAPSs. However, cell optimization in this coexistence scenario between HAPSs and terrestrial networks has not been investigated thoroughly. In this paper, we propose a design scheme that optimizes antenna parameters for each cell to maximize HAPS coverage in this coexistence scenario using a genetic algorithm (GA). The proposed method can effectively protect terrestrial networks through optimization by setting the initial direction of each beam to avoid terrestrial BSs. Using this scheme, the GA can start optimization with candidate combinations that satisfy the interference constraints of terrestrial networks, which can expedite optimization for better coverage. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve better coverage than the conventional scheme, which only controls beam direction. Furthermore, they show that the initial beam direction setting effectively reduces the number of performed combinations required for GA to converge.