High Altitude Platform Stations for Combined SAR Imaging and Network Offloading

In the rapidly advancing world of wireless cellular networks, especially with the advent of 5G and beyond, High-Altitude Platform Stations (HAPSs) have emerged as innovative and sustainable elements, particularly within Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs). Positioned in the stratosphere, HAPSs equipped with base stations can provide broader coverage than terrestrial networks, making them crucial for addressing connectivity issues in both remote and urban areas. Additionally, recent studies have shown their potential to alleviate high user density by offloading traffic from terrestrial networks.This paper examines the integration of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) capabilities to enable simultaneous imaging and network offloading in HAPS. We specifically propose a HAPS system that employs standard communication signals for SAR functionality without compromising network offloading performance or energy efficiency. Extensive numerical simulations demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of this integration, paving the way for flexible and sustainable communication and sensing within NTNs.