Unique Airborne Wireless Communication System for Connecting the Unconnected

Wireless communications has become the most common way to access the Internet. Approximately 3.6 billion people have no access to the mobile Internet worldwide. Many rural areas have poor wireless connectivity with just over a quarter of the population online in 2022, compared with more than fifty per cent of the population in urban areas. This research aims at bringing low-cost reliable mobile Internet access to the unconnected as well as the under connected areas of the world. We propose using mobile unmanned aerostats or airships equipped with light weight high performance cellular base stations. They create larger cells with more line-of-sight coverage resulting in better signal to noise ratios and hence improved throughput. The aerostats are tethered to the ground with fiber equipped cables. At the heart of this system are antenna structures optimized for electrical performance and weight using a stochastic optimization process. Simulated and measurement results clearly show the feasibility and potential of this proposed solution, paving the way for robust and dependable cellular communication systems, specifically where fixed tower mounted cellular systems fall short.