5G in the Air: Energy Efficient Future 5G High Altitude Platform Stations

The telecommunications sector is rapidly evolving and is also increasingly focused on environmental sustainability. The energy consumption of mobile cellular networks is constantly increasing as and more of our daily digital services are used on our wireless devices. Data show that as 5G continues to replace LTE, energy consumption is expected to increase 61 times between 2020 and 2030, significantly increasing the energy demand for mobile networks. High-Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) offer an alternative approach in extending mobile services in an energy efficient and environmental way. These platforms use solar power and can deliver 5G services across extensive and challenging terrains by positioning them strategically in the stratosphere, thus overcoming the geographical constraints of traditional terrestrial base stations. A 5G Stand-alone core can be hosted on the platform, enabling HAPS to act as a totally independent self-powered network. This paper evaluates the potential of HAPS as an energy-efficient and sustainable alternative to the conventional reliance on terrestrial base stations for telecommunications. Our results suggest that a single HAPS platform could match the coverage of 25 terrestrial base stations, leading to substantial energy savings at ground level. Thus, HAPS contributes to lower carbon emissions and improves environmental sustainability. The combination of the radio access network and core on HAPS also opens up new use cases for authority, corporate, and consumer segments, and could provide high-speed Internet access to airplanes.