Cellular Network From the Sky: Toward People-Centered Smart Communities

The concept of the smart city relies on connectivity and is expected to revolutionize urban living and create sustainable cities. However, while smart cities continue to evolve, small towns, suburbs, and villages lack basic communication infrastructure. This phenomenon exacerbates inequality and perpetuates a growing digital divide. Hence, it is imperative to also concentrate on these communities by designing strategies to extend essential services to them and drive the development of smart communities. High-altitude platform stations (HAPS) are a key enabling technology for such a concept. They fly in the stratosphere and offer extensive connectivity coverage, are cost-effective, and powered by solar energy and hydrogen. To demonstrate the potential of HAPS in enabling smart communities, the world’s first-ever fifth-generation (5G) trial using HAPS was conducted. The experiment showed that HAPS provided high data rates and ubiquitous 5G coverage from the stratosphere in different scenarios. The main requirements of smart communities, such as ensuring equity and inclusion, intelligent transportation systems, and a blue economy were successfully addressed. We also highlight the main benefits of HAPS in enabling smart communities, as well as the involvement of communities in the co-design of such solutions. Finally, additional applications are presented, along with the main key enabling technologies.