High altitude platform: solution for rainfall attenuation

Abstract

High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPs) are communication facilities situated at an altitude of 17 to 30 km and at a specified fixed point relative to the Earth. They are mostly solar-powered, unmanned, and remotely operated. These platforms have the capability of carrying multipurpose communications relay payload, which could be in the form of full base station or, in some cases, a simple transponder as is being used in satellite communication systems. HAPs, when fully deployed will have the capability of providing services and applications ranging from broadband wireless access, navigation and positioning systems, remote sensing and weather observation/monitoring systems future generation mobile telephony, digital TV etc. HAPs are also known to be low cost when it comes to its implementation and are expected to be the next big provider of infrastructure for wireless communications. However before, it is implemented different models has to be built to test its performance. Rainfall poses a serious issue to HAP since due to its position rainfall creates the maximum attenuation scenario. So a model is proposed as a solution to this problem.