The capability was first used during a previous 12-day flight from New Mexico to Brazil. But the monthlong mission to Japan and back—dubbed Service Test 1 (ST1)—was the longest test flight and deployment yet for Sceye’s platform.
“There were times when our actual plan trajectory and flight path was disrupted by a change in the weather,” Truong told Ars. “So what it would do was actually just park itself at a safe, quiet place in the weather and just station-keep a while until it moved on.”
The Sceye team monitors the performance of a high-altitude platform system (HAPS) during its roundtrip flight from New Mexico to Japan.
Credit: Sceye
The Sceye team monitors the performance of a high-altitude platform system (HAPS) during its roundtrip flight from New Mexico to Japan. Credit: Sceye
Cell tower in the sky
The arrival over Shikoku—the smallest of Japan’s four main islands—allowed Sceye’s uncrewed airship to show how it could provide mobile broadband service from an operational altitude of about 54,000 feet (16.5 kilometers) to smartphones, laptops, and even drones. That demonstration was performed in partnership with the Japanese telecommunications firm SoftBank Corp, which has also invested directly in Sceye.
Sceye’s platform carried the equivalent of a 4G LTE base station for the demonstration that simulated providing backup coverage in the case of an earthquake or similar large-scale disaster.
”It’s not the first time we flew a telco payload, but this is the first time where we actually flew into an area where we provide a live service,” Truong said. “What SoftBank did was they disabled the cellular coverage area, and then we came in and we basically backfilled it.”
SoftBank’s team ran tests involving voice calls, text messaging and Internet web browsing, along with streaming YouTube videos and making video calls. They also verified that Sceye’s platform could support emergency alert messaging systems for earthquakes and tsunamis, along with supporting calls to a maritime emergency number.
The Japanese company even equipped drones with LTE cards to remotely control them using the Sceye-supported connectivity, along with receiving video transmissions from the drones. SoftBank also ran data throughput tests in several environments, including an open beach, a forest area with tree cover, and an indoor test inside a building.