This capability was first used on a previous 12-day flight from New Mexico to Brazil. But the month-long mission to Japan and back – dubbed Service Test 1 (ST1) – was the longest test flight and deployment ever for the Sceye platform.
“There have been times when the actual trajectory and flight path of our plan has been disrupted by a change in weather,” Truong told Ars. “So what he would do is just park somewhere safe and quiet in bad weather and stay in station for a while until he leaves again.”
The Sceye team monitors the performance of a High Altitude Platform System (HAPS) during its round-trip flight from New Mexico to Japan.
Credit: Sceye
The Sceye team monitors the performance of a High Altitude Platform System (HAPS) during its round-trip 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 unmanned airship to demonstrate how it could provide mobile broadband service from an operational altitude of around 54,000 feet (16.5 kilometers) to smartphones, laptops and even drones. This demonstration was carried out in partnership with the Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank Corp, which has also invested directly in Sceye.
Sceye’s platform carried the equivalent of a 4G LTE base station for the demonstration, which simulated the provision of emergency coverage in the event of an earthquake or similar large-scale disaster.
“This is not the first time we have flown a telecommunications company payload, but it is the first time we have flown in an area where we are providing live service,” Truong said. “What SoftBank did was they turned off the cellular coverage area, and then we went in and basically backfilled it.”
The SoftBank team conducted tests involving voice calls, text messages and internet browsing, as well as streaming YouTube videos and making video calls. They also verified that Sceye’s platform could support emergency alert messaging systems for earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as calls to a maritime emergency number.
The Japanese company even equipped the drones with LTE cards to control them remotely using Sceye-supported connectivity, while receiving video transmissions from the drones. SoftBank also conducted data rate tests in several environments, including an open beach, a tree-covered forest area, and an indoor test inside a building.
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