SoftBank has detailed plans to fly high-altitude platform station (HAPS) aircraft to deliver direct-to-device network coverage over Japan.
Planned for this summer, the launch sees the Japanese carrier partner with US-based Sceye, which it made a major investment in last year.
Sceye's lighter-than-air HAPS-5 emerging from a hangar – Sceye
Sceye specializes in developing lighter-than-air (LTA)-type HAPS vehicles, similar to zeppelins or blimps.
In the trial, one such aircraft will launch from Sceye’s hangar in Roswell, Mexico, and travel across the Pacific to Japan under satellite-based control. After reaching Japanese airspace, it will establish a link with a ground gateway in Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku Island, located on Japan’s Pacific coast. The demo aims to deploy smartphone connectivity to simulate possible connectivity solutions in the event of a major disaster, such as the earthquake that beset Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture last week.
