An up and coming company is leveraging the transformative technology of High Altitude Platforms (HAP) to bridge the digital divide and provide broadband services for various vertical market applications at a shorter time-to-market deployment and lower costs. AVEALTO Ltd., a UK-based company formed to design, build and operate a fleet of HAP vehicles which can transparently replace point-to-point satellite services at a lower cost, with higher quality service has began customer acquisition activities.
Since its formation in 2013, AVEALTO has maintained a very a low profile, as it went through the design and development process. This
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| AVEALTO’s High Altitude Platforms (HAP) will operate at a much lower altitude than satellites resulting in less latency and can be deployed within 2-3 months as opposed to years with satellites. |
process is near completion. Recent improvements in the efficiency of batteries and solar cells now have made it possible to create a commercially viable HAP vehicle optimized to provide wireless infrastructure.
AVEALTO began flight testing on June 28, 2021 under the supervision of the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), with the goal of obtaining UK Flight Approval. The company expects to begin commercial services by end of 2022.
It is likely that the production of AVEALTO HAP vehicles will be relatively limited the first 1-2 years. Customers that make an early commitment to services will obtain preferential pricing and service availability. “Early adopter” customers will also be able to help select the initial regions for HAP services coverage.
Over three billion people in the world still do not have routine access to the internet. In addition, hundreds of millions of people in remote areas must rely on high cost satellite links. AVEALTO HAP vehicles can provide “satellite equivalent” services at a lower cost than satellites, and with higher quality.
“HAP vehicles are an efficient way to bring low-cost and high-quality telecom and data services to the underserved and unserved regions of the world. There is a well established correlation between reasonably priced and high-quality telecom infrastructure and economic prosperity. For example, farmers could use data to gain better insight into economic principles and market rates to sell their products at better prices. Mobile tech can also connect people in need with medical professionals to access life-saving treatment and resources regardless of their geographical location,” said Walt Anderson, co-founder of AVEALTO.
At a height of 18 to 22 kilometers a High Altitude Vehicle will have line of sight of around 565 kilometers in diameter. Due to topological obstacles and radio propagation characteristics, a realistic coverage area for each HAP is around 240 kilometers in diameter over most land areas and around 480 Kilometers over oceans or plains (where the topography is flat).
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| AVEALTO’s High Altitude Platform (HAP) vehicle at the Brabazon hangar in Bristol, England. |
Avealto’s baseline HAP vision is of a solar-powered lighter-than-air vehicle which will remain on-station in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20km (65,000 feet) for missions of several months’ duration. Each HAP will provide services to a circular terrestrial footprint between 240 to 480 km (150 to 300 miles) in diameter. Unlike telecom satellites, HAPs can be recovered for scheduled servicing and technical upgrades as required. The flexible nature of HAP provisioning also allows multiple HAPs with overlapping coverage to be co-ordinated for improved redundancy, capacity and quality-of-service. “High-altitude platform technology is now ready to help close the digital divide,” said Anderson. HAPs can also be use for various applications such as maritime, cellualr backhaul, VSAT, among others.
The global Avealto system when fully rolled out will comprise more than 200 unmanned, stratospheric, long duration telecommunications platforms, providing mobile telephony, broadband communications, backhaul, broadcasting and hosted payloads. Modular swappable payloads will be tailored to suit specific locations and markets.
“Our management team and investors are dedicated to using HAP technology to eliminating the global digital divide,” said Anderson. The Avealto management team has decades of experience in developing and managing new telecom technologies. In addition, AVEALTO is working with a number of world class aerospace and telecom partners in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world to make HAP technology a reality. AVEALTO is a member of the HAPS Alliance, the GVF and the Asia Pacific Satellite Communication Council (APSCC).
AVEALTO will open discussions with potential early customers at the SATELLITE 2021 event in Washington D.C. from September 7-10 and also at the GSMA Conference in Los Angeles from October 26–28.
For more information go to: https://www.avealto.com or send an e-mail to: enquiries@avealto.com
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AVEALTO to Begin Customer Acquisition For Wireless Infrastructure Services via HAPS Platform
