Solar Falcon as a Near-Space Comm Platform

Communication on Demand Worldwide

Emergency communication is seriously lacking as was demonstrated by Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria in 2017

• “Almost all cell sites in the Keys and other parts of Irma-ravaged Monroe County are not working. About 40 percent of all sites in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and even more in parts of Southwest Florida are not functioning.” Federal Communications Commission’s report.
• Millions of Floridians are out of cell phone service after hurricane Irma

Solar Falcon can be position over the areas even before hurricane strikes and be available a minute it is needed

Solar Falcon can provide Internet and other communication services at remote locations economically

• Rapid deployment of Solar Falcon, Gateway, User Terminals
• Field of regard for a single vehicle: 200 km
• Tens of spot beams, depending on Cxr Freq
• Signals relayed between 10s-100s of user terminals in single beam to/from Gateway, which is connected to Internet Network Access Point
• Terminal range to Solar Falcon from 25 – 100 km
• Terminals (Rx & Tx)
• COTS parts to the greatest extent possible
• Small, light, portable
• Powered by DC, 120V, or solar cells
• Mobile or fixed locations
• Capacity: 1+ Gbps per beam, depending on Cxr Freq

Also can be used as a floating cell tower

• Rapid deployment of Solar Falcon during emergencies or high capacity needs
• Flies at altitude of 20 km
• Field of regard for a single vehicle: 20-50 km
• Spectrum (10s of MHz) would have to be shared by many users
• No reliance on ground infrastructure

Multiple Solar Falcons could be deployed to boost capacity