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SoftBank has developed a six-cell-capable HAPS payload and used it to deliver 5G connectivity from the sky in a field trial that will help pave the way for a service launch next year.
The Japanese mobile operator this week shared details of the trial that it carried out on Tokyo's Hachijō Island back in June. The technology is pretty complex, but essentially its part of SoftBank's plan to provide wide-area mobile coverage from low-flying aerial vehicles.
This test created six coverage cells on the ground (see image below) from a light aircraft flying at 3,000 metres that was itself linked to a ground station. That gave an average downlink speed of 33 Mbps, as measured by a mobile device located 15 km from the aircraft's circling path.
