A team of UK companies led by telecom developer Stratospheric Platforms Limited (SPL) has won a contract to trial advanced 5G connectivity from a Britten-Norman Islander.
SPL is pioneering the concept of using a High-Altitude Platform (HAP) with an airborne antenna to provide widescale coverage of 5G from the stratosphere.
The UK-based aircraft manufacturer will be providing key design and trials support for the duration of the project. The turbine-powered BN2T-4s has been selected for the project due to its payload and capacity. It can also be easily modified to accommodate the 5G equipment array, which makes it the ideal test platform for the project.
The first phase of the contract will start with SPL’s 5G array being integrated into a Britten-Norman Islander. Flight trials are due to begin in July 2024.
The trial will be conducted under Britten-Norman’s Civil Aviation Authority test conditions.
Garnet Ridgway, Flight Test Engineer at Britten-Norman, said: “This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the full capabilities of both Britten-Norman as an accomplished trials organisation and the Turbine Islander as a highly capable trials aircraft. Working closely with our partners, the project includes deliverables from our design, manufacture, MRO, continued airworthiness, flight test and flight operations teams.”
Connectivity in the stratosphere
The eventual goal of SPL’s project is to deliver an unmanned, liquid-hydrogen-powered aircraft that will enable flight endurance for over a week, covering a much wider area.
Kevin Bean, Chief Technical Officer at Stratospheric Platforms Limited, said: “We are delighted to be working with Britten-Norman on this programme. The Islander is a great workhorse for this kind of engineering because it can be rapidly and extensively modified to accommodate our equipment.
“The role-based type of mission which can readily be executed by the Islander, combined with the stability of the platform, is ideal for a programme where telecommunication trials require predictable performance.”
SPL’s antennae provides 4G and 5G connections to smartphones. In a press statement earlier this year, the company said the phased array antenna is capable of delivering speeds up to 150Mbps across areas as wide as 140 km or 15,000 square km.
