6G & Beyond-6G High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) Networks for Sustainable and Smart Cities and Societies

在这项研究计划中，一种新的无线网络架构为2030年（6 G）和超越（B6 G）将提出一个新的接入层组成的HAPS（高海拔平台站）星座之间的卫星和地面网络。HAPS可以被认为是在平流层（在大约20公里的高度）的相对于地球的指定的、标称的固定点的基站。对于传统的地面无线网络来说，无论它发展到什么程度，都变得非常难以科普人类、机器和机器人的不断增加和稳定地变得更加雄心勃勃的连接期望，这主要是由于以下事实：在基站（BS）的固定位置的情况下，网络永远不够灵活，无法处理空间和时间上的高度动态（并且越来越不可预测）的用户需求。目前盲目地用越来越多的BS来增加网络密度的蛮力解决方案是不可持续的，因为它导致非常高的部署成本（这会影响连接费用），并且消耗过量的能量，具有高碳足迹。 人们对未来综合地面-空中-卫星网络结构框架内的非地面网络（NTN）的兴趣迅速增长。在本提案中，我们将专注于设想的架构HAPS内的特定类型的空中接入节点，特别是用于人口密集的地铁（城市和郊区）区域。其目的是构建一个紧密集成的三维异构网络与地面小型和宏基站与第三层的基于HAPS的超级宏基站复合。早期的HAPS讨论几乎完全是在偏远和农村覆盖范围内进行的，可以说卫星网络可以更有效地为这些覆盖范围提供服务。另一方面，本研究计划将研究的新HAPS愿景主要是面向未来可持续和智能城市和社会的城市地区。通过鸟瞰整个大都市区，HAPS有可能为集成通信、计算、传感、定位等提供前所未有的机会，符合新兴的集成一切的6 G范式。 以可控波束成形和超大规模MIMO形式出现的先进天线技术将成为HAPS技术的关键。利用人工智能（AI）控制和管理综合HAPS-地面网络也将至关重要。凭借其连接性，边缘计算，缓存，传感和本地化功能，前瞻性的HAPS网络具有在2030年代和2040年代颠覆性和变革性的潜力。

In this research program, a novel wireless network architecture for 2030s (6G) and beyond (B6G) will be presented with a new access layer composed of HAPS (high altitude platform station) constellations between the satellite and terrestrial networks. A HAPS can be thought as a base station at stratosphere (at an altitude of around 20 km) at a specified, nominal, fixed point relative to the Earth. It is becoming exceedingly difficult for the legacy terrestrial wireless network, no matter how much it evolves, to cope with the continuously increasing and steadily becoming more ambitious connectivity expectations of humans, machines, and robots, mainly due to the fact that with the fixed locations of base station (BSs), the network is never agile enough to handle the highly dynamic (and increasingly unpredictable) user demand in space and time. The current brute-force solution of densifying the network blindly with more and more BSs is not sustainable, as it results in very high deployment cost (which impacts the connectivity fees) and consumes an excessive amount of energy with a high carbon footprint. There is a rapidly growing interest in non-terrestrial networks (NTN) within the framework of a futuristic integrated terrestrial-aerial-satellite network architecture. In this proposal, we will focus on a particular type of aerial access node within the envisioned architecture, HAPS, in particular for densely populated metro (urban and suburban) areas. The aim is to construct a tightly-integrated 3-dimensional heterogeneous network with terrestrial small and macro base BSs compounded with a third tier of HAPS-based super macro BSs. The earlier HAPS discussions have been occurring almost exclusively in the context of remote and rural coverage which can arguably be served more efficiently by satellite networks. The novel HAPS vision which will be studied in this research program, on the other hand, is mainly for urban areas towards the sustainable and smart cities and societies of the future. With its bird's-eye view of an entire metropolitan area, a HAPS has the potential of presenting unprecedented opportunities for integrated communications, computing, sensing, positioning, and so on, in line with the emerging 6G paradigm of integrated everything. Advanced antenna technologies in the form of steerable beamforming and ultra massive MIMO will be among the key enabling HAPS technologies. Utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) for the control & management of the integrated HAPS-terrestrial network will also be crucial. With their connectivity, edge computing, caching, sensing, and localization capabilities, the forward-looking HAPS networks have the potential of being disruptive and transformative in 2030s and 2040s.