Lightweight Payload for High Altitude Balloons
Abstract
This report addresses the design and operational concepts of an expendable 5 pound payload for a high altitude balloon or unmanned air vehicle. This payload consists of antenna, battery, and electronics and will serve as a satellite surrogate to provide communications in the UHF frequency band using existing off the shelf UHF radios. The transponder is an 18 MHz wideband architecture which will enable spread spectrums techniques as well as standard UHF narrow band communications. The payload is designed to operate at altitudes from 10,000 ft to 100,000 ft providing communications services within a 150 nmi radius for a duration in excess of 30 hours. The report shows a maximum aggregate throughput of 1.2 Mbps at a 30,000 ft altitude and 140 kbps at an altitude of 100,000 ft. It also presents two effective power control techniques that enable this throughput be achieved. This throughput can result in well over 100 narrowband users. The report is organized as follows. Section 1 is a brief introduction. Section 2 discusses the architectural design and the operational requirements that influence the design. Section 3 presents the design details, tradeoffs, and analysis that were performed during the design. Section 4 discusses the operational concepts and the power control techniques to be employed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 21, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA236242
Entities
People
- Mark J. Miller