£70M ARIA program backs 18 projects aiming to keep connectivity aloft for a week
The UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) is funding projects aimed at delivering connectivity using high-flying aircraft, including technology to beam power from the ground to keep them in the air.
Britain's science and technology body, inspired by America's DARPA but on a more modest budget, says it is backing 18 projects to develop aircraft capable of operating and cost-effectively in the stratosphere, as part of a program known as Enduring Atmospheric Platforms.
Success will be measured by whether any aircraft can continuously supply 300 W of power to a communications payload for an entire week, while holding station above the UK. The intent is to create an alternative to orbital satellites for providing connectivity to underserved parts of the UK and elsewhere in the world.
These are known as high-altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS). The agency says that satellites have been the default way to reach users or communities that are not well served by terrestrial networks, but their distance and orbits impose physical limits on what they can deliver.
ARIA is allocating £70 million ($94 million) in funding over three and a half years for the projects, which will tackle the power and reliability challenges of sustained operations above the UK.
The projects are split into three technical areas, with TA1 set to cover enabling technologies, TA2 comprising system integration and testing, and TA3 focused on deployment and communications.
ARIA highlighted a project called Carousel from aerospace startup Menapia. This plans to produce a constellation of high-altitude multi-rotor aircraft, capable of routine operations at altitudes up to 20 km (12 miles), with the intention of forming a persistent "canopy" over the UK.
Another is Enduring Drone Networks, being developed by VFP Aerospace, which is aiming for persistent presence via a relay team of units that will cycle between their service altitude and ground stations for recharging. It says it is targeting a production cost of £50,000 ($67,000) per drone.
In the enabling technologies category, a firm called Hypanode Ltd is working on a fuel cell power system to deliver 20 times more energy than current battery technology.
Scalable Laser Ltd is developing laser-based power beaming technology, pairing high-power laser diodes with advanced photovoltaic receivers, while Space Solar Engineering Ltd is looking at radio frequency power beaming to deliver continuous power to an HAPS aircraft.
A more exotic-sounding technology is Stratospheric Navigation and Gravity (STRAT-NAV) from the University of Bath. This seeks to extend the endurance of HAPS craft by allowing them to predict and make use of atmospheric gravity waves – caused when air is forced upward by weather fronts or hills, and gravity pulls it back down, creating a ripple.
"This research expands the UK's leadership in high-altitude platforms to become the place where this industry is designed, built, and scaled," says Rico Chandra, ARIA's program director for Enduring Atmospheric Platforms.
"Getting there means backing bold ideas, from fixed-wing solar aircraft to designs nobody predicted, including aircraft that fly on spinning wings instead of propellers."
ARIA funds teams of scientists and engineers to pursue research. It is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST).
It was until recently chaired by entrepreneur Matt Clifford, who stepped down after taking up a role with US AI firm Anthropic. The agency was also spared being asked to make savings leading up to the UK government's Spending Review last year. ®