Hybrid Satellite-Aerial-Terrestrial Networks for Public Safety

Wireless communication technologies play an irreplaceable role to satisfy Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) operational needs in the emergency situations. The existing practical solutions for PPDR system mainly include the dedicated public safety network, the commercial LTE network and the mobile satellite system (MSS), which are all separately operated due to the lack of a unified arrangement. In this context, this paper proposes a novel solution framework for the large-scale emergency scenarios, which is called the Hybrid Satellite-Aerial-Terrestrial (HSAT) system. The proposed HSAT system considers the integration of terrestrial components and the satellite network, and also added the low altitude platform (LAP) as a complementary component. Moreover, some new technologies in LTE are also included in the system, aiming to support the increasingly data-intensive traffic. By combining the respective advantages of each network, the proposed HSAT system can potentially offer higher throughput, wider coverage and stronger robustness, which are all highly demanded in PPDR networks.