Closing Connectivity Gap: An Overview of Mobile Coverage Solutions for Not-Spots in Rural Zones

Access to broadband communications in different parts of the world has become a priority for some governments and regulatory authorities around the world in recent years. Building new digital roads and pursuing a connected society includes looking for easier access to the internet. In general, not all areas where people congregate are fully covered, especially in rural zones, thus restricting access to data communications and inducing inequality. In the present review article, we have comprehensively surveyed the use of three platforms to deliver broadband services to such remote and low-income areas, and they are proposed as follows: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), altitude platforms (AP), and low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. These novel strategies support the connected and accessible world hypothesis. Hence, UAVs are considered a noteworthy solution since their efficient maneuverability can solve rural coverage issues or not-spots.

Closing Connectivity Gap: An Overview of Mobile Coverage Solutions for Not-Spots in Rural Zones

Access to broadband communications in different parts of the world has become a priority for some governments and regulatory authorities around the world in recent years. Building new digital roads and pursuing a connected society includes looking for easier access to the Internet. In general, not all the areas where people congregate are fully covered, especially in rural zones, thus restricting access to data communications and bringing inequality. In the present review article, we have comprehensively surveyed the use of three platforms to deliver broadband services to such remote and low-income areas are proposed: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), Altitude Platforms (APS), and Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These novel strategies support the connected and accessible world hypothesis. Hence UAVs are considered a noteworthy solution since their efficient maneuverability can aboard the rural coverage issues or not-spots.

From Monolithic Satellites to the Internet of Satellites Paradigm: When Space, Air, and Ground Networks Become Interconnected

From the first satellite launched in 1957, these systems always have drawn the attention of telecommunications operators. Thanks to their natural orbit, satellites can provide coverage to the entire globe or serve a vast region. Is this feature that makes them potential systems to extend current ground networks over the space. The first satellites were conceived as a single backhaul system to broadcast television or phone calls. Over the years, this concept evolved to a group of satellites that compose a constellation to interconnect any user around the globe. Nowadays, these constellations are still evolving to massive architectures with thousands of satellites that are interconnected between them composing satellite networks. Additionally, with the emergence of 5G, the community has started to discuss how to integrate satellites in this infrastructure. A review of the evolution of the satellites for broadband communications is presented in this chapter, discussing the novel and future proposed architectures. The presented work concludes with the potential of these satellite systems to compose a hybrid and heterogeneous architecture in which space, air, and ground networks become interconnected.