Rapidly Deployable Network for Tactical Applications: Aerial Base Station with Opportunistic Links for Unattended and Temporary Events ABSOLUTE Example

Hybrid aerial and terrestrial communication systems have recently emerged for public safety communications and tactical applications due to their fast deployment and large coverage capabilities. A key question is the choice of the communication payload depending on the aerial platform being deployed. Indeed, this payload depends on several factors including the aerial platform size, the payload weight as well as coverage and capacity requirements. This article analyses different options and presents the work which is ongoing in ABSOLUTE (Aerial Base Station with Opportunistic Links for Unattended and Temporary Events) European project. It first summarizes the outputs of the user requirements as developed in ABSOLUTE. Then, different aerial platforms and associated payload for a rapidly deployable tactical network are discussed, and the hybrid aerial and terrestrial communication system as developed in the project is presented. Finally it presents research topics and remaining challenges are highlighted.