Abstract
In this paper, cellular communications from Stratospheric Platforms (SPs) is studied and the footprint analysis and design are demonstrated. In the analysis part two coverage schemes are discussed; flat-earth and real-earth models and the cell footprint is determined in each case. The flat-earth provides simple footprint equations describing the cell dimensions especially for cells of higher elevation angles while more accurate coverage equations can be obtained from the real-earth scheme which well determine the geometry of the cells of lower elevation angles. The design of a cellular system using the proposed coverage models is then demonstrated through a procedure that determines the cells locations and dimensions on the ground according. The procedure takes into consideration the cell broadening when going outwardly from the central cell to the outer cells and an update for the conventional terrestrial equations must be performed to properly locate the cells. The convergence in calculating the cell parameters have been shown to be fast and reach the final values after few updating cycles.