International Journal on Electrical Engineering and Informatics - Volume 14, Number 4, December 2022

On the Analysis of IMT-2020 (5G) Mobile Broadband Coexistence

Between Cellular Terrestrial and HIBS
Iskandar*, Mirrah Aliya Azzahra, Sandryones Bunga Palinggi, and Aulia Dewantari

School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Institut Teknologi Bandung,

Bandung, Indonesia
Corresponding author: Iskandar ([email protected])
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract: There are two main objectives this paper deals with. Firstly, when High Altitude
Platform Station (HAPS) become the center of connectivity in the network, link between
gateways and HAPS must be well designed. In this case we propose 5G technology using Power
Domain Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (PD-NOMA) with operating frequency in millimeter-
wave band. This millimeter-wave band allocated to HAPS may cause particular channel
impairment so that an additional techniques such as Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)
antenna application is proposed in this paper as well. Simulation was carried out over a very high
speed data rate using 2 Gateways serve as a backbone located inside HAPS coverage. The
simulation results are quite interesting because it turns out that the use of MIMO antennas can
improve Bit Error Rate (BER) performance compared to those without MIMO. However, MIMO
does not significantly improve BER performance for different elevation angles. Whatever the
angle of elevation of the gateway to HAPS, the BER is almost the same. The increase in BER
performance is only obtained when increasing the MIMO antenna elements from 2x2 to higher
ones such as 2x4 MIMO. Secondly, this paper also aims at evaluating an interference problem
arise when cellular HAPS is deployed near the existing cellular terrestrial. Evaluation is
performed in term of separation distance requirement between cellular terrestrial coverage and
HAPS coverage for a particular threshold of carrier to interference ratio (C/I). Simulation results
show if HAPS cell radius is below 3 km then both systems can operate with a separation distance
of 0 km. However, if the radius of the HAPS cell is more than 3 km, a separation distance from
2 km to more than 18 km is required depending on the size of the HAPS cell radius.

Index Terms: 5G, HAPS, HIBS, PD-NOMA, millimeter wave, co-channel interference.

1. Introduction
Recently, there have been increasing demand for access to mobile broadband especially for
the region that does not have terrestrial network. The main problem discussed in this paper is the
limitation of terrestrial cellular coverage to remote areas. It is caused by the topography problem,
the availability of scarce electricity, and the difficulties to access to the locations that require a
large amount of investment need to spend by an operator. One possible alternative to overcome
these problems is to use HAPS as a flying Base Station. In this case, International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) has been considering mobile 5G technology provided by
HAPS to extent capacity and coverage in that region. These two technologies combination is
called High Altitude Platform Stations as IMT Base Stations (HIBS) [1]. HIBS might be used
simultaneously with terrestrial-IMT 2020 networks and employ equal frequency band [2].
Research and development related to HIBS have emerged in several countries ranging from
technical aspect, regulatory, and even economic aspects [3]-[6]. Some countries are now
preparing alternative technologies for the development of HIBS [7]. With location above
commercial airplane, HIBS is well-positioned to provide service area bigger than terrestrial-
based network in providing mobile broadband or other 5G services with less ground network
infrastructure. One or more HAPS will be required to cover larger certain area and equipped with

Received: August 8th, 2022. Accepted: December 10th, 2022

DOI: 10.15676/ijeei.2022.14.4.2

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a multi-beam array antenna, which projecting numerous spot beams to create multiple cells on
the ground. Wireless optical transmission is an alternative technology for inter-platform
communication. So that they can inter-connected each other, or connected with other networks,
such as terrestrial mobile, satellite system, and connected with public or private network as
described in Figure 1.

HAPS
Inter-platform link

Minimum elevation Backhaul to fiber

angle network

Mobile user
Coverage Fixed user

Figure 1. HIBS basic configuration.

The development of cellular technology and its applications has increased the need for very
high-speed data transmission. Progress on the 5G project is the fact that gigabit data rate of
wireless communication is being implemented for various services including enhanced Mobile
Broadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive
Machne Type Communications (mMTC) [8]. Meanwhile, in ITU resolution 122 of WRC-19, it
has been considered the use of novel wireless technology called High Altitude Platform Station
(HAPS) for fixed services in the band of 47.2 – 47.5 GHz and 47.9 – 48.2 GHz. It has been
defined that HAPS are the station located on an object at an altitude of 20-50 km and at a
specified, nominal, fixed point relative to the Earth [9]. There are some advantages of HAPS
compared with satellite and also being complementary technology to the terrestrial IMT-2020.
Its coverage bigger than terrestrial IMT-2020, while the propagation delay and power
requirement are smaller than that of needed in satellite system. Therefore, to support underserved
communities in rural and remote areas with broadband technology, HIBS is the most enabling
technology deployed in such region.

Figure 2. Topology design of 5G mobile broadband co-existence between IMT-2020 terrestrial

network and cellular HIBS.

This contribution aims at evaluating and investigating the channel performance and its
characterization of HIBS communication served as a fixed-services for 5G communication in
millimeter-wave. HIBS requires several hubs act as a backbone to forward communications to
and from other systems outside of HIBS. Millimeter-wave, i.e. above 47 GHz frequencies are
expected to be the candidate technology by using NOMA. This millimeter-wave frequencies

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represent a great potential in terms of capacity and flexibility which makes this technology very
attractive for wireless applications. Multiple access techniques called NOMA, is one of the radio
access techniques that promises to improve performance in the next generation of cellular
communication [10]. Compared with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
(OFDMA), which is an Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA) technique, NOMA offers several
desirable advantages, including greater spectrum efficiency and better performance. In Section
3, characteristics of NOMA transmission that employed as a backbone (Gateway) in HAPS
system is evaluated under millimeter-wave frequency using MIMO 2x2. In this study,
performance analysis will be carried out using Bit Error Rate (BER) analysis, inter-user rate, and
fairness. In section 4, we propose a concept of deploying HIBS where the coverage is adjacent
to the mobile cellular IMT-2020. The coverage gap or the separation distance between the two
technologies will be evaluated as a minimum criterion so that both can operate and not interfere
with each other.

2. A Concept of Co-existence between HIBS and Terrestrial IMT-2020

In this paper we propose the deployment technique of 5G HIBS where the coverage is
adjacent to mobile terrestrial IMT-2020 as depicted in Fig. 2. HIBS network consist of three
main elements that establish a mobile communication network. Those are the platform called
HAPS which act as 5G Base Transceiver Station (BTS) or gNB, Gateway (GW) as interface to
other network, and HAPS User Equipment (HUE). Cells coverage in terrestrial IMT-2020 is
generated by the terrestrial tower (TT) while cell coverage in HIBS network is generated by
multibeam antenna onboard HAPS. Both networks serve different physical area but at the near
location each other. We assume both systems used the same frequency band of 700 MHz for
communication uplink and downlink to and from UE. Terrestrial User Equipment (TUE) and
HIBS User Equipment (HUE) are randomly distributed inside their service area. GW has a
function to communicate between HIBS network and other networks so that HUE is possible to
have connection and service with 5G terrestrial network or other networks.
There are two main objectives this paper deals with. First, when HAPS become the center of
connectivity in the network, the link between GW and HAPS (backbone) must be well designed.
In this case we propose backbone communication by using 5G technology. One of the prominent
multiple access techniques in 5G is called Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) with
power domain allocation technique. Therefore, transmission over HIBS network from the GWs
will be carried out using Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) techniques in a millimeter-
wave band. Secondly, this paper also aims at evaluating an interference problem arise when
cellular HIBS is deployed adjacent with existing cellular terrestrial. Evaluation is performed in
term of separation distance requirement between cellular terrestrial coverage and HAPS
coverage for a particular threshold of carrier to interference ratio (C/I). Fig. 2 describes the
proposed model to obtain those two objectives of this work.
Working at millimeter-wave frequency for backbone communication between HAPS and
GW may cause particular-channel impairment, so that an additional technique such as MIMO
antenna application are required to improve system performance. In our previous work,
successive interference cancellation in NOMA with deep learning for HIBS communication has
been studied [11]. with Simulation was carried out using high-speed data transmission between
2 GWs that served as a backbone located inside HIBS coverage. NOMA simulations employing
HAPS as a BTS/gNB were performed using millimeter-wave frequencies. In the figure there is
a HAPS platform which is described as a zeppelin balloon 20 km above the earth's surface. One
GW is in the coverage center (near user) and another GW is located at the edge of coverage (far
user). In NOMA, both GWs will be distinguished in terms of power allocation. The power
allocation for the near user will be smaller than the power
allocation for the far user.
Other contribution of this research is to evaluate what limitations are required if a 5G
terrestrial cellular network and a HIBS cellular network operate concurrently with contiguous
coverage areas. The advantage of the concept of operating these two technologies contiguously

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is to cover blank spot areas that are still not covered by terrestrial cellular signals. From this
study we will understand what limitations must be met related to the performance of each
technology, in this case the C/I value.

3. Backbone (Gateway-Haps) Performance Evaluation

A. Gateway-HAPS system model
Figure 3 shows the system element of simulation model that is used in the gateway-HAPS
performance evaluation. In general, the model is divided into three parts: transmitter, channel,
and receiver. The data generated by the transmitter is represented by random bits containing 1s
and 0s bit. Different series of bits are generated for user 1 and user 2. Turbo coding is then
applied to the data bits as a channel coding to combat against fading. A turbo code is generated
by combining two conventional encoders in parallel and then separating them using interleaver
as a fundamental part of the turbo coding design. PD-NOMA is applied to the turbo-coded data
of the two users by implementing superposition coding [12]-[14]. Power allocation is manually
determined for each user based on the channel gain. To eliminate inter-symbol interference,
OFDM signal is generated using OFDM modulator. In this simulation, MIMO-OFDM is
implemented with multi-antenna configuration and combined with multicarrier OFDM scheme.
The second part is the channel that uses millimeter-wave frequency between HAPS and GW.
Path loss in millimeter frequency is estimated by using the following equation [15],
𝐿𝐿(𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑) = 𝜌𝜌 + 10𝛼𝛼 log(𝑟𝑟) + 𝑋𝑋𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚
𝜌𝜌 = 32.4 + 20 log(𝑓𝑓𝑐𝑐 ) (1)
where Xmm is zero-mean lognormal random variable for mm-Wave link which models the effects
of shadow fading, α is the path loss exponent, r is the distance between the transmitter to the
receiver, and fc is the carrier frequency. Rician distribution, which considers both the line-of-
sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) components, is used to model the fading distribution.
The Rician fading is often represented by the parameter of K, which is described in the following
equation [16],
𝑠𝑠 2
𝐾𝐾 = (2)
2𝜎𝜎 2
Information bit Turbo
(User 1) Code
Superposition
OFDM MOD
Coding
Information bit Turbo
(User 2) Code

IFFT CP P/S
Transmitter X

IFFT CP P/S

Rician Channel

S/P CP FFT
Removal

Y ZF

S/P CP FFT
Removal

Information bit
(User 1)
OFDM TURBO
DEMOD SIC
DECODING Information bit
(User 2)

Receiver Figure 3. System block diagram.

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K is the power ratio between the LOS and other multipath (NLOS) components. Smaller
value of K represents higher level of fading, and vice versa. At K = 0, the fading distribution
approaches Rayleigh distribution. On the contrary, when K is infinite, the channel is considered
fading-free; it consists of LOS component only, there is no multipath component. Substituting
s2 with KPr / (K+1) and 2σ2 with Pr / (K+1), for (z ≥ 0) the Rician fading distribution can be
described as,
2𝑧𝑧(𝐾𝐾+1) (𝐾𝐾−1)𝑧𝑧 2 𝐾𝐾(𝐾𝐾+1)
𝑝𝑝𝑧𝑧 (𝑧𝑧) =
𝑃𝑃𝑟𝑟
𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 �−𝐾𝐾 −
𝑃𝑃𝑟𝑟
� 𝐼𝐼0 �2𝑧𝑧�
𝑃𝑃𝑟𝑟
� (3)

Table 1. Simulation Parameters

Parameter Value
Frequency 60 GHz
Tx – Rx Distance 20 km
PSK Order 2
Total Symbols 1064960
Total Bits 1064960
SNR 20:50
Doppler Frequency 0
Sampling Period 1 μs
Channel Coding Turbo Code
Coding Rate 1/3
Turbo Code Block Length 1280
Channel Model Rician
FFT OFDM Length 64
OFDM Data Length 52
Carrier Guard band [4 3]
Pilot Subcarrier Index [12 26 40 54]
Cyclic Prefix ¼
MIMO Detection Zero-Forcing
MIMO Dimension x4

Io denotes modified zeroth order Bessel function of the first kind.

In the simulations, the channel is designed to have both LOS and NLOS components, with
predefined values of path loss and K. The last part of the system components used by the
gateway-HAPS communication is a receiver. The received MIMO signal is detected using zero-
forcing detection method. In this method, the inverse of the channel response is applied to the
received signal so that the desired signal can be recovered. After that, the signal goes through an
OFDM demodulator. Successive interference cancellation (SIC) technique is then used to
separate the transmitted signal for user 1 and user 2. Using this technique, the signal for the
strong user is decoded first, then this signal is subtracted from the compound signal, and finally
the subtraction result, which is the signal for the weak user, is decoded. The separate signal for
user 1 and user 2 is once again decoded using a turbo-coding decoder. This decoder recovers the
best estimation of the information bits transmitted through the channel. The parameters used in
the simulations are listed in Table 1. Those parameters are taken to simulate the robustness of
the communication channel between HAPS and the gateway, such as using QPSK, coding rate
of 1/3 turbo code, and other parameters belong to the OFDM/MIMO basic operation in
millimeter-wave band.

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Figure 4. BER comparison between OMA and NOMA.

B. HIBS simulation model

We have four different scenarios to evaluate several aspects of Gateway-HAPS system
performance. The system performance is represented with parameters such as user data rate,
BER, and user fairness. Those scenarios are as follows.

B.1. Scenario 1: comparison between NOMA and OMA

In this scenario, simulations of NOMA and OMA system performance in terms of BER and
user data rate is carried out. All simulation parameters follow the predefined values in Table 1.
For NOMA simulations, the power allocation for the strong and weak user is 0.1 and 0.9,
respectively. Strong user is the user with 90o elevation angle from HAPS, or just positioned
directly below the station. In this simulation, user 1 is the strong user, which represents GW1.
Weak user is the user with elevation angle below 900 from HAPS. In the simulation, 50o elevation
angle is used for the weak user, which represents GW2. With shorter distance to the HAPS
station, GW1 has higher channel gain, thus requires smaller power allocation, whereas the GW2
has smaller channel gain, thus requires more power allocation. The simulated BER for user 1
and 2 using OMA and NOMA is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 5. User data rate comparison between OMA and NOMA.

In Figure 4, the BER curves for user 1 and 2 using OMA technique are similar, since there is
no asymmetrical power allocation applied in OMA. Figure 5 is the result of the comparison of
rate values between users for OMA and NOMA, both simulation results show values that are not

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On the Analysis of IMT-2020 (5G) Mobile Broadband Coexistence

much different for users 1 and 2 but for rate results between users, the NOMA value reaches a
higher value than OMA. This is because, NOMA does not share bandwidth -as in OMA. In OMA
users cannot occupy the same bandwidth to maintain orthogonal conditions. When NOMA is
applied, the difference of the BER curves of user 1 and 2 is noticeable. With NOMA, the Eb/N0
required by user 1 (strong user) for obtaining a certain BER value is smaller to that required by
user 2 as well as that required by users in a system implementing OMA. The data rate of user 1
and 2 with NOMA can be calculated as follows,

Figure 6. BER comparison for different power allocation ratio.

𝑃𝑃1 |ℎ1 |2
𝑅𝑅1 = log 2 �1 +
𝜎𝜎 2
� (4)
𝑃𝑃2 |ℎ2 |2
𝑅𝑅2 = log 2 �1 +
𝑃𝑃1 |ℎ2 |2 +𝜎𝜎 2
� (5)

and the data rate of user 1 and 2 with OMA can be calculated as follows,
𝑃𝑃1 |ℎ1 |2
𝑅𝑅1 = 𝛼𝛼log 2 �1 +
𝜎𝜎 2
� (6)
𝑃𝑃2 |ℎ2 |2
𝑅𝑅2 = (1 − α)log 2 �1 +
𝜎𝜎 2
� (7)
where R1 and R2 are the data rate of the users, |h1| and |h2| are the channel gains of the users, P1
2 2

and P2 are the power allocation for the near user and far user, respectively. α represents the power
distribution between the users in OMA, the value of α is 0.5. For AWGN channel, the value of
𝜎𝜎 2 is 1. The user data rate comparison between NOMA and OMA is presented in Figure 4. The
users have lower data rate when using OMA since they could not occupy the same bandwidth to
stay orthogonal to each other. When NOMA is used, that is not the case.

Figure 7. BER comparison for different elevation angle (without MIMO).

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B.2. Scenario 2: the effect of power allocation in NOMA

In this scenario, different power allocations between user 1 (strong user, 90o elevation angle)
and user 2 (weak user, 50o elevation angle) are simulated. The result is shown in Fig. 6. Referring
to Fig. 6, the bigger the power difference between user 1 and 2, the better the performance in
terms of BER. The SIC technique used in NOMA needs to separate the signals from the strong
and weak user and then decode them one-by-one. The bigger the power difference between the
users, the easier the signal separation, thus
results in better performance.

B.3. Scenario 3: the effect of elevation angle on system performance

The elevation angle affects the coverage radius of a HAPs station as well as the LOS
probability in Rician channel. The smaller the elevation angle, the bigger the distance between
the HAPs station and the gateway station, which results in smaller LOS probability and higher
NLOS probability. However, bigger elevation angle means decreasing the coverage radius of
HAPs, which could cause inefficiency of HAPs station when the coverage become too small. In
this scenario, simulations are carried out to determine a minimum elevation angle for the HAPs
system where a good system performance is achievable with optimum coverage. In the first part
of the simulations, four elevation angles: 10o, 30o, 50o, and 90o are tested. A pair of users with
0.2:0.8 power allocation ratio is placed at each elevation angle (Rician channel without MIMO
configuration is used) and the simulated performance of each pair is shown in Fig. 7. At 10o
elevation angle, the BER value of user 1 is stagnant; it could not be improved by increasing
Eb/N0. At this small angle, the probability to obtain a LOS connection is very small so that
increasing the signal power would not help. Therefore, the minimum elevation angle with
tolerable performance for this first part of the simulations is 30o.
In the second part of the simulations, a MIMO configuration with 2 Tx and 4 Rx antennas is
applied as an improvement. The other simulation components are unchanged. The result is shown
in Fig. 8. When applying MIMO technique, there is almost no difference in the BER curve for
every angle tested. Using MIMO, the signal is transmitted parallelly through more than one
channels so that when the signal undergoes an obstruction in one channel, it still has a chance to
be recovered through the other channels. It means that, with MIMO, it is possible to apply an
elevation angle as small as 10o to have a large HAPS coverage area without compromising the
system performance.

Figure 8. BER comparison for different elevation angle (with MIMO).

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Figure 9. BER comparison for different MIMO configurations.

Figure 10. Fairness graph for uniform channel condition.

Additional simulations are carried out to see the effect of the number of antennas used in
MIMO on the system performance. Three configurations; 2x2, 2x3, and 2x4 MIMO are
simulated, and the results are shown in Fig. 9. More antennas in the receiver results in better
performance, but with a price of increased system complexity.

Table 2. Power Allocation with GPA Method

N 2 N 3 N 4 N 5
P1 19 P1 10 P1 9 P1 7
P2 81 P2 40 P2 22 P2 8
Total 100 P3 50 P3 28 P3 23
Total 100 P4 41 P4 26
Total 100 P5 36
Total 100

B.4 . Scenario 4: fairness calculation with gateway station addition

Fairness represents a degree of equality between the user data rates in a HAPs network. It
has 0 to 1 value, with 1 meaning all the users have perfectly equal rates. The following equation
can be used to calculate fairness index:
(𝛴𝛴𝑅𝑅𝑛𝑛 )2
𝐹𝐹 = (8)
𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑅𝑅𝑛𝑛 2

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where N is the number of users and Rn is the n-th user data rate which can be calculated as
follows:
𝑃𝑃 |ℎ |2
𝑅𝑅𝑛𝑛 = 𝐵𝐵 log 2 �1 + ∑𝑛𝑛−1 𝑛𝑛 |ℎ𝑛𝑛 |2 � (9)
𝑖𝑖=1 𝑃𝑃𝑛𝑛 𝑛𝑛 +𝜎𝜎 2
where B is bandwidth. The power allocation between NOMA users is determined using the
following generalized power allocation (GPA) [17]-[18],
𝑛𝑛!
𝑃𝑃𝑟𝑟 = × 𝐶𝐶 𝑟𝑟 (10)
𝑟𝑟!×(𝑛𝑛−𝑟𝑟)!
where C, the choice factor, can be calculated using, The total power allocated for all the users
should fulfill the following equation,
𝐶𝐶 = 𝑃𝑃1/𝑛𝑛 − 1 (11)
𝑃𝑃 ≈ ∑𝑛𝑛𝑟𝑟=1 𝑃𝑃𝑟𝑟 (12)
If 100 Watts of total power P is allocated for all the users, the amount of power for each user
in a system with 2, 3, 4, and 5 users based on GPA method are shown in Table 2.
Based on the power allocation in Table 2, fairness index calculation is carried out in two
different conditions: uniform channel and nonuniform channel. Channel condition is determined
by the elevation angle of a user. To simulate a uniform channel condition, users with different
power allocations are positioned at the same elevation angle; 30o elevation angle is used in this
calculation. The result is shown in Fig. 10. For N = 2, 3, 4, and 5, the calculated fairness index
is higher than 0.7, which shows equal rates among each user even with nonuniform power
allocations. To simulate a nonuniform channel condition, users with different power allocations
are positioned at different elevation angle, as shown in Table 3. The calculated fairness index is
shown in Fig. 11. For N=2, 3, 4, and 5, the fairness index is also higher than 0.7, which shows
equal rates among each user. The nonuniform channel condition could compensate the
nonuniform power allocated for each user, so that fairness index could be improved.

Figure 11. Fairness graph for nonuniform channel condition.

Table 3. Nonuniform Channel Configuration Based on Elevation Angle

N Elevation Angle (deg)
User 1 User 2 User 3 User 4 User 5
2 90 50
3 90 50 20
4 90 70 50 20
5 90 70 50 40 20

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4. HIBS and Mobile Cellular Terrestrial Co-existence

The emergence of HIBS is expected to be the solutions in supporting the spread of broadband
penetration, especially for rural and underserved areas. The development of HAPS itself in the
last few years has evolved very rapidly and gave birth to a new technology called HAPS as IMT
Base Station (HIBS). A separate challenge arises regarding the integration between HIBS and
terrestrial IMT-2020 networks in its implementation using 700 MHz frequency band. Therefore,
in this paper we conducted a study and analysis of HIBS interference to the IMT-2020 terrestrial
network in 700 MHz based on the WRC-19 decision in Article no. 5.313A. In this study, network
modeling will be carried out based on the proposed scenario described in Fig. 2 and the
calculation of potential interference will be further evaluated in more detail.

A. Interference mechanism at a terrestrial tower (TT)

In this sub-section, we describe interference scenarios of IMT-2020 mobile service, provided
by terrestrial and HIBS. HIBS system must be separated away from cellular terrestrial by a
particular distance so that interference would be managed properly. Interference suffered by the
terrestrial system due to the presence of HIBS will occur at two point. One occurs at the terrestrial
tower (TT) and the other occur at the terrestrial user equipment (TUE). Both points will be
evaluated in more detail with adequate analysis and proven by mathematical equations.
Figure 12 shows interference signal that occur in the TT which come from other TUE in the
co-channel cell, other TUE in adjacent cell, and from HUE in the neighbor service area. It is
assumed that TT is located near to the HIBS service area. Interference power perceived by the
TT is then calculated by using the following equation,

2𝛼𝛼𝑖𝑖 𝑀𝑀𝑖𝑖 Ŝ𝑖𝑖 𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑖 𝐹𝐹(𝑘𝑘ℎ )

𝐼𝐼 = 𝐼𝐼𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 + 𝐼𝐼𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻 = ∑𝑁𝑁
𝑛𝑛=1 𝑐𝑐𝑛𝑛 𝐹𝐹(𝑘𝑘𝑖𝑖 ) �1 + 𝐵𝐵 � (13)
𝑅𝑅𝑖𝑖4 𝐹𝐹(𝑘𝑘𝑖𝑖 )
where:
𝑀𝑀ℎ Ŝℎ 𝑅𝑅𝑖𝑖4
𝐵𝐵 = 6324 14 is constant normalization value of interfering factor between terrestrial and
𝑀𝑀𝑖𝑖 Ŝ𝑖𝑖 𝑅𝑅ℎ
HIBS system
𝛼𝛼𝑖𝑖 : voice activity factor in terrestrial cellular system
Ŝ𝑖𝑖 : terrestrial cellular reverse link power (W)
𝑀𝑀𝑖𝑖 : number of terrestrial cellular users per cell
𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑖 : path loss (dB)
𝑐𝑐𝑛𝑛 : number of terrestrial interfering cells
𝑁𝑁 : tier number of interfering cells
𝑅𝑅𝑖𝑖 : terrestrial cellular cell radius (km)
𝐹𝐹(𝑘𝑘ℎ ): Interference factor from terrestrial system
𝐹𝐹(𝑘𝑘ℎ ): Interference factor from HIBS system
𝑘𝑘𝑖𝑖 : 2𝑛𝑛 + 1
𝑅𝑅ℎ : HIBS cell radius (km)
𝑘𝑘ℎ : 2𝑛𝑛 – 1
𝑀𝑀ℎ : number of HIBS users per cell
𝑠𝑠̂ℎ : HIBS forward link power (W)

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Figure 12. Interference that occurs in the terrestrial tower (TT).

Figure 13. Interference that occurs in the terrestrial user equipment (TUE).

n is an integer to indicate the tier number of cells that is considered in the simulation. Meanwhile,
to calculate the value of F(kh) and F(ki), it can be described in the following equation),
2 6
1.62 0.23𝑅𝑅ℎ 𝑅𝑅ℎ 1 1.52
𝐹𝐹(𝑘𝑘ℎ ) = 6 + 4 + � 2
2 −1� 𝑅𝑅 2
− 2
2 𝑅𝑅 2 −1.52 �
� (14)
𝑘𝑘ℎ 𝑘𝑘ℎ 25 �𝑘𝑘ℎ �𝑘𝑘ℎ
ℎ ℎ
𝑘𝑘𝑖𝑖2 4𝑘𝑘𝑖𝑖4 −6𝑘𝑘𝑖𝑖2 +1
𝐹𝐹(𝑘𝑘𝑖𝑖 ) = 2𝑘𝑘𝑖𝑖2 ln � �− 2 (15)
𝑘𝑘𝑖𝑖2 −1 2�𝑘𝑘𝑖𝑖2 −1�
To simulate interference perceived by the TT, we use (13) which can be solved by first
solving (14) and (15). Mathematically, (14) is solved by using a parameter where it is known
that kh=2n-1 with n=5, and Rh is assumed to have an average radius of 3.5 km. The value of 3.5
km is obtained from the aggregate of the average values between the various Rh, namely 2 km,
3 km, 4 km, and 5 km. Equation 15 is solved by parameter ki=2n+1 with n=5. In solving (13), in
addition to (18) and (19), the value of B (Constant) is required. To get the value of B, it can be
solved by substituting the radius of coverage that has been determined previously, with the
parameters ai = αh = 0.65, Mi = 100 users, Ŝ𝑖𝑖 = 5 𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 and assuming cn = 3. In addition, it is
known that Mh = 1000 users, and Ŝℎ = 50 𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤. For the value of li = PL for the distance d = 1
km, so that to get the value of B with different Ri = Rh variables, it will produce different B
values.
By parsing equation (13), 3 types of K values are obtained. Each of these K values will be
calculated and substituted back into equation (13). Value of K1 = 617.6 for radius of 2 km, K2 =
10.7 for a radius of 3 km, K3 = 0.60 for radius of 4 km. As for the varied radius aggregate, the

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value of K = 2.3 for radius of 3.5 km. It is clearly shown in Table 5. While the values for F(kh)
= 0.075 and F(ki) = -0.079.

B. Interference mechanism at a terrestrial user equipment (TUE)

TUE will suffer from interference that comes from adjacent TT in the terrestrial service area
and from HAPS at its surrounding area as depicted in Fig. 13. Interference mechanism received
by the TUE which is located at the nearest position to HAPS service area can be expressed by,
−2 𝐺𝐺(∅ℎ𝑛𝑛 )
𝛼𝛼𝑖𝑖 𝑀𝑀𝑖𝑖 Ŝ𝑖𝑖 𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑖 −4 𝑑𝑑ℎ𝑛𝑛
𝐼𝐼 = ∑𝑁𝑁
𝑛𝑛=1 𝑐𝑐𝑛𝑛 𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 �1 + 𝐵𝐵 −4 10 10 � (16)
3 𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖
where:
𝑆𝑆 𝑀𝑀 𝑙𝑙
𝐵𝐵 = �5810.25 ℎ ℎ ℎ �
𝑆𝑆𝑖𝑖 𝑀𝑀𝑖𝑖 𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑖
G(φh,n) is antenna gain of HAPS airship according to the angle between HAPS nadir and
mobile station in cellular system (dB). Just as previously stated, that the value of B is very
influential in getting interference values. The B value in equation (16), 1 type of B value is
obtained, namely B = 283614.4. Thus, the existing interference value can be calculated.
HAPS service area is required to be separated away from terrestrial service area to maintain the
level interference perceived by TUE otherwise both systems will experience an outage. To
simulate C/I for both TT and TUE we use the equation as follow,
𝐶𝐶 𝑃𝑃𝐹𝐹 �𝑟𝑟𝑗𝑗�𝑥𝑥𝑅𝑅 −4
= 𝑖𝑖
(17)
𝐼𝐼 𝐼𝐼
where:
𝑃𝑃𝐹𝐹 �𝑟𝑟𝑗𝑗 � = transmit power in forward link (W)
𝑅𝑅𝑖𝑖 = cell radius of cellular system (km)

Table 4. Calculated PLfor Terrestrial and HIBS Systems

It is necessary to do a calculation to find out the propagation path loss (PL) that occurs both
on the terrestrial and the HIBS [19]. This PL calculation using Okumura-Hata model in frequency
700 MHz is summarized in Table 4, assuming that the height of terrestrial tower is 25 m and the
height of the UE receiving antenna is 1.5 m. In addition, the path length d, is varied with a
distance between 1 and 20 km. While the value of antenna height correction factor for UE a(hre)
is also considered. B parameter in a function of cell radius is described in Table 5.

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C. Simulation Results
Computer simulation was carried out by using typical HIBS parameters that refer to the
common value, such as HAPS altitude is 20 km, radius coverage area is 55 km (user minimum
elevation 200), and HAPS maximum antenna gain is 35 dBi. HAPS cell radius was varied from
2 km up to 5 km. Number of users in the entire coverage HAPS are assumed to be 1000 users
and normally distributed alongside the service area. The parameters used for the IMT-2020
system include NR operating band n28, multiple access used in simulation is NOMA, cannel
bandwidth 10 MHz, receiver sensitivity -98 dBm, transmit power per user 100 mW.
C/I at the terrestrial tower (TT) and at the terrestrial user equipment (TUE) is obtained by
using simulation based on equation 13 and 16 respectively. In equation 13 and 16, we have many
parameters that contribute to the C/I at the TT or TUE. One of those parameters is the HIBS cell
radius. We simulated various value of HIBS cell radius from 2 to 5 km and then draw them in
the graph with C/I threshold is -10 dB (refer to 5G interference requirement include in ETSI
standard [20]). From the simulation results, if HIBS cell radius below 2 km, then the coverage
of terrestrial cellular systems and HIBS can coexist (not overlap) without any separation. But if
the radius of the HIBS cell is more than 2 km, for example 3, 4, or 5 km, a separation distance
between terrestrial coverage and HIBS coverage is required.
Figure 14 shows C/I at the TT as a function of separation distance between IMT-2020 service
area and HIBS service area. From simulation, when HIBS cell radius 2 km, we found that for the
C/I threshold -10 dB interference from

Table 5. K Value in case of Interference Perceived by TT

Radius K
2 617.6
3 10.7
3.5 2.3
4 0.6

Figure14. C/I at a Terrestrial Tower (TT) with variation of HAPS cell radius.

HIBS to IMT-2020 mobile service is acceptable even if both systems are close each other.
Yet, when HIBS cell radius is increased i.e. 3 km, 4 km, or even 5 km, then C/I start to decrease
and at this point we need HIBS service area to separate away from terrestrial IMT-2020 service
area. The bigger the radius of HIBS cell, the smaller the C/I ratio. For example if we want to
keep the C/I threshold above -10 dB then the separation distance between the two systems are 3
km (HIBS cell radius is 2 km), 5.5 km (HIBS cell radius is 4 km), and 20 km (HIBS cell radius
is 5 km). Therefore, to keep service area of both systems closed each other, HIBS cell radius

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should be maintained no more than 2 km. However, to achieve this goal we need the multi-spot
beam antenna onboard HAPS system which is more complicated and bigger in size as well.
C/I at the TUE has also been simulated and the result is shown in Fig. 15. Interference in
TUE is found more severe than that in TT. Therefore, it needs separation distance requirement
of HIBS service area larger than interference in TT. Refer to C/I equals -10 dB, interference that
occur in TUE need separation distance more than 20 km when HIBS cell radius is 5 km or more.
This can be said that HIBS is required to be separated away from IMT-2020 service if its spot
radius is larger than 2 km. For reasonable separation distance between both systems we should
keep the HIBS cell radius below 3 km.
Finally, we have evaluated performance requirement in order HIBS to be complementary
system to terrestrial cellular system. However, on the one hand, HIBS can easily cover
underserved and rural areas, but other aspects such as economic or regulatory aspects as well as
security need to be studied more deeply. Therefore, HIBS can be realized as an efficient and safe
terrestrial cellular complement system.

5. Conclusion
We have evaluated the new concept of mobile cellular IMT-2020 by using new technology
as known as HIBS in co-existence with the terrestrial IMT-2020 service to provide
complementary wireless technology to rural or underserved area. The performance of Gateway
using NOMA in millimeter wave band has been evaluated in comparison with OMA and MIMO
configuration. NOMA with MIMO antenna have shown the best performance in millimeter
wave. In addition, the performance of cellular service co-existence between both systems is also
analyzed by using C/I performance. Separation distances between terrestrial IMT-2020 and
HIBS services area required to maintain C/I. The bigger the HIBS cell radius the larger the
separation distance required. From this study we can propose that the possibility of HIBS as a
complementary wireless technology is being close to realize.

Figure 15. C/I at a Terrestrial User Equipment (TUE) with variation of HAPS cell radius.

6. References
[1]. ITU, World Radio Conference 2019 (WRC-19), Final Acts. Resolution 247. Facilitating
mobile connectivity in certain frequency bands below 2.7 GHz using high-altitude platform
stations as International Mobile Telecommunications Base Stations (HIBS).
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as IMT Base Stations: Connectivity from the Stratosphere,” IEEE Communications
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[3]. Y. Zhou, F. Qi, and W. Xie, “Research on Spectrum Needs Prediction Method for HAPS
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[4]. Y. Hmamouche, M. Benjillali, and S. Saoudi, “Terrestrial Connectivity Through

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[14]. T Park, G Lee, W. Saad, and M. Bennis, “Sum Rate and Reliability Analysis for Power-
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[15]. Q. Luo, P. Gao, Z. Liu, L. Xiao, Z. Mheich, and Pei, “An Error Rate Comparison of Power
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[16]. P. Zhang, B. Yang, C. Yi, H. Wang, and X. You, “Measurement-Based 5G Millimeter-
Wave Propagation Characterization in Vegetated Suburban Macrocell Environments,”
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[17]. Iskandar and S. Shimamoto, “Channel characterization and performance evaluation of
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[18]. T. Manglayev, R. C. Kizilirmak and Y. H. Kho, "Optimum power allocation for non-
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[19]. T. Ahmed, R. Yasmin, H. Homyara and M. Hasan, "Generalized Power Allocation (GPA)
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Iskandar completed his B.E. and M.E. degrees in Telecommunication

Engineering from Institut Telnologi Bandung (ITB), Indonesia in 1995 and
2000 respectively. He graduated Doctor degree from Waseda University,
Japan, in the field of Global Information and Telecommunication Studies
(GITS) in 2007. Since april 1997, he has been a permanent lecturer in the
electrical engineering department of ITB. His major research interests are in
the areas of mobile radio propagation, wireless channel modeling, mobile
cellular technology, satellite communication, and high-altitude platform
communication.

Mirrah Aliya Azzahra was born in 1996 at Serang City Banten Province and
graduated from the Master Program Electrical - Telecommunication
Engineering Major at the Bandung Institute of Technology in 2020 after taking
bachelor’s Education in the same field, Telecommunication Engineering at
Telkom University Bandung. During her bachelor's degree, she was active in
laboratory activities to explore studies related to Microcontrollers,
Communication Systems, and Image Information Processing. She is working
as Government Employee Non-Civil Servant at the Directorate of Spectrum
Policy and Planning, at the Ministry of Communications and Informatics Republic of Indonesia.
Her research interest includes high altitude platform communication and the promising multiple
access techniques such as Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access.

Sandryones B. Palinggi Completed Associate Degree from State Polytechnic

of Ujung Pandang, Bachelor’s Degree from the National Institute of Science
and Technology, Master’s Degree from Bandung Institute of Technology, and
Professional Engineer Education from Hasanuddin University (UNHAS) for
Engineering Expertise Telecommunication. Obtained an Insinyur Profesional
Madya (IPM) from the The Institute of Engineers Indonesia. Has experience
as a Researcher, Telecommunications Practitioner and Regulator. More than
10 years working in the Private Sector and experienced in handling projects as
a Project Engineer and Project Management with areas of expertise including Satellite
Communication System, (especially VSAT), Radio Communication Systems
(Narrowband/Broadband), High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS), HAPS IMT Base Stations
(HIBS), and Data Center.

Aulia Dewantari received her bachelor’s degree in Telecommunication

Engineering in 2012 from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Indonesia. In
2019, she received her Ph.D. from the School of Integrated Technology,
Yonsei University, Korea. She joined the Radio and Microwave
Telecommunication Laboratory, School of Electrical Engineering, and
Informatics ITB in 2020. Her research interests include microwave radar
imaging and radar antenna design.

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