Multibeam coverage for a high altitude platform

A method to provision a telecommunications apparatus comprising:

• determining, via a processor, an altitude range at which the telecommunications apparatus will operate;
• determining, via the processor, a minimum elevation angle from the ground to the telecommunications apparatus;
• determining, via the processor, a coverage area of the telecommunications apparatus based on the altitude range and the minimum elevation angle;
• partitioning, via the processor, the coverage area into substantially equal-sized cells;
• assigning, via the processor, an antenna to each of the cells;
• determining, via the processor, a beamwidth and an elevation angle for each antenna to provide communication coverage to the corresponding cell;
• and
• determining, via the processor, an aperture for each of the antennas based on the beamwidth and the elevation angle to provide the substantially equal-sized cells.

A processor apparatus in communication with non-transitory computer-readable instructions, that when executed, cause the processor to:

• receive a geographic location in which a telecommunications apparatus is to operate and a coverage area for the geographic location;
• determine an altitude range at which the telecommunications apparatus will operate based on the geographic location;
• partition the coverage area into substantially equal-sized cells each having a same radius;
• assign an antenna to each of the cells;
• determine a beamwidth and an elevation angle for each antenna to provide communication coverage to the corresponding cell based on the antenna corresponding to a cell with the same radius;
• and
• determine an aperture for each of the antennas based on the beamwidth and the elevation angle such that the cells have the same surface spectral density.