Recently, Chongqing's first unmanned airship with a 5G base station made a successful test flight. This is a 5G emergency support system for air-ground integration based on airship aerostats, jointly developed by China Mobile Chongqing and Chongqing Nearspace Innovation R&D Center of Shanghai Jiaotong University. In the future, the system will be used in emergency support tasks such as communication support, environmental monitoring, high-resolution cloud view and emergency rescue.
Unlike traditional small UAV base stations, airship aerostats are characterized by a long time in the air, no noise, low energy consumption and large load. By carrying such equipment as 5G base station communication, emergency support and environmental monitoring, the airship can better interact with the two platforms on the ground.
According to information, the kite-airship succeeding in test flight has a diameter of 6 meters and a payload of up to 13 kilograms. Carrying communications, camera, environmental and a variety of other equipment, it has a maximum designed liftoff height of 300 meters. It is filled with helium, an inert gas, which is pollution-free and safe. It can stay in the air for more than 7 days, far longer than average UAVs, which stay in the air for only about 3 hours.