HAPS

Activating Change: SoftBank Corp.’s R&D Arm Unveils Short Film to Convey its Mission

Through the ages, as a catalyst for social change, technology has played a key role in advancing humanity. To create new and better technologies, and to implement them into society to make a positive impact, SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434)’s …

One Step Closer to Commercializing Sky-based Connectivity: SoftBank Corp. Successfully Conducts Test with Tethered Balloon Base Station

What’s this floating object in the sky? It’s a tethered balloon equipped with a base station. To commercialize the stratospheric-based telecommunications platform called “HAPS” (High Altitude Platform Station), SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434)…

Technology for Society: Interview with Ryuji Wakikawa, Head of SoftBank Corp.’s Research Institute of Advanced Technology

SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434)’s division in charge of R&D for advanced technologies—including 5G, 6G, and autonomous driving—marked a new beginning as the SoftBank Research Institute of Advanced Technology on April 1, 2022. To learn more ab…

SoftBank Corp.’s HAPSMobile and Lendlease to Study Business Potential of HAPS in Australia

From left: Junichi Miyakawa (SoftBank Corp. President & CEO and HAPSMobile President & CEO) and Andrew Gauci (Lendlease Managing Director of Japan and Head of Telecoms & Data Infrastructure Asia) commemorate joint venture at SoftBank Corp.…

Bridging the Digital Divide from the Sky: SoftBank Corp.’s NTN Network Solutions

NTN, short for “Non-Terrestrial Networks,” is a term that refers to communication networks that use objects in the sky or space, such as High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS)-based networks in the stratosphere or satellite-based networks. …

Inside Look: SoftBank Corp.’s Next-generation Battery Lab is Helping to Usher in a New Generation of Drones and More

Located in Tochigi Prefecture’s Utsunomiya City, approximately 100km north of Tokyo, the hexagonal complex pictured above is the Battery Safety Testing Center and Utsunomiya Test Center of ESPEC CORP. a world-leader in environmental test c…

Bridging the Digital Divide: SoftBank Corp.’s First Sustainability Bond to Raise Funds for HAPS Business

SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) announced in November 2021 that it is planning to issue its first-ever Sustainability Bond before the end of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022. Expected to be worth approximately 30 billion yen (about 250 m…

SoftBank Wins Two CEATEC AWARD 2021 Category Awards for its Non-Terrestrial Network Solutions and Smart City Platform

SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) won two CEATEC AWARD 2021 Category Awards on October 18, 2021, the day before the full launch of CEATEC ONLINE 2021. CEATEC is one of the largest international exhibitions of IT technology and electronics in As…

SoftBank’s 6G World: New Technology to Usher in Game-changing Wireless Applications—and Some Challenges

While many of us are still considering whether to upgrade to a 5G smartphone, the mobile network operators that brought us 5G and the previous generations of wireless communications are already working on technologies to make 6G a reality.…

HAPSMobile’s Stratospheric Test Flight Opens A New Chapter for the Internet

HAPSMobile Inc., a SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) subsidiary launched in 2017 with the mission of bridging the digital divide, marked two major milestones on September 21, 2020. First, the solar-powered, unmanned aircraft “Sunglider” took fl…

HAPS: Why SoftBank is looking to the stratosphere

HAPSMobile's HAWK30 successfully completed its first test flight at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center on September 11, 2019 Imagine an unmanned aircraft circling the stratosphere, acting as an airborne base station to smoothly transm…