Case Study: Altaeros expands rural telecom coverage with Nimbix cloud computing and ANSYS Fluent

Aerial Cell Towers, Designed With Ansys Fluent and Nimbix Cloud Computing, Reduce Cost and Energy Consumption, Expanding Telecoms Into Rural Markets

Altaeros, a startup developing tethered aerial platforms for rural broadband, needed a way to accurately model the aerodynamics and flight dynamics of its SuperTower without the cost and risk of excessive physical prototyping. The company faced highly variable wind conditions and required high-fidelity simulation to validate stable autonomous flight, launch, and recovery across a wide operating envelope using ANSYS Fluent and Nimbix cloud computing.

Using Nimbix cloud resources with ANSYS Fluent, Altaeros ran CFD simulations across dozens of operating conditions on hundreds of cores to build an aerodynamic database for its flight dynamics tools. The result was faster turnaround with high fidelity, reduced prototype iterations, better control software tuning, and earlier validation of the design—helping Altaeros bring its first commercial system to market at larger scale and at 60% lower cost than conventional cell towers.

Altaeros

Jonathan Everitt

Principal Aerodynamicist