The Company
United Balloon (UB) will provide the world's largest captive balloon offering a revolutionary Digital Outof-Home advertising (DOOH) opportunity with state of the art OLED signage in the business to
business segment as well as a spectacular and most exciting skyline viewing experience in the
business to customer segment.
The Concept
United Balloon is a revolutionary captive balloon both because of its patented triangular design and its
dimensions. Due to its triangular shape, the balloon offers ideal digital and conventional advertising
surfaces which will make the advertisement visible from 20 to 25 km with clear weather conditions.
The balloon is made up from three triangular surfaces, with each surface featuring 40m x 22,5m screens
providing a combined digital surface area of 900 m2, totaling 2700 m2 for the entire balloon.
The balloon has a content in excess of 140,000 m3 filled with helium, which is nearly fifty times as much
as the largest captive balloon at the moment. The balloon shall have dimensions of 75 x 95 m which is
comparable to a 30 story high-rise building.
The UB will fly to a height of approximately 250 m, but will remain attached to the ground by cables. The
balloon remains stationary whilst a gondola will be hoisted up to a height of 200 m which will in itself be
a spectacular experience and very different from the traditional captive hot air balloons.
In short, UB will be an amazing feature to look at on any cities' skyline, an amazing digital billboard, and
an amazing passenger experience.
The Products
UB is offering two main products:Product 1 – Digital Out of Home Advertising (DOOH)
DOOH is essentially advertising screens in traditional billboard locations and place-based environments.
It is fast becoming an important and flexible communication in its own right.
Product 2 – Tourist Attraction
Tourists are always looking for new experiences and with Dubai being on the global forefront of
shopping, leisure and entertainment UB is exactly the type if new experience tourist are looking for. UB
will offer its passengers are far more exciting experience than the traditional viewing opportunities such
as observatory decks in towers or large Ferris wheels. UB combines excitement with breathtaking views.
The Assignment
The assignment is to design the gondola as a tourist attraction (product 2).
A commercial opportunity is envisioned by exploiting the balloon for sight-seeing. The system should
therefore be able to transport a group of paying customers to and from a height slightly below the level
of the lower part of the balloon to enjoy the view.
Because of operational requirements, the system should be able to deploy in congested urban areas.
The (possible) ground segment of the system should be temporary and not take up too large an area
on the ground.
Safety and certification are key issues in the development of this system. As it will operate in urban
areas and carry persons, adherence to all applying regulations should be established.
On top of all operational requirements, the system should be CO2-neutral, as an added selling point.
Therefore, some method of harvesting energy from the environment should be implemented. It is
desirable to make trade-off of costs that this requirement will incur.
This system will have a very commercial focus. Therefore costs and profitability should be taken into
account from the outset of designing this system and its mission profile. They should be actively
considered in any design trade-off, optimizing profit, while making sure that all operational and safety
requirements are being fulfilled.
The initial venue of deployment will be Dubai. Having a desert climate, this deployment area is
foreseen to have excellent solar illumination. Because only occasional clouding is expected at this site,
a high portion of available solar flux can be utilized during day-hours.
A drawback of the desert environment, is the occurrence of sandstorms. Sandstorms tend to deposit
material at local stagnation-points in the wind flow, leading to a large build-up of material. Next to this,
the sand-laden flow of the wind is very abrasive, cutting and ‘sanding’ at exposed structures.
The system should be able to either withstand a sandstorm, or be able to reconfigure for sheltering
with a 24hr early weather-warning. In either case, the system should be able to withstand the
occurrence of sandstorms to its normal functioning.
While the above situation will be leading as the initial proving area of deployment, the designed
system should also be applicable to other urban settings around the globe.
Project Objective
The top-level system requirements for the project are summarized below:
The system should operate continuously for the specified operational life-time of 10 years.
Transport a group of 50 persons at once to and from a height of 200 m for sightseeing.
Have the capacity for continuously repeating this sightseeing task 4 times per hour on a daily basis,
from 10:00 to 00:00.
Be certifiable under current applying safety regulations.
Be re-deployable at a different location within a period of 3 days. De-rigged system should be
transportable via 40 ft. containers.
Be collapsible for emergency sheltering within 24 hrs.
Have an operationally deployed ground-area of at most 25x25 m. An additional 20 m2 is allowed for
operational systems.
Be CO2-neutral, at least during regular daily operations.
Main Topics.
3-D Passenger Target Group
United Balloon will be the largest captive balloon in the world in its segment and this is also reflected in
the fact that 50 passengers can be accommodated during each flight of the gondola.
Depending on local geographical and meteorological conditions, the balloon is expected to be
operational 15 hours daily, 7 days a week. With each flight of the gondola taking approximately 15
minutes including embarking and disembarking, UB will be able to carry up to 3,000 passengers daily,
resulting in a maximum annual capacity of just over 1 mln. passengers at ideal condition. In our
projections, we project 300 operational days per annum resulting in a loss factor of approximately 20%
to allow for maintenance & repair and severe weather conditions when the balloon would need to be
sheltered although the latter would only happen in case of major storms. The balloon is able to fly up to
a wind force of 16 knots.
This results in a maximum passenger capacity of 900,000 yearly which in itself is an attractive target
market for advertisers.
Passengers should experience a thrilling, but pleasant flight. Therefore the view should be excellent for
all passengers (large windows and a floor that can be made transparent) while the comfort should be
optimal (air conditioning, shieling against bright sunlight etc.). As an option for additional thrill, a circular
construction of 20 open air seats may be located underneath the gondola.
Project outline
Oral and written reporting
Give regular oral presentations on the progress during review meetings. Give a regular written update
by means of interim reports. The reporting should be as concise as possible.
Sustainable engineering
Sustainable engineering should form an integral part of the design. In which both the primary and
secondary usage of energy (manufacturing and operations) will be minimized. Suitable trade-offs have
to be made.
Mission analysis
Mission analysis is one of the key factors in the beginning of the design process. Based on the mission
analysis and a thorough analysis of the physics of the problem a conceptual design can be made.
Configuration lay-out/general arrangement
In the first part at least 3 possible design concepts have to be developed.
Aerodynamics and atmosphere
While aerodynamic performance is not a major design-driver, aerodynamic forces that are generated
by wind and atmospheric turbulence should be kept to a minimum in order to keep structural weight
low and reduce down-time due to strong winds.
Structures and materials
Being a major system design driver, weight should be kept to a minimum. The system should be
deployable and collapsible in a short amount of time, for which special structural provisions should be
made. Also, because of certification requirements, the structure should be safe and reliable.
Operations
The top-level requirements demand a system with a novel combination of tasks and functionalities.
This will require not only a design of the physical system, but also of the way in which it should be
operated. Detailed procedures should be developed for deployment, daily operations, take-down,
transport and emergency sheltering. Also, procedures for reparation or partial overhaul should be
detailed in the event that they are required in the operational life of the system.
Cost and exploitation
The system has to operate in a competitive market, performing its mission while generating a profit
margin. Reliable estimates have to be made of recurring and non-recurring costs throughout the
operational life of the system. Because of its relative importance, cost aspects should be integrated in
the trade-off process of the system’s design.
The Deliverable Items
The project shall realise the following deliverable item; a realistic design of an attractive comfortable
gondola capable of transporting at least 3000 passengers per day to a height of 200 m, including the
installations required for operations. Safety, environmental conditions, cost and sustainability are key
attention points.
POC: Dr. Ir. Johan Kaelen:
Email: jwenkaelen@ziggo.nl
Tel: 0647019171