  The Hajj is a religious Muslim pilgrimage undertaken annually by 2-3 million
people in Makkah. Consequently, several problems arise due to the sheer number
of pilgrims, and therefore negatively impact their stay and the conduct of the
rituals. During the Hajj, several problems occur related to mobility, security,
and connectivity. The current solutions used to deal with these problems have
limitations and they usually require a lot of resources with suboptimal
results. In this paper, we proposed an aerial-based solution that rely on
Networked Tethered Flying Platforms (NTFPs). NTFPs are flying vehicles such as
drones, Helikites, and blimps, that are tethered to the ground via a cable that
supplies them with constant data and power. NTFPs can fly at high altitude with
a great backhaul capacity and large coverage. We show in this paper how
NTFP-based solution solve mobility, security, and connectivity problems during
the Hajj and the main advantages and benefits as well as the cost-efficiency of
such solution. For the sake of completeness, we also present other similar case
studies in which NTFPs can be used.
