US 11,877,353 B2
Modular communication housing unit providing integrated and automatic failover to a secondary meshed peer-to-peer communication network
Matthew Drapp, Chantilly, VA (US); Stefan Schaner, Chantilly, VA (US); and Michael Wong, Chantilly, VA (US)
Assigned to Fenix Group, Inc., Chantilly, VA (US)
Filed by Fenix Group, Inc., Chantilly, VA (US)
Filed on Aug. 11, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/399,986.
Application 17/399,986 is a continuation of application No. 17/187,598, filed on Feb. 26, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0397300 A1, Dec. 7, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04L 12/741 (2013.01); H04L 29/12 (2006.01); H04L 29/08 (2006.01); H04L 12/931 (2013.01); H01Q 1/38 (2006.01); H01Q 1/08 (2006.01); H02J 7/02 (2016.01); H04W 84/18 (2009.01); H04W 88/16 (2009.01); H04W 24/04 (2009.01); H04W 84/22 (2009.01); H04W 40/02 (2009.01); H04W 88/04 (2009.01)
CPC H04W 84/18 (2013.01) [H04W 24/04 (2013.01); H04W 40/02 (2013.01); H04W 84/22 (2013.01); H04W 88/04 (2013.01); H04W 88/16 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A mesh radio extension unit comprising:
a receiving sleeve, wherein the receiving sleeve includes an open volume and at least a first data connector, the first data connector providing a communicative coupling to a communication device inserted in the open volume of the receiving sleeve;
a low-gain internal antenna;
a high-gain external antenna;
a digital data link (DDL) associated with a first DDL operating frequency and coupled to one or more of the internal antenna and the external antenna, such that the DDL provides bidirectional data connectivity between the first data connector and a peer-to-peer meshed communication network by controlling one or more of the internal antenna and the external antenna as a transceiver at the first DDL operating frequency;
a power supply system controllable to provide electrical power to at least the DDL, the power supply system including a battery and a power interface; and
a control system for automatically routing one or more data packets received or transmitted by the DDL, wherein the control system includes a network address translation (NAT) router and an addressing service for assigning and tracking addresses across the peer-to-peer meshed communication network,
and wherein the control system causes the communication device communicatively coupled to the first data connector to failover to the peer-to-peer meshed communication network in response to determining that a primary network associated with the communication device is unavailable or has a signal strength below a pre-determined threshold.