| CPC B64G 1/242 (2013.01) [B64G 1/1007 (2013.01)] | 23 Claims |
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1. A method of routing communications from a first processing node to a final destination processing node within an evolving communication network that includes one or more nodes orbiting a planet, the method comprising:
receiving, at the first processing node of the communication network, an indication that a second processing node has been added to the communication network and, in combination with the first processing node and a set of one or more distributed processing nodes, forms a group of distributed processing nodes; and
based on receiving the indication or a time period passing, updating a contact plan, wherein the contact plan indicates a time-indexed list of communication opportunities between the distributed processing nodes of the group, wherein updating the contact plan comprises:
computing an availability of connections associated with the distributed processing nodes of the group based at least in part on an orbital trajectory and link budget associated with each distributed processing node of the group of distributed processing nodes,
constructing a plurality of paths between the distributed processing nodes of the group based at least in part on the computed availability of the connections, and
selecting, from the plurality of paths, a path from the first processing node through the group of distributed processing nodes to the final destination processing node, wherein the selected path is one of a path that has a highest reduction of a backlog of data to transmit from the first processing node to the final destination processing node or a path that has a highest average bandwidth between the first processing node and the final destination processing node, to thereby define an updated contact plan.
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