CPC H04B 7/18504 (2013.01) [H04B 7/18513 (2013.01); H04W 16/28 (2013.01); H04W 40/02 (2013.01); H04W 84/18 (2013.01)] | 24 Claims |
1. A radio communication system capable of providing a radio route for transmitting data to terrestrial nodes via aerial system nodes including a plurality of orbiting satellite nodes and a plurality of non-orbiting aerial nodes at altitudes up to 20 miles, wherein:
each aerial system node includes an antenna construction for transmitting and receiving radio signals in a plurality of directions;
a number of said non-orbiting aerial nodes occupy each of multiple local areas around the earth, each said local area corresponding to an area having at least one terrestrial system node located therein;
said orbiting satellite nodes are disposed in orbital paths over said local areas;
each non-orbiting aerial node includes route creation circuitry for determining a quality associated with an initial routing message received from a sending terrestrial node indicating the suitability of including the non-orbiting aerial node and said sending terrestrial node as a radio link in the radio route, said initial routing messages including an address of said sending terrestrial node and the identity of the local area where it is located; and
each orbiting satellite node includes route creation circuitry for determining a composite quality associated with the quality of a further routing message received from a non-orbiting aerial node and the initial routing message quality included in said further routing message, said composite quality indicating the suitability of including the orbiting satellite and the non-orbiting aerial node as a radio link in the radio route, said further routing messages including the address of said sending terrestrial node and the identity of the local area where it is located.
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