Patent ID: 9397745
Filing Date: 2016-07-19
CPC Classification: H04B

Claim Text:
1. A method comprising: detecting a plurality of moving mobile segment nodes of a hybrid satellite-mesh network by an aircraft node of the hybrid satellite-mesh network, the aircraft node configured with at least two antennas pointing toward at least two different directions and with at least two transceivers, each of the at least two transceivers configured with multiple modem modules, wherein each of the multiple modem modules supports: an access terminal (AT) mode that searches for an access point (AP) node in the hybrid satellite-mesh network with which to establish multiple AT links, and an access point (AP) mode that solicits other nodes that may be searching for a node in the hybrid satellite-mesh network with which to establish multiple AP links, wherein each of the mobile segment nodes comprises a mobile craft in the air or at sea; establishing a link with a selected one of the mobile segment nodes by the aircraft node based on network routing optimization criteria and algorithms; attempting, by the aircraft node of the hybrid satellite-mesh network, to establish a wireless communication path to any ground segment node of the hybrid satellite-mesh network via the selected mobile segment node of the hybrid satellite-mesh network; determining failure or success of the attempting by the first mobile segment node; in response to determining failure of the attempting, establishing, by the aircraft node, a link with a satellite segment of the hybrid satellite-mesh network to establish the wireless communication path to a ground segment node of the hybrid satellite-mesh network via the satellite segment of the hybrid satellite-mesh network; sending and receiving packets to and from the Internet by the aircraft node over the established wireless communication path via the satellite segment; and while sending and receiving packets via the satellite segment, repeatedly attempting by the aircraft node to establish a new wireless communication path to any ground segment node of the hybrid satellite-mesh network via any of the mobile segment nodes.