According to the present invention, there is provided a signal routing method, performed by a processing module, for configuring transmission of a signal through a communications constellation comprising a plurality of assets, comprising: receiving an instruction to transmit a signal from a transmitter ground station associated with the processing module to a receiver ground station via the communications constellation, requesting and obtaining connection data from a network management module defining the available connections between assets in the communications constellation, determining, using the obtained connection data, a sequence of a plurality of assets representing an optimum route through the communications constellation for transmission of the signal from the transmitter ground station to the receiver ground station, and transmitting the signal from the processing module to the transmitter ground station for transmission to the first asset of the determined sequence of the plurality of assets, wherein the assets of the communications constellation comprise satellites configured in a Low Earth Orbit, LEO, and/or high altitude platforms, HAPs, wherein the assets comprise inter-asset links operating in a repeater mode. Also provided are a telecommunications modem performing the signal routing method, an asset for use in the communications constellation, and a network management module.

A method for X2 interface communication is disclosed, comprising: at an X2 gateway for communicating with, and coupled to, a first and a second radio access network (RAN), receiving messages from the first RAN according to a first X2 protocol and mapping the received messages to a second X2 protocol for transmission to the second RAN; maintaining state of one of the first RAN or the second RAN at the X2 gateway; executing executable code received at an interpreter at the X2 gateway as part of the received messages; altering the maintained state based on the executed executable code; and receiving and decoding an initial X2 message from the first RAN; identifying specific strings in the initial X2 message; matching the identified specific strings in a database of stored scripts; and performing a transformation on the initial X2 message, the transformation being retrieved from the database for stored scripts, the stored scripts being transformations.

A radio communication route enables communication from an originating ground station to a destination ground station via one of multiple randomly orbiting satellites with no attitude control. The ground stations and satellites include directional antennas for receiving radio signals from and transmitting radio signals in multiple directions. The satellites store an address of a destination ground station from which an initial information signal is transmitted and antenna information identifying the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received. Plural satellite antennas transmit linking information identifying the satellite to the originating ground station. Data transmissions received at the originating ground station that designate a particular destination are transmitted by the originating ground station using the antenna on which the linking information was received and the satellite retransmits the data transmission using the satellite antenna identified by the stored antenna information.

Examples in this application disclose satellite network communication methods, communications apparatuses, and communications systems. One example method includes determining, by a user device, address information of the user device, where the address information includes a second sub-area identifier and a user device identifier (UDID) of the user device, and the second EID indicates a second sub-area which the user device is currently located in, and the second sub-area is one of a plurality of sub-areas divided from earth surface, and sending, by the user device, the address information to a first satellite.

A distributed network comprises a network fabric of networking nodes interconnected with each other through at least one of a physical link and a wireless link. The networking nodes include a plurality of access points, each access point configured to allow a first device to exchange data with a second device through the network fabric. A network fabric manager is configured to establish a network topology among the networking nodes, maintain a communication channel over the network topology between the first device and the second device, and transfer manager responsibilities from a first networking node to a different networking node while retaining connectivity.

A radio communication route enables communication from an originating ground station to a destination ground station via one of multiple randomly orbiting, rotating satellites with no active attitude control. The ground stations and satellites include directional antennas for receiving radio signals from and transmitting radio signals in multiple directions. The satellites store an address of a destination ground station from which an initial information signal is transmitted and antenna information identifying the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received. Plural satellite antennas transmit linking information identifying the satellite to the originating ground station. Data transmissions received at the originating ground station that designate a particular destination are transmitted by the originating ground station using the antenna on which the linking information was received and the satellite retransmits the data transmission using the satellite antenna identified by the stored antenna information.

A radio communication route enables communication from an originating ground station to a destination ground station via one of multiple randomly orbiting, rotating satellites with no active attitude control. The ground stations and satellites include directional antennas for receiving radio signals from and transmitting radio signals in multiple directions. The satellites store an address of a destination ground station from which an initial information signal is transmitted and antenna information identifying the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received. Plural satellite antennas transmit linking information identifying the satellite to the originating ground station. Data transmissions received at the originating ground station that designate a particular destination are transmitted by the originating ground station using the antenna on which the linking information was received and the satellite retransmits the data transmission using the satellite antenna identified by the stored antenna information.

A surface-based network fabric comprises a plurality of surface nodes interconnected with each other through physical links, and an intermediary network fabric comprises a plurality of intermediary notes configured to communicate with the surface nodes, wherein the intermediary nodes include aircraft. A network fabric manager establishes a network topology among the surface nodes and the intermediary nodes to communicatively connect a first wireless device to a second wireless device, and migrates from a first surface node to a second surface node while retaining connectivity between the first wireless device and the second wireless device.

Radio communications systems use 100 to 200 satellites in random low-earth orbits distributed over a predetermined range of north and south latitudes. The satellites themselves create a radio route between ground stations via radio links between multiple satellites by virtue of onboard global navigation satellite system circuitry for determining the location of the satellite and route creation circuitry for calculating in real time the direction from the satellite's location at a particular instant to a destination ground station. Directional antennas in the satellites transmit routing radio signals to enhance the probability of reception by other satellites. One embodiment facilitates the creation of satellite-to-satellite links by assigning each satellite a unique identifier, storing orbital information defining the locations of all of the orbiting satellites in the system at any particular time, and including in the radio signal the unique identifier associated with the transmitting satellite.

A plurality of networking nodes provides a wireless network fabric that serves at least two devices. Each networking node stores global communication topology information for the wireless network fabric. One of the networking nodes performs global fabric management functions to maintain a communication channel among the at least two devices, and is responsive to a triggering event to identify a next global fabric manager from the other networking nodes. Upon detection of an attack, the global fabric management responsibilities migrate from the networking node to the next global fabric manager while maintaining connectivity between the at least two devices.