COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND METHODS WITH STOCHASTICALLY DISTRIBUTED ORBITING SATELLITES

摘要

A radio communication system for transmitting data to a ground station includes plural stochastically distributed orbiting satellites with plural antennas traversing a portion of the earth's surface divided into zones. The ground station has a unique address identifying itself and the zone where it is located. A local area network associated with the ground node includes at least one satellite that stores the identity of a satellite antenna paired with a ground station antenna to form a radio link for transmitting data onboard the satellite to the ground station. Other satellites in the local area network store the ground node address and the identity of an antenna paired with an antenna in another satellite that also has stored the ground node address. A wide area network includes at least one satellite, each of which stores the identity of an antenna paired with an antenna of another satellite that has stored the ground node zone to form at least one inter-satellite radio link. If a satellite with data onboard is not in a local area network associated with the destination ground node or a wide area network, the satellite transmits the data toward the ground node zone.