System and method for transmitting information using aircraft as transmission relays

• US 8,509,140 B2
• Filed: 11/21/2006
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Kauffman, Donald C.
• Primary Examiner(s): SAMS, MATTHEW C
• Application Number:
  US11/561,977
• Publication Number:
  US 20080117858A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,457 Days
• Field of Search: 455 411- 413, 455/11.1, 455/98, 455/431, 455/422.1, 370/310, 370/316, 370/338, 370/328, 370/351, 709/238
• US Class Current: 370/316
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18504 Aircraft used as relay or high altitude atmospheric platform
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity

Abstract

A method of processing a message in a relay network comprises determining if a destination node is within range; if the destination node is not in range, identifying one or more network member aircraft within range; selecting one of the one or more network member aircraft within range; authenticating membership of the selected network member aircraft if membership of the selected network member aircraft has not been previously authenticated; and transmitting the message to the selected network member aircraft in order to relay the message to the destination node at least in part via the selected network member aircraft.

Claims

1. A method of processing a message in a relay network, the method comprising:

determining when a destination node is within range of transmission of a sending node;

when the destination is in range, transmitting the message to the destination node after authenticating network membership of the destination node, wherein authenticating network membership of the destination node includes verifying the identity of the destination node based on cryptographic credentials received from the destination node;

when the destination node is not in range, identifying one or more network member aircraft within range of transmission of the sending node, wherein a network member aircraft is an aircraft whose airline has agreed to relay messages from the sending node, the one or more network member aircraft being a subset of aircraft within range that are capable of relaying messages;

selecting one of the one or more network member aircraft within range;

authenticating membership of the selected network member aircraft if membership of the selected network member aircraft has not been previously authenticated, wherein authenticating membership of the selected network member aircraft is based on cryptographic credentials received from the selected network member aircraft, wherein the cryptographic credentials identify the one or more network member aircraft as belonging to the airline that has agreed to relay messages from the sending node; and

transmitting the message to the selected network member aircraft in order to relay the message to the destination node at least in part via the selected network member aircraft.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the message to the selected network member aircraft includes applying information security to the message such that only the destination node is able to perform at least one of decryption of the message, verification of the sending node'"'"'s identity, and validation of the message'"'"'s integrity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting one of the one or more network member aircraft includes selecting one of the one or more network member aircraft based on one or more of navigation data for each of the one or more network member aircraft, the message'"'"'s characteristics and network policies, signal strength for each of the one or more network member aircraft, signal strength trends for each of the one or more network member aircraft, and network congestion status.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the message to the selected network member aircraft includes applying information security to the message such that only the destination node and the selected network member aircraft are able to perform at least one of decryption of the message, verification of the sending node'"'"'s identity, and validation of the message'"'"'s integrity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more network member aircraft within range comprises identifying at least one of:

aircraft whose airline is a member of a contract to relay messages for a fee;

aircraft belonging to the same airline as the sending node; and

an aircraft whose airline is a member of a reciprocal service agreement with the airline of the sending node.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a communication path from the sending node to the destination node prior to transmitting the message to the selected network member aircraft, wherein establishing a communication path comprises:

determining when the destination node is within range of transmission of the selected network member aircraft;

when the destination node is not within range of the selected network member aircraft, identifying one or more network member aircraft within range of the selected network member aircraft;

selecting one of the one or more network member aircraft within range of the selected network member aircraft; and

repeating until a network member aircraft is within range of the destination node.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising authenticating network membership of the destination node.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the message to the selected network member aircraft includes transmitting network statistics.

9. A telecommunication system comprising:

a sending node;

a destination node; and

one or more network member aircraft, wherein a network member aircraft is an aircraft whose airline has agreed to relay messages from the sending node, the one or more network member aircraft being a subset of aircraft within range that are capable of relaying messages;

each of the sending node, the destination node, and the one or more network member aircraft having a communication device configured to relay a message from the sending node to the destination node via the one or more network member aircraft, wherein each communication device comprises;

a database configured to store cryptographically strong credentials and network policies;

a transceiver configured to transmit and receive the message; and

a processing unit configured to authenticate membership in the network based on the stored cryptographically strong credentials and network policies prior to relay of the message, wherein the message is only relayed via the one or more network member aircraft, wherein the cryptographically strong credentials identify the one or more network member aircraft as belonging to the airline that has agreed to relay messages from the sending node.

10. The telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit in the sending node is further configured to apply information security to the message prior to transmitting the message to one of the one or more network member aircraft such that only the destination node is able to perform at least one of decryption of the message, verification of a sending node'"'"'s identity, and validation of the message'"'"'s integrity.

11. The telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit is configured to select one of the one or more network member aircraft within range of the transceiver based on at least one of navigation data for the one or more network member aircraft, the message'"'"'s characteristics and network policies, signal strength for the one or more network member aircraft, signal strength trends for the one or more network member aircraft, and network congestion status.

12. The telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein network membership of the one or more network member aircraft is based on at least one of membership of an airline of the one or more network aircraft in a contract to relay messages for a fee;

the one or more network aircraft belonging to the same airline as the sending node; and

membership of an airline of the one or more network aircraft in a reciprocal service agreement with the airline of the sending node.

13. The telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit in the sending node is configured to wait to transmit the message until a communication path to the destination node via the one or more network member aircraft is established.

14. The telecommunication system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit in the sending node and in the one or more network member aircraft is configured to update a communication path from the sending node to the destination node as position of the one or more network member aircraft changes.

15. The telecommunication system of claim 9, further comprising a network operations center coupled to the destination node and configured to monitor network statistics for the telecommunication system.

16. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-usable medium having computer-readable code embodied therein for configuring a computer processor, the non-transitory computer-usable medium comprising;

first executable computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to select a network member aircraft from a plurality of aircraft, wherein a network member aircraft is an aircraft whose airline has agreed to relay messages from a sending node, the one or more network member aircraft being a subset of aircraft within range that are capable of relaying messages;

second executable computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to authenticate the selected network member aircraft based on cryptographically strong credentials and network policies stored in a database coupled to the computer processor, wherein the cryptographic strong credentials identify the one or more network member aircraft as belonging to the airline that has agreed to relay messages from the sending node; and

third executable computer-readable code configured to cause a computer processor to transmit a message via a transmitter coupled to the computer processor.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the first executable computer-readable code is further configured to cause a computer processor to select a network member aircraft from a plurality of network member aircraft within range of the transmitter based on at least one of navigation data for each of the plurality of network member aircraft, the message'"'"'s characteristics and network policies, signal strength for the plurality of network member aircraft, signal strength trends for the plurality of network member aircraft, and network congestion status.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the third executable computer-readable code is further configured to cause a computer processor to apply information security to the message prior to transmission of the message to the authenticated network member aircraft such that only a destination node is able to perform at least one of decryption of the message, verification of a sending node'"'"'s identity, and validation of the message'"'"'s integrity.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the third executable computer-readable code is further configured to cause a computer processor to wait to transmit the message until a communication path to a destination node is established.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the first executable computer-readable code is further configured to cause a computer processor to select a network member aircraft from the plurality of aircraft based on at least one of membership of the network member aircraft'"'"'s airline in a contract to relay messages for a fee;

aircraft belonging to the same airline as the sending node; and

membership of the network member aircraft'"'"'s airline in a reciprocal service agreement with the airline of the sending node.