Ad-hoc secure communication networking based on formation flight technology
First Claim
1. A method of communicating with a fleet of vehicles, the method comprising:
- designating a single vehicle of a fleet to be a fleet router, the fleet including a plurality of vehicles;
routing long range communication through the fleet router, where all long range communication between individual vehicles within the fleet and any communication point outside of the fleet are routed through the fleet router, wherein none of the individual vehicles within the fleet except for the fleet router communicate directly with any communication point outside of the fleet, wherein the long range communication between the fleet router and any communication point outside of the fleet is detectable by one or more remotely located detecting systems; and
forming an ad-hoc communication network with the plurality of vehicles of the fleet to communicate communication signals between the plurality of vehicles in the fleet, wherein each vehicle in the fleet uses detected surveillance information to determine the network topology and each vehicle routes messages based on the discovered network topology, wherein the communication signals between the plurality of vehicles in the fleet are not detectable by the one or more remotely located detecting systems, and wherein the detected surveillance information is detected by at least one vehicle within the plurality of vehicles and includes at least one of position, ID, speed, heading, and intended trajectory information for the plurality of vehicles.
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Abstract
An ad-hoc secure communication network and methods of communicating with a fleet of vehicles using the ad-hoc communication network is provided. The method includes communicating relatively long range communication signals to a fleet router. The fleet router is a select one of the vehicles in the fleet. The method further includes forming an ad-hoc communication network between the fleet vehicles to communicate relatively short range communication signals between the vehicles in the fleet. Wherein each vehicle in the fleet uses surveillance information to determine the network topology and each vehicle routes messages based on the discovered network topology.
176 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of communicating with a fleet of vehicles, the method comprising:
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designating a single vehicle of a fleet to be a fleet router, the fleet including a plurality of vehicles; routing long range communication through the fleet router, where all long range communication between individual vehicles within the fleet and any communication point outside of the fleet are routed through the fleet router, wherein none of the individual vehicles within the fleet except for the fleet router communicate directly with any communication point outside of the fleet, wherein the long range communication between the fleet router and any communication point outside of the fleet is detectable by one or more remotely located detecting systems; and forming an ad-hoc communication network with the plurality of vehicles of the fleet to communicate communication signals between the plurality of vehicles in the fleet, wherein each vehicle in the fleet uses detected surveillance information to determine the network topology and each vehicle routes messages based on the discovered network topology, wherein the communication signals between the plurality of vehicles in the fleet are not detectable by the one or more remotely located detecting systems, and wherein the detected surveillance information is detected by at least one vehicle within the plurality of vehicles and includes at least one of position, ID, speed, heading, and intended trajectory information for the plurality of vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of communicating messages for a fleet of vehicles, the method comprising:
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designating a single vehicle of a fleet to be a fleet router, the fleet including a plurality of vehicles; determining a topology of an ad-hoc communication network formed between the plurality of vehicles in the fleet based on surveillance information detected by at least one vehicle within the plurality of vehicles and including at least one of position, ID, speed, heading, and intended trajectory information for the plurality of vehicles; determining message routing between the plurality of vehicles and the fleet router based on the topology; and transmitting communication messages between the plurality of vehicles using the determined message routing, wherein communication messages transmitted between the plurality of vehicles in the fleet are not detectable by one or more remotely located detecting systems; and transmitting all communication messages originating from any vehicle of the plurality of vehicles for transmission to any communication point outside the fleet of vehicles through the fleet router, wherein none of the plurality of vehicles within the fleet except for the fleet router transmit any communication messages directly to any communication point outside of the fleet of vehicles, wherein the communication messages transmitted between the fleet router and any communication points outside of the fleet of vehicles is detectable by one or more remotely located detecting systems. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An ad-hoc secure vehicle communication network, the communication network comprising:
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a plurality of vehicles, each vehicle including surveillance equipment to generate at least position and ID information regarding the respective vehicle, each vehicle further including a surveillance transmitter configured to transmit the at least position and ID information; wherein a single vehicle of the plurality of vehicles is designated as a fleet router, wherein the fleet router is configured to communicate using a first communication system and a second communication system, the fleet router including a receiver configured to receive the at least position and ID information transmitted by the vehicles in the plurality of vehicles, the fleet router further comprising a communication management function (CMF) configured to determine an ad-hoc network topology based on the received position and ID information and determine communication routes based on the determined topology, the fleet router further configured to implement the second communication system when communicating based on the determined topology; and wherein all communications between the plurality of vehicles and at least one communication point outside the plurality of vehicles is routed through the fleet router, wherein communications between the plurality of vehicles is by the first communication system and communications between the fleet router and the at least one communication point outside the plurality of vehicles is by the second communication system, wherein none of the plurality of vehicles except for the fleet router communicate directly with any communication point outside of the plurality of vehicles; wherein communication between the fleet router and the at least one communication point outside the plurality of vehicles is detectable by one or more remotely located detecting systems; and wherein communication between the plurality of vehicles is not detectable by the one or more remotely located detecting systems. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification