US Patent 11563488 Hybrid communications based upon aerial networks

Disclosed herein are embodiments of an aerial network system including a first transceiver configured to transmit and receive free space optical (FSO) signals and a second transceiver configured to transmit and receive radio frequency (RF) signals. A processor provides modulated data signals to the first and second transceivers for transmission and receives demodulated signals from the first and second transceiver. The processor is configured for policy-based multipath admission of requests for access to an IP-routing enabled overlay network. The processor includes an inverse mission planning system configured for predictive traffic load balancing of transmitted FSO signals and RF signals. The inverse mission planning system includes radio behavior models and aerial platform models, and is configured for geographic simulation and optimization of mission planning data based upon user-inputted mission-specific data. Forward error correction (FEC) coding of transmitted communications via packet erasure coding provides resiliency with a low bit error rate.