US Patent 11949492 Data stream object for device networking

A method for aerial vehicle component networking comprises, for a network-accessible avionics component onboard an aerial vehicle, instantiating a data stream object that specifies a network socket for communication between the network-accessible avionics component and a plurality of other network-accessible aerial vehicle components. A set of outgoing data is defined for transmission over the network socket to one or more onboard unicast aerial vehicle component subscribers of the plurality of other network-accessible aerial vehicle components and two or more onboard or offboard multicast aerial vehicle component subscribers of the plurality of other network-accessible aerial vehicle components. The outgoing data is published to the one or more onboard unicast aerial vehicle component subscribers over the network socket via unicast communication. The outgoing data is published to the two or more onboard or offboard multicast aerial vehicle component subscribers over the network socket via multicast communication.