System and method for communicating over mesh networks using waveform-enhanced, link-state routing

1. A communications system, comprising:

a plurality of mobile nodes forming a mesh network;

a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the mobile nodes together;

each mobile node comprising a communications device and operative for transmitting data packets wirelessly to other mobile nodes via the wireless communications link from a source mobile node through intermediate neighboring mobile nodes to a destination mobile node using a link state routing protocol and multiple waveforms, wherein each node is operative for predicting 1-hop neighboring connectivity using heuristics based on reception characteristics for a received packet on a base waveform that is chosen from the multiple waveforms, wherein the multiple waveforms have different ranges, and wherein said link state routing protocol is an Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol.

2. The communications system according to claim 1 , wherein each mobile node is operative using multiple link state routing processes operating in parallel at a mobile node for each waveform.

3. The communications system according to claim 2 , wherein each mobile node is operative for transmitting and receiving separate HELLO and topology control messages per waveform.

4. The communications system according to claim 1 , and further comprising a network connectivity model at each mobile node for each waveform.

5. The communications system according to claim 4 , and further comprising a routing table at each mobile node that defines wireless routes for multiple network connectivity models based on routing criteria.

6. The communications system according to claim 5 , wherein said routing criteria comprises one or more of at least a minimum number of hops, minimum end-to-end latency, maximum data throughput, congestion avoidance, minimum power consumption, a minimum bandwidth and dropped packets per route.

7. The communications system according to claim 1 , wherein each mobile node is operative using a single link state routing process for all waveforms by transmitting separate HELLO messages to 1-hop neighbors and flooding one topology control message per waveform.

8. The communications system according to claim 7 , and further comprising a routing table at each node that segregates link state information for each 1-hop neighbor by waveform.

9. The communications system according to claim 1 , wherein said reception characteristics comprise a received signal-to-noise ratio.

10. A communications system, comprising:

a plurality of wireless nodes forming a mesh network;

a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the wireless nodes together;

each wireless node comprising a communications device and operative for transmitting data packets wirelessly to other nodes via the wireless communications link from a source wireless node through intermediate neighboring wireless nodes to a destination wireless node using a link state routing protocol and a base waveform that is chosen from multiple waveforms, wherein the multiple waveforms have different ranges, by predicting 1-hop neighborhood connectivity based on a heuristic regarding packet reception characteristics and waveform performance, and wherein said link state routing protocol is an Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol.

11. A communications system according to claim 10 , wherein a 1-hop neighborhood connectivity is predicted for each non-base waveform.

12. A communications system according to claim 10 , wherein each 1-hop neighborhood for each waveform of a wireless node is distributed via a single topology control message.

13. The communications system according to claim 10 , and further comprising a network connectivity model at each wireless node for each waveform.

14. The communications system according to claim 13 , and further comprising a routing table at each wireless node defined by network connectivity models.

15. A method for communicating, comprising:

forming a mesh network from a plurality of mobile nodes; transmitting a data packet across the mesh network from a source mobile node through intermediate neighboring mobile nodes to a destination mobile node using a link state routing protocol and multiple waveforms; and

predicting 1-hop neighboring connectivity using heuristics based on reception characteristics for a received packet on a base waveform that is chosen from the multiple waveforms, wherein the multiple waveforms have different ranges, and wherein said link state routing protocol is an Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol.

16. The method according to claim 15 , which further comprises using multiple link state routing processes operating in parallel at a mobile node for each waveform.

17. The method according to claim 15 , which further comprises transmitting separate HELLO and topology control messages per waveform.

18. The method according to claim 15 , which further comprises building a network connectivity model at each mobile node.

19. The method according to claim 18 , which further comprises building a routing table at each mobile node that defines wireless routes for multiple network connectivity models based on routing criteria.

20. The method according to claim 15 , which further comprises transmitting separate HELLO messages to 1-hop neighbors and flooding one topology control message per waveform.

21. The method according to claim 15 , which further comprises predicting 1-hop neighborhood connectivity based on heuristics regarding packet reception characteristics and waveform performance.

22. The method according to claim 15 , which further comprises distributing each 1-hop neighborhood for each waveform via a single topology control message.

23. A communications system, comprising:

a plurality of mobile nodes forming a TDMA mesh network;

a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the mobile nodes together;

wherein each mobile node comprises a communications device and is operable to transmit data packets wirelessly to other mobile nodes via the wireless communications link from a source mobile node through intermediate neighboring mobile nodes to a destination mobile node using a link state routing protocol, wherein said link state routing protocol is an Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol, and multiple waveforms, wherein the multiple waveforms have different ranges,

wherein each mobile node is operable to build a model of network connectivity, based on its waveform's range, and is operable to construct a routing table for its waveform's connectivity and to build a single composite routing table from the collection of waveform routing tables,

wherein each mobile node is operable to build a variety of composite routing tables depending upon what routing criteria or combination of criteria are being optimized,

wherein each mobile node is configured to operate using a single link state routine message for all waveforms by transmitting separate HELLO messages to 1-hop neighbors and flooding one topology control message per waveform,

wherein a state table is extensible to segregate link state information for each of the 1-hop neighbors of the mobile node by waveform;

each mobile node's 1-hop neighborhood is distributable for each waveform in a single transmit control message to provide each mobile node the information required to build its network topology model of connectivity for each waveform; and

each node is operable to build its own composite route table from this multi-waveform network topology.

24. The communications system according to claim 23 , wherein each node is operative for predicting 1-hop neighboring connectivity using heuristics based on reception characteristics for a received packet on a base waveform that is chosen from multiple waveforms.

25. The communication system according to claim 24 , wherein said reception characteristics comprise a received signal-to-noise ration.

26. The communications system according to claim 23 , wherein each mobile node is operative using multiple link state routing processes operating in parallel at a mobile node for each waveform.