Methods and apparatus for indicating a location

1. A method for providing location information to a mobile receiver from a plurality of aerial vehicles, the method comprising:

receiving, at each aerial vehicle of the plurality of aerial vehicles, a source location from at least three location sources, wherein the at least three location sources include at least one remote aerial vehicle;

calculating, at each aerial vehicle, a predicted location of the aerial vehicle of the plurality of aerial vehicles at a future time based at least on a current time at the aerial vehicle, the received source locations, and ephemeris data representing motion of each remote aerial vehicle; and

transmitting, at each aerial vehicle, the predicted location at the future time, wherein the transmitted locations from the aerial vehicles are used by a mobile receiver to determine a current location of the mobile receiver.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising, receiving, at a first aerial vehicle of the plurality of aerial vehicles, a source location from at least three aerial vehicles other than the first aerial vehicle.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the predicted location from a first aerial vehicle of the plurality of aerial vehicles to a remote aerial vehicle that is not included in the plurality of aerial vehicles.

4. A method in accordance with claim 3 , wherein transmitting the predicted location to a remote aerial vehicle comprises transmitting the predicted location to an aerial vehicle that does not have a clear line of sight to the location sources from which the first aerial vehicle received source locations.

5. A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein each aerial vehicle includes an atomic clock, the method further comprising synchronizing the atomic clocks of each aerial vehicle with a reference time source.

6. A positioning system comprising:

a first set of one or more aerial vehicles including at least one aerial vehicle configured to transmit a location of the aerial vehicle; and

a second set of a plurality of aerial vehicles, each of the plurality of aerial vehicles in the second set being configured to:

receive a location from at least three location sources, wherein the at least three location sources each include an aerial vehicle of the first set of aerial vehicles;

calculate a predicted location of the aerial vehicle at a future time based at least on the received locations; and

transmit the predicted location to one or more receivers at the future time.

7. A positioning system in accordance with claim 6 , wherein each aerial vehicle of the second set of aerial vehicles is configured to receive a location from at least three aerial vehicles of the first set of aerial vehicles.

8. A positioning system in accordance with claim 6 , further comprising at least one ground station configured to transmit a predetermined location of the ground station, wherein each aerial vehicle of the second set of aerial vehicles is further configured to receive a location from the ground station.

9. A positioning system in accordance with claim 6 , further comprising a mobile receiver configured to:

receive the transmitted locations from the second set of aerial vehicles; and

determine a location of the mobile receiver based at least in part on the received locations.