Location-aware caching in an aerial network

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining that an aerial vehicle is located in a border area corresponding to a first geographic area in an aerial-vehicle network comprising a plurality of moveable aerial vehicles, wherein the aerial-vehicle network comprises a plurality of geographic areas that includes the first geographic area;

based at least in part on the determination that the aerial vehicle is located in the border area, determining that a location-aware cache of an aerial vehicle should be updated with first data associated with the first geographic area; and

in response to determining that the location-aware cache should be updated:

sending a location-aware cache-update request;

receiving, as a response to the location-aware cache-update request, first data that corresponds to the first geographic area; and

storing the first data that corresponds to the first geographic area in a location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that a location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle should be updated with first data associated with the first geographic area comprises:

determining that the aerial vehicle has moved from a first location that is outside of the border area to a location within the border area.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a direction in which the aerial vehicle is traveling; and

determining that the direction in which the aerial vehicle is travelling is towards the first geographic area, wherein the determination that the location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle should be updated with the first data is further based on the determination that the direction in which the aerial vehicle is travelling is towards the first geographic area.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a direction and speed of travel for the aerial vehicle; and

determining that the aerial vehicle is travelling towards the first geographic area with at least a threshold speed, wherein the determination that the location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle should be updated with the first data is further based on the determination that the aerial vehicle is travelling towards the first geographic area with at least the threshold speed.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the location-aware cache-update request comprises sending a location-aware cache-update request to one or more other aerial vehicles in the aerial-vehicle network, wherein the first data that corresponds to the first geographic area is received from one or more of the other aerial vehicles.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the location-aware cache-update request comprises:

sending a location-aware cache-update request to a ground-based station that is associated with the first geographic area, wherein the first data that corresponds to the first geographic area is received from the ground-based station.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the border area comprises a border between the first geographic area and at least a second geographic area, the method further comprising;

based at least in part on the determination that the aerial vehicle is located in the border area, removing second data that corresponds to the second geographic area from the location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location-aware cache-update request further comprises an indication of a rate at which the first data should be sent to the aerial vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a network traffic level; and

determining the rate at which the first data should be sent to the aerial vehicle based on the network traffic level.

10. A system comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by at least one processor to:

determine that an aerial vehicle is located in a border area corresponding to a first geographic area in an aerial-vehicle network comprising a plurality of moveable aerial vehicles, wherein the aerial-vehicle network comprises a plurality of geographic areas that includes the first geographic area;

based at least in part on the determination that the aerial vehicle is located in the border area, determine that a location-aware cache of an aerial vehicle should be updated with first data associated with the first geographic area; and

in response to the determination that the location-aware cache should be updated:

send a location-aware cache-update request;

receive, as a response to the location-aware cache-update request, first data that corresponds to the first geographic area; and

store the first data that corresponds to the first geographic area in a location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the location-aware cache-update request message is sent to one or more other aerial vehicles in the aerial-vehicle network, and wherein the first data that corresponds to the first geographic area is received from one or more of the other aerial vehicles.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the location-aware cache-update request message is sent to a ground-based station that is associated with the first geographic area, wherein the first data that corresponds to the first geographic area is received from the ground-based station.

13. The system of claim 10 , further comprising program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by at least one processor to:

in further response to determining that the location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle should be updated with first data associated with the first geographic area, remove the first data that corresponds to at least one other geographic area from the location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining that an aerial vehicle is located in a border area corresponding to a first geographic area in an aerial-vehicle network comprising a plurality of moveable aerial vehicles, wherein the aerial-vehicle network comprises a plurality of geographic areas that includes the first geographic area;

based at least in part on the determination that the aerial vehicle is located in the border area, determining that a location-aware cache of an aerial vehicle should be updated with first data associated with the first geographic area; and

in response to determining that the location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle should be updated:

sending the aerial vehicle a location-aware cache-update message, wherein the location-aware cache-update message indicates that the aerial vehicle should update a locate-aware cache of the aerial vehicle with first data corresponding to the first geographic area; and

initiating a transmission to the aerial vehicle of the first data corresponding to the first geographic area.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein determining that the location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle should be updated comprises:

determining that the aerial vehicle has moved from a location that is outside of the border area to a location within the border area.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving, in response to the location-aware cache-update message, a location-aware cache-update request;

wherein the transmission of the first data corresponding to the first geographic area is conditioned upon receipt of the location-aware cache-update request.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

in further response to determining that the aerial vehicle is at the location associated with the first geographic area, querying a first data database to retrieve the first data associated with the first geographic area, wherein the first data database comprises first data associated with a plurality of the geographic areas in the aerial-vehicle network.

18. The method of claim 14 , further comprising sending a location-aware cache-update message that indicates to the aerial vehicle to remove the first data that corresponds to the first geographic area from the location-aware cache of the aerial vehicle.