Abstract: A highly fault tolerant method of radio communication of information in the form of a message packet employs a distributed network of transmitter/receivers `transceivers` each having a unique identification ("ID") number. An initiating transceiver creates a message packet having the ID of a transceiver intended to receive the message packet. It then broadcasts the message packet to transceivers within its transmission range. Each transceiver which receives the message packet checks to see if there are errors and sends an acknowledgement if no errors. The transceivers determine valid message packets by determining if the message has not expired, if it has not been seen before and there were no errors in the received message packet. The transceiver also determines if the transceiver ID in the message packet match its own transceiver ID, and if it does, is the message has been successfully transmitted to its intended transceiver.

Abstract: Directional antennae on aircraft and on cellular telephone base stations, having a polarity opposite that of potentially interfering ground system signals, minimize signal strength of air cellular signals received by ground cellular stations. Aircraft directional antennae comprise patch antennae or vertical arrays of loop elements or vertical arrays of virtual loop elements. Additionally, air cellular signals are switched to channels not currently in use by ground cellular systems.

Abstract: A digital simulcast transmission is automatically aligned, at a simulcast receiver (22) that simultaneously receives a plurality of RF signals from a plurality of transmitters, each of the RF signals being modulated to convey identical digitally encoded information. An equalizer (24) adaptively equalizes the plurality of received RF signals to substantially correct for a misalignment in time between the received signals. The misalignment in time is due in part to a non-simultaneous transmission of the identical digitally encoded information from the plurality of transmitters. Equalizer embodiments include a Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) and an equalizer based on a Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimator (MLSE). Embodiments of the DFE are an Order Recursive Lattice-DFE and a Fast Kalman DFE.