reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings , wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout . [ 0025 ] fig2 is a schematic diagram illustrating interconnections for dynamic adaptive modulation negotiations between wireless modems , according to the present invention . as illustrated in fig2 a first wireless modem 26 transmits a signal to a second wireless modem 28 , and receives a signal transmitted from the second wireless modem 28 , and the second wireless modem 28 correspondingly transmits a signal to the first wireless modem 26 , and receives a signal transmitted from the first wireless modem 26 . the first wireless modem 26 includes a transmitter 30 that transmits the signal to the second wireless modem 28 , a receiver 32 that receives the signal transmitted from the second wireless modem 28 , and a microprocessor , microcontroller or controller 34 that receives parameters from the receiver 32 related to link quality of the signal , such as snr , bit error rate , etc ., which will be described below . the transmitter 30 includes an output buffer 31 that buffers data to be transmitted just prior to the transmission . similarly , the second wireless modem 28 includes a transmitter 36 that transmits a signal to the first wireless modem 26 , a receiver 38 that receives the signal transmitted from the first wireless modem 26 , and a microprocessor , microcontroller or controller 40 that receives parameters from the receiver 38 related to link quality of the signal , such as snr , bit error rate , and so forth , as described below . the transmitter 36 includes an output buffer 31 that buffers data to be transmitted just prior to the transmission . the transmitter 36 , receiver 38 , and controller 40 of the second wireless modem 28 are the same as the transmitter 30 , receiver 32 , and controller 34 of the first wireless modem 26 . as illustrated in fig2 a signal transmitted from the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 is received by the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 . information about the signal is output by the receiver 38 to the controller 40 and is processed by the controller 40 to control the transmitter 36 and receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 . in the same way , a signal transmitted by the transmitter 36 of the second wireless modem 28 is received by the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 . information about the signal is output by the receiver 32 to the controller 34 and is processed by the controller 34 to control the transmitter 30 and receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 . in this way , a feedback loop is formed between the controller 34 of the first wireless modem 26 and the controller 40 of the second wireless modem 28 . [ 0030 ] fig3 is a block diagram of the transmitters 30 , 36 according to the present invention . as illustrated in fig3 in each respective transmitter 30 , 36 of the wireless modems 26 , 28 of the present invention , a signal from a data source network 42 of any type , such as a lan , the internet , telephony , video , etc ., is received by a forward error correction unit 44 , such as described , for example , in the 1960 article entitled “ polynomial codes over certain finite fields ”, by i . s . reed and g . solomon incorporated by reference herein . the forward error correction unit 44 , under control of the controller 34 , 40 , inserts error correction information into the signal and outputs a corresponding encoded signal . the amount of error correction can be variably controlled by the controller 34 , 40 . for example , the amount of channel capacity typically used for error correction is varied from one to ten percent . the encoded signal output by the forward error correction unit 44 is input to a variable level quadrature amplitude modulation , or qam modulation unit 46 , such as , for example , a bcm3033 available from broadcom corporation . the qam modulation unit 46 , under control of the controller 34 , 40 varies a modulation index of the signal and outputs a modulated signal . the modulated signal output by the qam modulation unit 46 is received by a conventional rf millimeter wave upconverter and transmitter 48 . both the amount of error correction performed by the forward error correction unit 44 and the variation in the modulation index performed by the qam modulation unit 46 is controlled based on feedback fb received , respectively , by the controllers 34 , 40 from the receivers 32 , 38 of the corresponding wireless modems 26 and 28 , as will be described in detail below . the modulated signal received by the upconverter and transmitter 48 of the first wireless modem 26 , for example , is then transmitted through an antenna 50 of the transmitter 30 and received by the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 . in the same way , the modulated signal received by the upconverter and transmitter 48 of the second wireless modem 28 is transmitted through an antenna 50 of the transmitter 36 of the second wireless modem 28 and received by the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 . the controller 34 , 40 outputs a modulation index change command packet requesting the modulation index to be changed to the forward error correction encoder 44 of the respective receiver 32 , 38 , as will be described below . [ 0034 ] fig4 is a block diagram of the receivers 32 , 38 according to the present invention . the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 receives the signal transmitted from the transmitter 36 of the second wireless modem 28 , and the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 receives the signal transmitted from the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 , and each receiver 32 , 38 essentially performs the reverse process described previously with respect to the transmitters 30 , 36 . in particular , as illustrated in fig4 the signal transmitted from the antenna 50 of the corresponding transmitter 30 , 36 is received by a conventional rf millimeter wave down converter 54 of the respective receiver 32 , 38 through a corresponding antenna 52 . the rf millimeter wave down converter 54 down converts the received signal and outputs a corresponding down converted signal to a variable level qam demodulator unit 56 , such as , for example , a bcm 3118 available from broadcom corporation . the qam demodulator unit 56 demodulates the down converted signal received from the rf millimeter wave down converter 54 and outputs a corresponding demodulated signal to a forward error correction decoder 58 , as described by i . s . reed and g . solomon in the 1960 article entitled “ polynomial codes over certain finite fields ”. the forward error correction decoder 58 decodes the demodulated signal received from the qam demodulator unit 56 and outputs a decoded signal to a data destination 60 . the qam demodulator unit 56 also provides parameters related to the link quality of the signal , such as snr , etc ., to the controller 34 . in addition , the forward error correction decoder 58 provides link quality parameters of the signal related to bit error rate ( ber ) to the controller 34 . based upon the value of these link quality related parameters , the controller 40 of the second wireless modem 28 , for example , determines an appropriate modulation index and encoding of the signal . this determined level of modulation and encoding is then included as a modulation index change command packet in the signal transmitted by the transmitter 36 of the second wireless modem 28 to the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 . the controller 34 of the first wireless modem 26 receives the modulation index change command packet from the output of the forward error correction decoder 58 of the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 . as a result , the determined modulation index and encoding is fed back to the controller 34 of the first wireless modem 26 , which then controls the qam modulator 46 of the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 to change the level of modulation and / or encoding in the transmitter 30 , accordingly . in the same way , the controller 34 of the first wireless modem 26 determines an appropriate modulation index and encoding of the signal . this determined level of modulation and encoding is then included as a modulation index change command packet in the signal transmitted by the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 to the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 . the controller 40 of the second wireless modem 28 receives the modulation index change command packet from the output of the forward error correction decoder 58 of the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 . as a result , the determined modulation index and encoding is fed back to the controller 40 of the second wireless modem 28 , which then controls the qam modulator 46 of the transmitter 36 of the second wireless modem 28 the data to change the level of modulation and / or encoding in the transmitter 36 , accordingly . the command packet can also be used to change the demodulation and decoding in the receiver , although such is not necessary as will be understood from the discussion of fig5 . in this way , the wireless modem according to the present invention actively detects snr and ber , and variably increases or decreases the modulation index and / or level of encoding based on the detected snr and ber . for example , depending on whether environmental degradation is a factor , the modulation index can be increased from qpsk , which gives 2 bits per symbol , to 16 qam that gives 4 bits per symbol , 32 qam that gives 5 bits per symbol , or 64 qam that gives 6 bits per symbol , or decreased from any one modulation index to another modulation index . likewise , the percentage of the link used for error correction can be increased as the link degrades and decreased as the link improves . there are discrete steps between the modulation indexes , and therefore the forward encoding of the forward error correction unit 44 is used to enable the transition between the decreases or increases in the modulation index to take place in a more controlled , smooth manner . for example , when the signal is degrading and a switch to a lower modulation index should be considered , rather than making the switch to a lower modulation index , the level of encoding can be increased , for example , from two to three bits of encoding used for error correction . this maintains the modulation index but decreases the bit throughput rate because of the increased encoding while maintaining link availability . when the maximum level of encoding is reached and further improvement in signal quality is necessary , the modulation index can be switched ( lowered ) and the encoding level decreased . the reverse can also be accomplished where the encoding is decreased as the signal quality improves until the minimum encoding is used , at which time the modulation index can be increased , thereby increasing the throughput in a smoother fashion . as a result , the present invention achieves a more robust link having a variable lower throughput during periods of increased environmental degradation , and a variable greater throughput during periods of less environmental degradation . as a result , the present invention provides improved link characteristics between modems by varying the modulation index and / or encoding in response to changes in link quality as a result of environmental degradation or other non - transient man - made interference sources of the link . [ 0041 ] fig5 is a receiver state transition diagram illustrating the negotiation for point - to - point links that occurs on a receiver side of the signal when the modulation index and / or encoding is adjusted , according to the present invention . fig6 is a receiver state transition diagram illustrating the negotiation for point - to - point links that occurs on a transmitter side of the signal , according to the present invention . in the description of the quadrature amplitude modulation negotiation for point - to - point links , according to the present invention , described in reference to fig5 and 6 below , it is assumed for the sake of simplicity that the receiver state transition diagram illustrated in fig5 corresponds to the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 , and the transmitter state transition diagram illustrated in fig6 corresponds to the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 . at the same time , it is understood that the respective transmitters 30 , 36 of the first and second wireless modems 26 and 28 each include the negotiation for point - to - point links illustrated in fig6 and the respective receivers 32 , 38 of the first and second wireless modems 26 and 28 each include the negotiation for point - to - point links illustrated in fig5 . according to the present invention , the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 receives a signal from the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 through the antenna 52 . the qam demodulator unit 56 receives and demodulates the signal and outputs the snr , etc . to the controller 40 , and the forward error correction decoder 58 receives and decodes the demodulated signal and outputs the corresponding bit error rate to the controller 40 to enable the controller 40 to determine whether the modulation index , or qam index , should be increased or decreased . the determination of whether to increase or decrease the qam index is dependent upon and varies according to field tests corresponding to a particular application . for example , typical snr threshold values associated with each qam index for determining upgrade qam index eligibility have been determined to be a minimum snr of 12 . 0 for qpsk , 18 . 0 for 16 qam , 24 . 0 for 32 qam , and 26 . 0 for 64 qam . minimum snr values for 128 qam and 256 qam have been determined to be 27 . 0 and 28 . 0 , respectively . according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention , when the wireless modems 26 and 28 are initially turned on , synchronization (“ sync ”) has not been achieved . packets advertising the ability of each of the wireless modems to support a certain version of a protocol , which is typically automatic for standard link establishment , are transmitted at the lowest modulation index between the wireless modems 26 and 28 . therefore , when initially powered on , the second wireless modem 28 is in a recovery state 62 , as illustrated in fig5 and the state machine of the receiver 38 is not automatically initialized until sync is acquired and the packet is received from the first wireless modem 26 specifying the version of protocol that the first wireless modem 26 supports . in the same way , when initially powered on , the first wireless modem 26 is in the recovery state 62 and the state machine of the receiver 32 is not automatically initialized until sync is acquired and the packet is received from the second wireless modem 28 specifying the version of protocol that the second wireless modem 28 supports . once this information is exchanged , the state machines in the wireless modems 26 and 28 are initialized and the corresponding transmitters 30 , 36 are transmitting using the same qam index . as illustrated in fig5 once the wireless modems 26 and 28 are initialized and have achieved sync , the respective receivers 32 , 38 move from the recovery state 62 to a stable state 64 . when in the stable state 64 , the receivers 32 , 38 continuously sample the line quality of the signal to determine whether to upgrade or downgrade the modulation index and / or encoding . for example , the controller 40 of the second wireless modem 28 receives the snr parametric output by the qam demodulator unit 56 of the receiver 38 in addition to the bit error rate parametric output by the forward error correction decoder 58 of the receiver 38 and , on the basis of the received parameters , determines that the line quality has not decreased as a result of environmental degradation . the controller 40 makes such a determination by comparing the difference in the current snr to a previous snr average , or to a snr threshold , and determining that the link quality is clean , i . e . that there is a + q event . once a + q event is achieved when the receiver 38 is in the stable state 64 , the controller 40 generates corresponding feedback information in the form of a modulation index change command packet specifying an increased qam index to which the receiver 38 intends to move . the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 then moves from the stable state 64 to an upgrade state 66 . while in the upgrade state 66 , the second wireless modem 28 continues to receive and transmit data at the initial qam index so that data transmission is not effected by the transmission of the modulation index change command packet . the controller 40 outputs the modulation index change command packet to the forward error correction encoder 44 of the transmitter 36 of the second wireless modem 28 which then transmits the modulation index change command packet to the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 . the controller 34 of the first wireless modem 26 receives the modulation index change command packet after it is forward error correction decoded by the forward error correction decoder 58 of the first wireless modem 26 . if the modulation index change command packet is received by the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 , the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 stops placing data in the output buffer 31 , and data that remains to be transmitted in the output buffer 31 of the transmitter 30 is transmitted . the first wireless modem 26 then flushes out the output buffer 31 of the transmitter 30 and as soon as the last data element is sent , the controller 34 controls the qam modulator 46 of the first wireless modem 26 to upgrade it &# 39 ; s modulation index to correspond to the increased qam index , and then resumes transmitting data . when data transmission by the first wireless modem 26 is resumed , the resumed data transmission initially includes empty frames for a certain period of time , such as 20 ms , for example . when the modulation index is upgraded by the qam modulator 46 of the first wireless modem 26 , the link between the first wireless modem 26 and the second wireless modem 28 is momentarily lost , resulting in a sync loss event . as soon as the sync loss event occurs , the controller 40 controls the qam demodulator of the receiver 38 to upgrade the modulation index to correspond to the upgraded qam index requested in the modulation index change command packet , and the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 moves to an upgrade wait state 68 . since the first wireless modem 26 is already transmitting empty frames at the upgraded qam index , a sync event occurs . once this sync event occurs , the receiver 38 moves from the upgrade wait state 68 to the stable state 64 and continues sampling the line quality . if , while in the upgrade state 66 , the sync loss event does not occur , i . e ., the modulation index is not upgraded by the qam demodulator 56 of the second wireless modem 28 and therefore the link between the first wireless modem 26 and the second wireless modem 28 is not momentarily lost , after a preferably one second timeout event occurs , and the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 moves from the upgrade state 66 to the stable state 64 and resumes sampling the line quality . during this time , neither the first wireless modem or the second wireless modem 28 stop receiving or transmitting data , and therefore no loss in data transmission has resulted . when the receiver 38 is in the upgrade state 66 , achieves the sync loss event and moves to the upgrade wait state 68 to wait for receipt of the empty frames from the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 , if the receiver 38 does not receive the empty frames while in the upgrade wait state 68 , or the empty frames are received in a degraded condition , a no sync event occurs . in response to the no sync event that occurs while the receiver 38 is in the upgrade wait state 68 , the receiver 38 instructs the controller 40 of the second wireless modem 28 to generate a modulation index change command packet specifying the previous modulation index , and the receiver 38 moves from the upgrade wait state 68 to a downgrade wait state 70 after changing to the previous modulation index . as described above , the controller 40 generates and outputs the modulation index change command packet to the forward error correction encoder 44 of the transmitter 36 of the second wireless modem 28 and the modulation index change command packet is transmitted to the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 . the controller 34 of the first wireless modem 26 receives the modulation index change command packet after it is forward error correction decoded by the forward error correction decoder 58 of the first wireless modem 26 . if the modulation index change command packet is received by the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 , the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 ensures that the output buffer 31 is flushed out , changes it &# 39 ; s modulation index accordingly , and then transmits data including the empty frames as described above . if a sync event occurs after the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 moves to the downgrade wait state 70 , meaning that the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 is now transmitting at the previous modulation index , the receiver 38 moves to the stable state 64 and continues sampling the line quality . if the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 moves from the upgrade wait state 68 to the downgrade wait state 70 as described above , and a sync event does not occur , meaning that the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 is not transmitting at the previous modulation index after preferably one second , a no sync event occurs and the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 moves to the recovery state 62 . in the recovery state 62 , the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 instructs the controller 40 of the second wireless modem 28 to generate a modulation index change command packet specifying the lowest qam index and to immediately change the receiver 38 to the lowest qam index without waiting for a response from the first wireless modem . if a sync event occurs after the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 moves from the downgrade wait state 70 to the recovery state 62 , meaning that the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 is transmitting at the lowest qam index , the receiver 38 moves from the recovery state 62 to the stable state 64 and continues sampling the line quality . on the other hand , if a no sync event occurs after the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 moves from the downgrade wait state 70 to the recovery state 62 , meaning that the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 is not transmitting at the lowest qam index , both the transmitter 36 and the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 are reset or initialized . when the transmitter 36 of the second wireless modem 28 is reset , the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 , which is in the stable state 64 , experiences a sync loss event , since the line goes down momentarily , and therefore immediately goes to the recovery state 62 and the transmitter 30 and receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 are reset , as described above . as a result , the effect of resetting the transmitter 36 and receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 when a no sync event occurs while in the recovery state 62 is that the transmitter 30 and receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 are reset as well , so that both wireless modems 26 , 28 are at the lowest available qam index and attempting to attain sync , similar to when the wireless modems 26 , 28 are powered on , as described above . if , on the other hand , while sampling the line quality in the stable state 62 by comparing the difference in the current snr output by the qam demodulator unit 56 of the receiver 38 to a previous snr average , or to a snr threshold , the controller 40 of the second wireless modem 28 determines that the line quality is degrading as a result of environmental degradation of the link , a − q event occurs . in response to the − q event that occurs while the receiver 38 is in the stable state 64 , the controller 40 generates corresponding feedback information in the form of a modulation index change command packet specifying a decreased qam index to which the receiver 38 intends to move and the receiver 38 moves from the stable state 64 to a downgrade state 72 . the controller 40 outputs the modulation index change command packet to the forward error correction encoder 44 of the transmitter 36 and the modulation index change command packet is transmitted to the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 . the controller 34 of the first wireless modem 26 receives the modulation index change command packet after it is forward error correction decoded by the forward error correction decoder 58 of the first wireless modem 26 . while in the downgrade state 72 , the second wireless modem 28 continues to receive and transmit data at the initial qam index so that data transmission is not effected by the transmission of the modulation index change command packet . in the same way as in the upgrade state 66 described above , when the modulation index change command packet is received by the receiver 32 of the first wireless modem 26 after a − q event occurs while the receiver 38 is in the stable state 64 , the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 stops sending data , flushes out the output buffer 31 of the transmitter 30 , and as soon as the last data element is sent , the controller 34 controls the qam modulator 46 of the first wireless modem 26 to downgrade it &# 39 ; s modulation index to correspond to the decreased qam index , and then resumes transmitting data , beginning with empty frames . when the modulation index is downgraded by the qam modulator 46 of the first wireless modem 26 , the link between the first wireless modem 26 and the second wireless modem 28 is momentarily lost , resulting in a sync loss event . as soon as the sync loss event occurs , the controller 40 controls the qam demodulator of the receiver 38 to downgrade the modulation index of the receiver 38 to correspond to the downgrade qam index requested in the modulation index change command packet , and the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 moves from the downgrade state 72 to the downgrade wait state 70 . since the first wireless modem 26 is already transmitting empty frames at the downgraded qam index , a sync event occurs . once this sync event occurs , the receiver 38 moves from the downgrade wait state 70 to the stable state 64 and continues sampling the line quality . while the receiver 38 is in the downgrade state 72 , if the sync loss event does not occur , i . e ., the modulation index is not upgraded by the qam modulator 46 of the first wireless modem 26 and therefore the link between the first wireless modem 26 and the second wireless modem 28 is not momentarily lost , a timeout event occurs , and the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 moves from the upgrade state 66 to the stable state 64 and resumes sampling the line quality . during this time , neither the first wireless modem or the second wireless modem 28 stop receiving or transmitting data , and therefore no loss in data transmission has resulted . once the sync loss event occurs and the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 moves from the downgrade state 72 to the downgrade wait state 70 , the state transition of the receiver 38 is the same as in the ease when the receiver 38 moves from the upgrade wait state 68 to the downgrade wait state 70 after a no sync event occurs while in the upgrade wait state 68 , described above , and therefore the repeated description will be omitted . finally , while sampling the line quality in the stable state 64 , if the receiver 38 no longer detects the signal , or loses sync , without initiating the loss of sync , such as during a loss of sync resulting from an event outside protocol , a sync loss event occurs . once this sync loss event occurs , the receiver 38 moves directly from the stable state 64 to the recovery state 62 . while such an occurrence would be rare , once the receiver 38 is in the recovery state 62 as a result of an event outside protocol , the receiver 38 commands the controller 40 to reset both the receiver 38 and the transmitter 36 . this action forces the link between the transmitter and the receiver to momentarily go down , which communicates the controller to reconfigure the transmitter and receiver to be at the minimum qam index , as described above . if at recovery state the no sync event is received , the receiver 38 takes the same action as described above ; that is , the receiver 38 and transmitter 36 are reset ( reconfigured ) which in turn resets the remote modem 26 to do the same . this way , in the recovery state both modems constantly try to achieve sync at the lowest qam level . as illustrated in fig6 the state diagram for the transmitter 30 includes a stable state 74 and a recovery state 76 . once initialization of the wireless modems is performed as described above , and the transmitter 30 is therefore in the stable state 74 and continuously transmits data at the particular qam index determined by the protocol during initialization . the transmitter 30 remains at that particular qam index until the above - described feedback information is received from the second wireless modem 28 requesting the first wireless modem 26 to change qam index . upon receipt of the feedback information , the transmitter 30 changes to a qam index corresponding to the feedback information that in turn is related to whether the line quality is determined to be degrading − q , or clean + q , as described above . the transmitter 30 after changing the qam index simply returns to the stable state where is ready to receive feedback information again . when the transmitter 30 of the first wireless modem 26 is reset and configured to the lowest qam index as a result of the receiver 38 of the second wireless modem 28 losing sync , the transmitter 30 moves to the recovery state 76 . once the transmitter 30 receives feedback information requesting some qam index , the transmitter moves to the stable state 74 and transmits data . by using the dynamic adaptive modulation negotiation according to the present invention described above , the present invention enables wireless modems to make use of the increased snr corresponding to the hashed region of the graph of fig1 located between where the snr can be tolerated , line 24 , and the engineered level of the snr , line 20 . as a result , the modems of the present invention are able to successfully maintain a link in periods of environmental degradation , such as during periods of intense rainfall , while allowing the modems to operate with greater throughput during the time of the year when environmental degradation does not occur . in addition , since the wireless modems 26 , 28 continue to transmit and receive data while the modulation negotiation takes place , negotiation of the signal received is performed transparent to the payload , thereby minimizing the impact of the negotiation on data transmitted along the carrier signal . it will be understood that while the embodiment of the present invention is described in association with modems operating at millimeter wave frequencies , the present invention could also apply to modems operating at lower frequencies . while the negotiation for point - to - point links of the present invention are described in terms of negotiating a modulation index , it is understood that the negotiation is not limited to modulation index , but could also involve other features of the transmitted data , such as bandwidth , reed - solomon correction bytes , carrier frequency , convolution code rate , antenna beam focus , and excess bandwidth , etc . in addition , while the modulation negotiation has been described in relation to wireless communications , the modulation negotiation of the present invention could also applied in cable communications , and stratospheric links provided by high altitude aircraft and satellites . although a few preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention , the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents .