Air vehicle
Outbound from changing networks
The onboard Atlas node keeps authenticated relay sessions warm while testing whether the current carrier mapping permits a direct route.
Use case · Autonomous systems
Keep aircraft, vehicles, and command endpoints reachable.
Cellular can add valuable coverage to a drone or uncrewed-vehicle link set, but CGNAT makes its address unsuitable as a fixed endpoint. Traversal turns it into a usable direct, relayed, or concurrent path.
Mission topology
Cellular is one path family—not the whole architecture.
A single 4G or 5G modem may provide a direct path plus primary and secondary relay paths. Those routes can coexist with dedicated radio, mesh, satellite, or wired ground infrastructure.
Ground station
One stable tunnel interface
Operator applications use the Atlas address while the scheduler decides whether each packet travels directly, through relays, or across another bearer.
Command site
Reach beyond the field LAN
An office or operations centre can join the same protected topology without requiring every remote endpoint to expose a public address.
Operational sequence
Movement changes paths, not application sessions.
Carrier handovers and address changes become link events inside Atlas instead of full tunnel teardown events.
Classify every available network and establish relay reachability.
Netcheck measures NAT behaviour from the actual Atlas data socket. Relay sessions create a known-good path before movement begins.
Measure direct, relayed, and non-cellular paths continuously.
RTT, jitter, loss, and capacity feed the selected scheduling strategy. Endpoint roaming adopts authenticated address changes without trusting unauthenticated probes.
Apply the traffic policy the mission actually needs.
Best-path, weighted distribution, strict priority, or selected duplication can treat command traffic differently from video, telemetry, or bulk transfer.
Design questions
What we define during a pilot.
The pilot should validate the mission’s real carriers, geography, bearers, traffic classes, and degraded modes—not only a laboratory speed test.
| Question | Why it matters | Example decision |
|---|---|---|
| Which traffic must survive first? | Not every packet needs the same redundancy cost. | Duplicate command traffic; schedule video on best delivery time. |
| Which links share physical failure? | Several logical paths over one modem still share its radio and carrier. | Add another carrier, MANET radio, or satellite bearer. |
| Where may relays operate? | Latency, sovereignty, and procurement constraints can restrict placement. | Public EU relay plus organization-only on-premises relay. |
| What happens when every wide-area link fails? | Traversal cannot create physical connectivity. | Define local autonomy and reconnection behaviour. |
Safety boundary. Nexus Atlas can improve path diversity and reachability, but it should not be represented as the sole safety mechanism for flight termination, collision avoidance, or other certified safety functions.