Wearable communications node with mesh networking capabilities

A wearable communications node, comprising:

• an enclosure;
• a shoulder strap;
• a communications device;
• a plurality of antenna elements that comprise a first antenna element and a second antenna element;
• a battery;
• a control circuit communicatively coupled to the communications device and the battery;
• wherein
• the enclosure comprises a top area and a bottom area positioned opposite the top area;
• the shoulder strap is pivotably attached proximate to the top area and the bottom area;
• the communications device is rigidly affixed within the enclosure;
• the plurality of antenna elements are each conductively coupled to the communications device;
• the first antenna element is rigidly affixed to the enclosure;
• the second antenna element is flexibly affixed the shoulder strap;
• the battery is conductively coupled to the communications device;
• the control circuit is configured to:
• establish, via the communications device, a self-organizing local area network (“LAN”) with a plurality of computing devices that each connects directly, dynamically, and non-hierarchically to the LAN;
• the enclosure is worn on the torso of a user via the shoulder strap;
• the enclosure comprises:
• a top area positioned proximate to a shoulder area of the user;
• a bottom area positioned distal to the shoulder area and opposite the top area;
• the top area comprises:
• a control panel
• communicatively coupled to the control circuit;
• positioned proximate to the top area;
• an overlap element that extends from the top area opposite the bottom area;
• and
• the overlap element is coupled to the shoulder strap in a manner to allow the shoulder strap to orient the overlap element towards the user and thereby visually shield the control panel when the wearable communications node is worn.