Pointing, acquisition and tracking in a networked communications system

A communications node for a networked communications system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) module, operating on the processor, for establishing a separate PAT link with each communications device of at least one pair of communications devices;
• and
• a PAT through link module comprising a first transmitter and a first receiver, the PAT through link module being adapted to establish a separate PAT link through the communications node between the communications devices of the at least one pair of communications devices, wherein the separate PAT link between each at least one pair of communications devices together define another communications link with respect to the separate PAT link through the communications node to each at least one pair of communications devices.

A computer program product for pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT) in a networked communications system, the computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
• computer readable program code configured to establish a first PAT link between a first communications device and a communications node;
• computer readable program code configured to establish a second PAT link between a second communications device and the communications node;
• computer readable program code configured to establish a third PAT link between the first communication device and the second communications device, wherein the third PAT link is established through the communications node, wherein the first PAT link and the second PAT link together define another communications link with respect to the third PAT link between the first communications device and the third communications device.