1. A communications system, comprising: a plurality of mobile nodes forming a mesh network; a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the mobile nodes together; each mobile node comprising a communications device and operative for transmitting data packets wirelessly to other mobile nodes via the wireless communications link from a source mobile node through intermediate neighboring mobile nodes to a destination mobile node using a link state routing protocol and multiple waveforms, wherein each node is operative for predicting 1-hop neighboring connectivity using heuristics based on reception characteristics for a received packet on a base waveform that is chosen from the multiple waveforms wherein at least one of the multiple waveforms has a different range, transmission distance or reach that is greater than the other multiple waveforms resulting in different connectivity.