MEA systems can maintain very high data rates over long distances by hopping over a series of shorter links. Not only does this increase end-to-end throughput, it also uses less total system energy per bit than a direct end-to-end connection (as in a cellular network). Spectral reuse is also increased since each node transmits over short distances with low transmit power, regardless of the total end-to-end communications range. By keeping transmit power low, interference is minimized on both a local and system-wide basis. As a result, spectral reuse density is much higher than is possible in a non-meshed architecture.