It seems like a system that mirrors Amateur radio's packet networks might be beneficial in transmitting airliner's positional information without the need for satellites. Over most of the globe an airliner in flight is at least line of sight with another airliner that can act as a digital repeater of sorts, transmitting positional data to another airliner, or to a ground station if nearby.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_radio
Although its not the fastest way to go about this task, it is dependable. If installed in every airliner the system would be nearly flawless, as each plane's position would be present on several other aircraft's memories, local to it.
There is no logical reason why this task must be relegated to the mainframe/dumb terminal way of thinking.