Aircraft based wireless communication system

摘要

An aircraft may include an onboard wireless communication network. The network may include an access point disposed on the aircraft and at least one repeater station disposed spaced apart from the access point and capable of wireless communication with the access point or at least one remote sensor configured to wirelessly transmit information for delivery to the access point via a first wireless communication link. The at least one remote sensor may monitor at least one remote component of the aircraft and generating the information based on data indicative of an operational parameter or a status of the at least one remote component.

主权项

1. An aircraft comprising an onboard wireless communication network, the network comprising:
an access point disposed on the aircraft; at least one repeater station disposed spaced apart from the access point and communication configured to wirelessly communicate with the access point; and at least one remote sensor configured to wirelessly transmit information for delivery to the access point via the at least one repeater station over a first wireless communication link in a given order or at a predetermined intervals, the at least one remote sensor monitoring at least one remote component of the aircraft and generating the information based on data indicative of an operational parameter or a status of the at least one remote component, wherein the first wireless communication link comprises a short range communication link from the at least one remote sensor to the access point or the at least one repeater station, and wherein the at least one repeater station is configured to (i) pass the information from the at least one remote sensor to the access point via a second wireless communication link that is different than the first wireless communication link and (ii) translate the information from a communication protocol associated with the first communication link to a different communication protocol prior to transmitting the information from the aircraft to a ground based station or a satellite communication station via the different communication protocol, and wherein the network further comprises a plurality of remote sensors that are grouped based on location in the aircraft to communicate with a closest one of a plurality of repeater stations to report the information associated with each respective one of the remote sensors to the access point via a corresponding one of the plurality of repeater stations.