Aircraft based wireless communication system

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.