Beacon reception using directional antennas

摘要

A system for broadcasting and receiving a beacon signal includes a beacon transmitter (310, 400) and a beacon receiver (320, 500). The beacon transmitter includes a beacon signal generator (410) to generate a beacon signal, and a directional antenna system (420) to selectively transmit the beacon signal in a corresponding one of M different directions during each one of M beacon slots (342) during a beacon period (340) in each of a plurality of superframes (330). The beacon receiver includes a beacon signal detector (510) to receive and detect the beacon signal, and a directional antenna system (520) having an antenna pattern including a main lobe and being adapted to selectively steer the main lobe in a selected one of N different directions during each of a plurality of receiver frames each having a time period substantially equal to a time period of one of the superframes.