Using directional antennas to mitigate the effects of interference in wireless networks

摘要

The principles of the present invention provides for using directional antennas to mitigate the effects of interference in a wireless network. An antenna device includes an omni-directional antenna and at least one directional antenna. Each directional antenna (e.g., an electronically steered phased array antenna) can have one or more feeds for directing beams at wireless devices. The antenna device utilizes the omni-directional antenna to send and receive control data that facilitates locating wireless devices and determining when a wireless device is to send program data to or receive program data from the antenna device. The antenna device utilizes directional antennas to send program data to and receive program data from wireless devices. Since directional antennas use directional beams, directional antennas can be tuned channels with reduced interference based on the location of wireless devices relative to the antenna device.