Throughput Performance Study of Smart Antenna System in WiFi Networks

Abstract

The throughput performance of smart antenna systems (SASs) in WiFi networks is studied in this work. Considering a WiFi network whose access points (APs) support the switched-beam SAS, a beam switching strategy which is compatible with the legacy WiFi protocol is proposed to enhance more concurrent links by allowing APs directionally sensing and accessing the wireless channel. The throughput advantage is verified by the simulation results in random deployment scenarios. More importantly, the proposed beam switching strategy provides extra design factors to adjust or balance the downlink and uplink throughput per WiFi user to meet the requirements of various applications and scenarios.