Beaconing and frame structure for directional antenna communications

Abstract

In a wireless communications network containing network devices capable of both directional and omnidirectional communications, a network controller may arrange a series of superframes into groups of multiple consecutive superframes, in which only one superframe in each group contains an omnidirectional beacon, and the remainder of the superframes in the group contain only directional beacons.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a wireless communication network, in particular to directional and omnidirectional communication of a piconet. Background technique [0002] Wireless networks operating at very high frequencies (eg 60GHz) are generally restricted to small areas because transmissions are greatly attenuated by obstacles and even by oxygen in the air. This technology is typically targeted at wireless personal area networks and is often implemented as a piconet, where devices on the same network can interact directly with each other via a central piconet controller without routing every communication communication. In high-density communication environments where multiple piconets can exist simultaneously in a relatively small area (such as a commercial office, university lab, apartment building, etc.), omnidirectional antennas may not be desirable because every device in the piconet May interfere with other devices in the same and / or neighboring...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, not all communication in the network can be effectively handled by directional communication, and the realization of directional communication may also challenge traditional communication protocols

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