Multi-Antenna Techniques for Wireless Mesh Networks in an Outdoor Environment

This paper investigates the behavior of a wireless mesh network in which the nodes are equipped with a multiple antenna system. The objective of this study is the comparison of the low-cost switched-beam antennas with the more expensive fully adaptive smart antennas. The analysis and the simulations are performed together with some considerations regarding the advantages and the practical possibilities of employing multi-antenna systems on mesh routers. The analytical and the numerical results are derived employing realistic antenna radiation patterns and a proper spatial channel model.