An adaptive antenna signal identification process to provide increased
interference rejection in a wireless data network such as a wireless
Local Area Network (LAN). The adaptive antenna is located at an access
point and can be steered to various angle of arrival orientations with
respect to received signals. Associated radio receiving equipment
utilizes two distinct signal detection modes. In a first mode, the
directional antenna array is set to have an omni-directional gain
pattern. In this mode, certain identification parameters of an initial
portion of a received signal are detected, such as a source identifier.
If the received signal has not been previously detected, then the antenna
array is scanned determine a direction setting that provides a best
received signal metric. Once the best directional setting for the
received signal, that setting is saved for future use in receiving the
same signal. If the received signal has been previously detected, the
system instead will steer the directional antenna to the last known best
direction for reception for the particular detected signal. As further
portions of the same signal are received, such as payload portions of a
data frame, the directional antenna array can continue to scan potential
new best angles. When the invention is deployed in a relay function,
where messages received from a first node are to be forwarded to a second
node, the recorded direction of its best reception is retrieved for the
second node and used when the antenna array is used to transmit the
signal to the second node. Storage of the best antenna angle for
propagation to neighbor nodes can be handled by control functions in a
manner that is analogous to other router lookup tables, such as being
contained in a lookup table that stores IP addresses.