The principles of the present invention provides for using directional
antennas to increase signal strength and enhance throughput 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 to 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 the directional antenna to
send program data to and receive program data from wireless devices.
Since the directional antennas use directional beams, the range and
barrier penetration of directional antennas is greater than that of the
omni-directional antenna.