Performance evaluation for IEEE 802.11G hot spot coverage using sectorised antennas

Wireless local area networks (WLANs) have a tremendous success in today short range communication. The user density is permanently increasing and the planning focus shifts from pure coverage issues towards capacity improvements. As IEEE 802.11 was originally planned for ragged coverage, cell planning issues have been neglected. Especially for hot spots they now become important. In this paper, we show the supply of an exhibition hall with IEEE 802.11 service using sectorised antennas. A capacity increase by a factor 2 compared to omnidirectional antennas shows that this proven technology also works in the decentralised area. Special problems of the IEEE 802.11 system are investigated by a performance evaluation using stochastical simulations.