Abstract: The use of a smart antenna in extending the coverage range and capacity of a wireless local area network(WLAN) dictates the employment of novel multiple access protocols, with which the access point(AP) provides access to remote users. In this paper, a novel and efficient multiple access protocol for the WLAN with a smart antenna has been proposed. Employing the hybrid superframe structure of the contention-free period and contention period, the protocol distinguishes between the users residing in or out of the broadcasting coverage range of the AP. The performance of the protocol is compared with other different three protocols and the effectiveness and robustness of the novel protocol have been proved by simulation. Results show that the protocol can extend the coverage range of the WLAN effectively and support the data exchange between the AP and the stations residing out of its broadcast range.

Key words: WLAN, multiple access protocol, smart antenna