Full duplex operation in a wireless network

Abstract

Multiple wireless devices in a network perform full duplex communication in which the transmission path and receiving path are spatially separated to allow simultaneous transmission and receiving. The wireless devices can either be controlled using a centralized, or point, coordination function or a distributed coordination function. A full-duplex wireless device senses the medium during transmission by itself and selectively continues the transmission when a signal is sensed on the medium. A full-duplex wireless device measures signal being transmitted by its transmitter and estimates parameters that can be used to cancel the contribution of the locally transmitted signal to the locally received signal concurrently being received during the transmission. The transmit antenna and the receive antenna of a full-duplex wireless device can be configured to be spatially isolated from each other to minimize interference between the antenna functions.

What is claimed is what is described and illustrated, including: 
     
         1 . A wireless apparatus for performing full duplex operation in a wireless communication network, comprising:
 a first antenna configured to transmit radio frequency (RF) signals over a medium; and   a second antenna configured to receive RF signals from the medium, the second antenna being isolated in space with respect to the first antenna.   
     
     
         2 . The wireless apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the first antenna comprises one or more antenna elements in a first direction; and   the second antenna comprises one or more antenna elements in a second direction opposite to the first direction.   
     
     
         3 . The wireless device of  claim 1  wherein the first and the second antenna are located at a low point of gain in radiative patterns of each other. 
     
     
         4 . A wireless communication device, comprising:
 a medium sensing module that senses the medium for a transmission;   a transmitter module that transmits, when no transmission is sensed on the medium, a first frame of data on the medium, wherein the medium sensing module continues sensing the medium during transmission of the first frame of data;   a receiver module that attempts, when a transmission is sensed while transmitting the first frame of data, to receive a second frame of data;   a transmission control module that controls transmission of the first frame of data selectively based on whether or not the second frame of data was successfully received.   
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 4 , wherein the transmitter module that includes a transmit antenna and wherein the receiver module includes a receive antenna, and wherein the transmit antenna and the receive antenna are spatially isolated from each other. 
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 a module that estimates, a contribution by the transmission of the first frame of data, to a received signal; and   a module that subtracts, from the received signal, the estimated contribution, to receive the second frame of data.   
     
     
         7 . A wireless communication system, comprising:
 an access point that controls access to a transmission medium; and   a plurality of wireless stations configured to communicate over the transmission medium in a full-duplex manner under control by the access point.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein a wireless station from the plurality of wireless station includes a first antenna configured to transmit radio frequency (RF) signals over the transmission medium; and
 a second antenna configured to receive RF signals from the medium, the second antenna being isolated in space with respect to the first antenna to reduce interference of transmitted RF signals with the received RF signals.