A New Switched Beam Smart Antenna Model for Extending Inet Omnet++ Framework Vincenzo Inzillo 1 , Floriano De Rango 1 and Alfonso Ariza Quintana 2 1 Dimes, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci, Rende (CS), Italy 2 University of Malaga, Av. De Cervantes, Malaga, Spain Keywords: Smart Antenna Systems, Switched Beam, Phased Array, Omnet++, Inet, IEEE 802.11. Abstract: Smart Antenna Systems (SAS) are providing a strong increasing impact in digital wireless communication systems. Due to their great advantages regarding nodes power saving and coverage enhancing, SAS are largely employed on pervasive network environments such as MANET. Because almost the whole of exist- ing network simulators use omnidirectional antennas on nodes, we propose a new version of Inet framework of Omnet++ that extends its operation also for network scenarios in which nodes are equipped with direc- tional antennas. Furthermore, we created a new directional antenna module that simulates the behaviour of a Phased Array System and a very simple algorithm for power management in channel. The new proposed model presents some modifications to key-modules that are involved in a normal wireless communication scenario, in order to support asymmetrical communications between nodes. 1 INTRODUCTION Since the early days of wireless communications, focusing on physical layer of a network node there are two main kinds of antenna that can be used for equipping it in order to produce a certain behaviour on transmission/reception: omnidirectional antennas, which radiates and receives equally in all directions, and directional antennas which are capable to radiate in a fixed particular angular direction. Omnidirec- tional strategies directly and adversely impact spec- tral efficiency, limiting frequency reuse (Chu, 1948). These limitations force system designers and net- work planners to devise increasingly sophisticated and costly remedies. In recent years, the limitations of broadcast antenna technology on the quality, ca- pacity, and coverage of wireless systems have prompted an evolution in the fundamental design and role of the antenna in a wireless system. In low power design systems, such as Manet or Sensor Networks, using an omnidirectional approach it is a difficult and inconvenient way to produce efficient systems, because the high amount of power con- sumption of network nodes (Khuzhali, 2014), that could be translated in overcome phenomena such as low battery lifetime and interference generations. A single antenna can also be constructed to have cer- tain fixed preferential transmission and reception directions in order to maximize its energy consump- tion in a particular direction saving power in other directions (Nasipuri-Sappidi, 2002). Using direc- tional antenna there could be several advantages, in terms of reduction of reception packet delay or per- formance enhancing of a routing protocol (Dimitrou- Kalis, 2004). In conventional wireless communica- tions, a single antenna is used at the source, and an- other single antenna is used at the destination. This is called SISO (Single Input, Single Output) (Sen- gar-Rani-Singhal-Sharma-Verma-Singh, 2014). In later years, it has developed the concept of Smart Antenna Systems intended as a particular System that is capable to be “intelligent” basing on physical and logical implementation features. This kind of systems can increase the coverage area and the ca- pacity of a wireless communication system. The coverage area, is simply the area in which communi- cation between a mobile and the base station is pos- sible. The capacity is a measure of the number of users a system can support in a given area. The em- ployment of SAS in wireless mobile environments allows a more efficient medium utilization with re- spect to the classical Omnidirectional approach. For example, Spatial Division Multiple Access (SDMA) seeks to increase the capacity of a system. General- ly, Smart Antennas fall into three major categories: SIMO (Single Input, Multiple Output), MISO (Mul- tiple Input, Single Output), and MIMO (Multiple Inzillo, V., Rango, F. and Quintana, A. A New Switched Beam Smart Antenna Model for Extending Inet Omnet++ Framework. DOI: 10.5220/0006439602630271 In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications (SIMULTECH 2017), pages 263-271 ISBN: 978-989-758-265-3 Copyright © 2017 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved 263