Active antenna steering for network security

In a network having a network footprint including one or more trusted areas and one or more untrusted areas, the network further including one or more user equipment devices positioned in said trusted areas and one or more user equipment devices in the untrusted areas, an access point for communicating with the user equipment devices within the network footprint, the access point including an antenna system, said antenna system comprising:

• an active multi-mode antenna, the active multi-mode antenna being configurable in a plurality of possible antenna modes, wherein the active multi-mode antenna exhibits a distinct radiation pattern when configured in each of said plurality of possible antenna modes;
• the active multi-mode antenna coupled to a controller and memory, said memory including signal quality data associated with a link quality metric relating link quality between each of the one or more user equipment devices in the trusted areas and the active multi-mode antenna in each of the plurality of possible modes thereof;
• wherein, during a first time period, the controller is configured to control the active multi-mode antenna to operate in a first mode of the plurality of possible antenna modes for communicating signals with the one or more user equipment devices in the trusted areas, the first mode being determined based on the signal quality data;
• wherein, during a second time period, the controller is configured to control the active multi-mode antenna to operate in a second mode of the plurality of possible antenna modes to produce an interfering signal, and further to direct a gain of the interfering signal in a direction toward the one or more user equipment devices in the untrusted areas of the network footprint;
• wherein the active multi-mode antenna when operating in the second mode is configured to generate a noise associated with the one or more user equipment devices in the untrusted areas such that communication between that the one or more user equipment devices in the untrusted areas and the network is reduced.