System and method for antenna training of beamforming vectors having reuse of directional information

A method of reusing existing directional information to configure antennas in a wireless network, the method comprising:

• retrieving existing directional information, the existing directional information having been established in a previous antenna training session with a transmitter;
• performing a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation procedure comprising:
• receiving a SNR estimation probe message from the transmitter via a directional antenna tuned with the existing directional information, and
• estimating a SNR value associated with the received SNR estimation probe message;
• and
• receiving data from the transmitter via the directional antenna tuned with the existing directional information if it is determined that the estimated SNR value is equal to or greater than a threshold SNR value.

A data communication station in a wireless network comprising:

• a memory configured to store existing directional information, the existing directional information having been established in a previous training session with a receiver;
• a processor in data communication with the memory and configured to:
• retrieve the existing directional information, and
• determine whether an estimated SNR value associated with a SNR estimation probe message transmitted to a receiver equal to or greater than a threshold SNR value;
• and
• a directional antenna in data communication with the processor and configured to transmit data to the receiver after having been trained with the existing directional information if it is determined that the estimated SNR value is equal to or greater than the threshold SNR value.

A data communication station in a wireless network comprising:

• a memory configured to store existing directional information, the existing directional information having been established in a previous training session with a transmitter;
• a processor in data communication with the memory and configured to:
• retrieve the existing directional information, estimate a SNR value associated with a received SNR estimation signal from the transmitter, and
• determine whether the estimated SNR value is equal to or greater than a threshold SNR value;
• and
• a directional antenna in data communication with the processor and configured to receive data packets from the transmitter after having been trained with the existing directional information if it is determined that the estimated SNR value is equal to or greater than the threshold SNR value.