Patent ID: 8014744

Claim:
A wireless network device, comprising: a plurality of antennas for transmitting and receiving data packets; and an antenna diversity module to measure at least one of an average signal-to-noise ratio and a packet error rate associated with the data packets; and select a given antenna of the plurality of antennas based on at least one of the average signal-to-noise ratio and the packet error rate, wherein the antenna diversity module measures a first average signal-to-noise ratio or a first packet error rate while utilizing a first antenna of the plurality of antennas, measures a second average signal-to-noise ratio or a second packet error rate while utilizing a second antenna of the plurality of antennas, and selects the given antenna based at least in part on a comparison of the first average signal-to-noise ratio to the second average signal-to-noise ratio or a comparison of the first packet error rate to the second packet error rate, and wherein the antenna diversity module comprises a signal-to-noise ratio module to estimate the average signal-to-noise ratio associated with the data packets, and an error rate module to estimate the packet error rate associated with the data packets.