With wireless LAN optimism rolling freely, smart antenna startups are continuing to pop up.

Four of the newer players presented their cases at a panel session during this week's Wi-Fi Planet conference, all of them emphasizing the effect a smart antenna can have on range.

So what is a smart antenna? Most antennas just send signals out in all directions; "smart" ones adjust their power and resources depending on the position of the user or obstacles in the area.

Smart antennas aren't new. Companies like ArrayComm Inc. are selling them into the cellular world. But lately, antenna startups are targeting the wireless LAN industry. Multiple-antenna schemes are being used by firms such as Airgo Networks and Vivato Inc. to increase wireless LAN performance, for example. (See ArrayComm Has Its Chips, Airgoooooooooooo! , and Vivato Plans Ambitious WLAN.)

With range being more of an issue than speed on WLAN networks, smart antenna technology could boost the ability of network designers to reduce costs by improving the area covered by each access point.

The technologies could also help wireless ISPs (WISPs) reach more subscribers cheaply, an important point considering the difficulty they've had making money. "WISPs go bigger and bigger to reach more customers, but they never see the profit/loss margin they need," says Jack Nilsson, chief scientist of Wi-Fi-Plus Inc.Smart antennas come in a dizzying variety of approaches. Consider the four on the Wi-Fi Planet panel:

Not everybody believes 802.11 needs a range boost. Companies such as Tropos Networks, for example, are using short-reach 802.11 cells meshed together to create better coverage. And switch startup Aruba Wireless Networks thinks access points should stay dumb and cheap, so that if particular users are out of range, it's affordable to just install an extra AP for them. (See Tropos Taps Intel and Aruba's Switch Pitch.)

The cost question presents a barrier to the smart antenna crowd when it comes to wireless LANs, says Jack Winters, chief scientist for Motia. "Chip vendors and AP vendors are very reluctant to put a 'Super AP' on the shelf that's 30 percent more expensive than everything else."

To counter that problem, smart antenna vendors might want to emphasize that they supposedly can cut the number of access points needed. "They might spend $100 on the antenna but find they save $1,000 on the APs," says Khurshid Qureshi, CEO of ZeeWaves.Another challege is that more players continue to join the field, such as stealthy Wavion Inc., which is developing some kind of outdoor antenna (although it might not be targeted at wireless LANs). The firm picked up $6 million earlier this year, a round that was extended to $12.5 million in October, according to the most recent quarterly filing from lead investor Elron Electric Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: ELRN). (See Wavion Picks Up $6M.)

— Craig Matsumoto, Senior Editor, Light Reading