A method and system is disclosed for a local approach within a distributed multi-hop radio environment that switches between a stronger and weaker preamble acquisition. The robustness of the preamble acquisition plays a large part in the performance of a given Signal-in-Space (SiS) modulation scheme. A more robust preamble acquisition can result in a higher packet completion rate at a receiver free of interfering signals. A less robust preamble acquisition can result in less chance that an interfering signal will be acquired, thereby allowing increased spatial reuse and network throughput. To maximize network capacity, the disclosed method leverages both cases by dynamically switching between the less and more robust preamble acquisitions depending on the topology of the distributed multi-hop radio environment and desired quality of service.