Embodiments herein describe a distributed system that includes a central controller coupled to a plurality of separate radio heads. Each of the radio heads is coupled to the central controller via respective wired backends (e.g., cables). The radio heads includes one or more transceivers (e.g., radios) and antennas for wireless communicating with client devices. In the embodiments herein, the central controller can perform a variant of CCA to determine if a first one of the radio head can transmit wireless signals to, or receive wireless signals from, a first client device while a second radio head is communicating with a second client device using a combination of RTS/CTS, channel sensing, and interference cancellation techniques.