Definitions - 1

access point (AP) reachability: An AP is reachable by a station (STA) if preauthentication messages can be
exchanged between the STA and the target AP via the distribution system (DS).
NOTE—Preauthentication is defined in 11.5.9.2.11
active mode: A mesh power mode in which the mesh station (STA) operates in the Awake state towards a
neighbor mesh STA.
additional authentication data (AAD): Data that are not encrypted, but are cryptographically protected.
ad hoc network: Often used as a venacular term for an independent basic service set (IBSS).
admission control: An algorithm to ensure that admittance of a new flow into a resource constrained
network does not violate parameterized service commitments made by the network to admitted flows.
aggregate medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (A-MPDU): A structure containing multiple
MPDUs, transported as a single physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP) service data unit (PSDU) by
the physical layer (PHY).
aggregate medium access control (MAC) service data unit (A-MSDU): A structure containing multiple
MSDUs, transported within a single (unfragmented) data medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit
(MPDU).
aggregate medium access control (MAC) service data unit (A-MSDU) subframe: A portion of an AMSDU
containing a header and associated MSDU.
aggregated schedule: The aggregation of delivery and/or poll schedules by the quality-of-service (QoS)
access point (AP) for a particular QoS station (STA) into a single service period (SP).
antenna connector: The measurement point of reference for radio frequency (RF) measurements in a
station (STA). The antenna connector is the point in the STA architecture representing the input of the
receiver (output of the antenna) for radio reception and the input of the antenna (output of the transmitter)
for radio transmission. In systems using multiple antennas or antenna arrays, the antenna connector is a
virtual point representing the aggregate output of (or input to) the multiple antennas. In systems using active
antenna arrays with processing, the antenna connector is the output of the active array, which includes any
processing gain of the active antenna subsystem.