DEFINITIONS - 11

multicast-group address: A medium access control (MAC) address associated by higher level convention
with a group of logically related stations (STAs).
multiple BSSID capability: The capability to advertise information for multiple basic service set identifiers
(BSSIDs) using a single Beacon or Probe Response frame instead of using multiple Beacon or Probe
Response frames, each corresponding to a single BSSID, and the capability to indicate buffered frames for
these multiple BSSIDs using a single traffic indication map (TIM) element in a single Beacon.
multiple input, multiple output (MIMO): A physical layer (PHY) configuration in which both transmitter
and receiver use multiple antennas.
neighbor access point (AP): Any AP that is a potential service set transition candidate.
neighbor station (STA): A STA in the following relationship: STA A is a neighbor to STA B if STA A can
both directly transmit to and receive from STA B over the wireless medium.
network access identifier (NAI): The user identity submitted by the Supplicant during IEEE 802.1X
authentication.
NOTE—See IETF RFC 4282.15
network access server (NAS) client: The client component of a NAS that communicates with the
Authentication Server (AS).
network allocation vector (NAV): An indicator, maintained by each station (STA), of time periods when
transmission onto the wireless medium (WM) is not initiated by the STA regardless of whether the STA’s
clear channel assessment (CCA) function senses that the WM is busy.
next-hop mesh station (STA): The next peer mesh STA on the mesh path to the destination mesh STA.
nonce: A numerical value, used in cryptographic operations associated with a given cryptographic key, that
is not to be reused with that key, including over all reinitializations of the system through all time.
non-access-point (non-AP) station (STA): A STA that is not contained within an AP.
nonoperating channel: A channel that is not the operating channel of the basic service set (BSS) of which
the station (STA) is a member.
nonpeer mesh power mode: The activity level identifier of a mesh station (STA) towards nonpeer neighbor
mesh STAs. Two nonpeer mesh power modes are defined: active mode and deep sleep mode.
non-quality-of-service (non-QoS) access point (AP): An AP that does not support the quality-of-service
(QoS) facility.
non-quality-of-service (non-QoS) basic service set (BSS): A BSS that does not support the quality-ofservice
(QoS) facility.
non-quality-of-service (non-QoS) station (STA): A STA that does not support the quality-of-service
(QoS) facility.
nontransmitted BSSID: A basic service set identifier (BSSID) corresponding to one of the basic service
sets (BSSs) when the multiple BSSID capability is supported, where the BSSID is not announced explicitly
but can be derived from the information encoded in the transmitted beacon frames.