DEFINITIONS - 14

primary channel: The common channel of operation for all stations (STAs) that are members of the basic
service set (BSS).
prioritized quality of service (QoS): The provisioning of service in which the medium access control
(MAC) protocol data units (MPDUs) with higher priority are given a preferential treatment over MPDUs
with a lower priority. Prioritized QoS is provided through the enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA)
mechanism.
protection mechanism: Any procedure that attempts to update the network allocation vector (NAV) of all
receiving stations (STAs) prior to the transmission of a frame that might or might not be detected as valid
network activity by the PHY entities at those receiving STAs.
protection mechanism frame: Any frame that is sent as part of a protection mechanism procedure.
protocol instance: An execution of a particular protocol that consists of the state of the communicating
parties as well as the messages exchanged.
proxy mesh gate: A mesh gate acting as an intermediary for IEEE 802 stations (STAs) outside the mesh
basic service set (MBSS).
pseudorandom function (PRF): A function that hashes various inputs to derive a pseudorandom value. In
order to ensure liveness of a communication in which a pseudorandom value is used, a nonce is used as one
of the inputs to the function.
public safety answering point (PSAP): A physical location where emergency calls are received and routed
to the appropriate emergency service dispatch center.
NOTE—See NENA 08-002 [B52].
quadrature binary phase shift keying (QBPSK): A binary phase shift keying modulation in which the
binary data is mapped onto the imaginary (Q) axis.
quality-of-service (QoS) access point (AP): An AP that supports the QoS facility. The functions of a QoS
AP are a superset of the functions of a non-QoS AP, and thus a QoS AP is able to function as a non-QoS AP
to non-QoS stations (STAs).
quality-of-service (QoS) basic service set (BSS): A BSS that provides the QoS facility. An infrastructure
QoS BSS contains a QoS access point (AP).
quality-of-service (QoS) facility: The set of enhanced functions, channel access rules, frame formats, frame
exchange sequences and managed objects used to provide parameterized and prioritized QoS.
quality-of-service (QoS) independent basic service set (IBSS): An IBSS in which one or more of its
stations (STAs) support the QoS facility.
quality-of-service (QoS) station (STA): A STA that implements the QoS facility. A QoS STA acts as a
non-QoS STA when associated in a non-QoS basic service set (BSS).
reassociation service: The service that enables an established association [between access point (AP) and
station (STA)] to be transferred from one AP to another (or the same) AP.
receive chain: The physical entity that implements any necessary signal processing to provide the received
signal to the digital baseband. Such signal processing includes filtering, amplification, down-conversion,
and sampling.