802.11 Stations (STA)

Robert J. Ditzig

The IEEE 802.11 standard defines a radio as a station (STA), whether located in a client or an AP.  All stations are identified by a unique MAC address.

The IEEE 802.11 Standard specifies architectural services that stations use within various 802.11 topologies, the three (3) categories of 802.11 services that operate at the MAC sublayer;

Station Service (SS)

Exists in all 802.11 stations and provides the following:

  • Authentication
  • Deauthentication
  • Data confidentiality
  • MSDU delivery
  • Dynamic frequency selection (DFS)
  • Transmit power control (TCP)
  • Higher layer time synchronization
  • QoS traffic scheduling
  • Radio management
  • Dynamic station enablement

Even though the stations operate at the MAC sublayer, many are dependent on information from the physical layer.

Distribution System Service (DSS)

Operates only within APs and mesh portals.  DSS is used to manage client station associations, reassociations, disassociations, etc...

PBSS Control Point Service (PCPS)

Designed specifically for 802.11ad radios when operating in a specific 802.11 topology called a personal basic service set (PBSS) and PCPS handles the associations, reassociations, disassociations, and QoS traffic scheduling when the PBSS topology is deployed.