Siemens IEEE802.11 Tutorial page 63

Summary: MAC Functionality
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Independent and Infrastructure configuration support
– Each BSS has a unique 48 bit address
– Each ESS has a variable length address
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CSMA with collision avoidance
– MAC-level acknowledgment
– allows for RTS/CTS exchanges (hidden node protection)
– MSDU fragmentation
– "Point Coordination" option (AP polling)
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Association and Reassociation
– station scans for APs, association handshakes
– Roaming support within an ESS
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Power management support
– stations may power themselves down
– AP buffering, distributed approach for IBSS
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Authentication and privacy
– Optional support of "Wired Equivalent Privacy" (WEP)
– Authentication handshakes defined
WLAN-IEEE802.11 Tutorial (Maximilian Riegel), 021018-wlan-tutorial.ppt Page 63 © Siemens, 2002