When it comes to wireless there isn’t just one kind of frame. There are three main types of frame classification types and they are data frames, management frames, and control frames. Each frame type has their own subtypes and serves different purposes.
Data Frames – In 802.11 Frames, data frames are used to carry actual client traffic across the wireless network. Unlike management frames, which handles the connection setup (beacon, probe, authentication, and association), or control frames, which manage access to the wireless medium, data frames are responsible for transmitting actual payload data such as web browsing traffic, emails, file downloads, voice traffic and video streaming between wireless clients and the network. These are your typical user generated frames from applications, websites and more.
Management Frames – Management frames are a type of MAC frame used to establish, maintain, and terminate communication between wireless clients and an AP. These frames are responsible for handling the setup, maintenance, and termination of wireless connections rather than carrying user information/traffic. Management frames are used during processes such as network discovery (beacon, probe request/response), authentication, association, helping roaming decisions, deauthentication, and disassociation. Management frames are responsible for allowing wireless devices to find wireless networks (discovery), join them (authentication/association), move between APs (roaming decision), and disconnect (deauthentication/disassociation) when communication is no longer needed.
Control Frames- Control frames are a type of MAC frame that is used to manage access to the wireless medium and to support reliable delivery of data frames (ACK.) Unlike management frames which establish, maintain and terminate wireless connections or data frames, which carry client traffic, control frames are used to coordinate communication between devices and help reduce collisions on the shared wireless channel. Examples of control frames are RTS (Request to Send), CTS (Clear to Send), ACK (Acknowledgements), and PS-Poll frames (Power Save Poll.) RTS and CTS frames are used to help reserve the medium before data transmission to reduce the rate of data collisions, while frames like ACK frames confirm the successful receipt of data frames.
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