RA Receiving STA Address

In the context of wireless communication, "RA Receiving STA Address" refers to the Receiving Station Address used in a Request-to-Send/Clear-to-Send (RTS/CTS) handshake mechanism within the IEEE 802.11 standard, commonly known as Wi-Fi.

When a wireless device wants to transmit data over a Wi-Fi network, it needs to contend for the channel to avoid collisions with other devices. The RTS/CTS mechanism is one of the techniques used to manage channel access and mitigate collisions. It is primarily used in the presence of hidden terminals, where two stations may be out of range of each other but still within range of the access point (AP).

In the RTS/CTS handshake process, the station that intends to transmit data sends an RTS frame to the access point, requesting permission to use the channel for a specified duration. The access point then responds with a CTS frame, granting permission to the requesting station for transmission. The CTS frame includes the Receiving STA Address, also known as the RA Receiving STA Address.

The RA Receiving STA Address is the MAC address of the intended recipient station. The MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to each network interface card (NIC) or Wi-Fi adapter. It consists of six octets, typically represented as six pairs of hexadecimal digits (e.g., 00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E).

When the access point sends the CTS frame, it sets the RA Receiving STA Address field to the MAC address of the station that initiated the RTS request. This informs all other stations in the network that the channel is temporarily reserved for the transmission between the requesting station and the access point. Other stations receiving the CTS frame will defer their own transmissions until the channel is free.

By including the RA Receiving STA Address in the CTS frame, the access point ensures that only the intended recipient station proceeds with the transmission. Other stations in the network, upon receiving the CTS frame, can identify that the channel is occupied and refrain from transmitting during that time to avoid collisions.

In summary, the RA Receiving STA Address is the MAC address of the station that initiated the RTS request. It is included in the CTS frame as part of the RTS/CTS handshake mechanism to reserve the channel and prevent collisions between stations in a Wi-Fi network.