Methods and arrangements for short beacon frames in wireless networks

A method comprising:

• determining a type value for a type field, wherein the type value has two bits to indicate that the type is an extension frame;
• determining a subtype value for a subtype field, wherein the subtype value has four bits to indicate that the subtype of the extension frame is a beacon;
• determining a value for a service set identifier (SSID) field of a communication device, the value comprising a hash of an SSID of the communication device;
• determining a value of a timing synchronization function (TSF) timer of the communication device;
• generating, by a medium access control (MAC) sublayer logic of the communication device, a frame comprising a type field with the type value and a subtype field with the subtype value, wherein the frame comprises a SSID field and a timestamp field, wherein the SSID field comprises the value for the SSID and the timestamp comprises the value of the TSF timer;
• and
• creating, by a physical layer device of the communication device, a physical layer protocol data unit with the frame and a preamble to transmit.

A machine-accessible product comprising:

• a non-transitory-medium containing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, wherein the operations comprise:
• determining a type value for a type field, wherein the type value has two bits to indicate that the type is an extension frame;
• determining a subtype value for a subtype field, wherein the subtype value has four bits to indicate that the subtype of the extension frame is a beacon;
• determining a value for a service set identifier (SSID) field of a communication device, the value comprising a hash of an SSID of the communication device;
• determining a value of a timing synchronization function (TSF) timer of the communication device;
• and
• generating, by a medium access control (MAC) sublayer logic of the communication device, a frame comprising a type field with the type value and a subtype field with the subtype value, wherein the frame comprises a SSID field and a timestamp field, wherein the SSID field comprises the value for the SSID and the timestamp comprises the value of the TSF timer.