What is a beacon interval, and what is its typical default value?

What is a beacon interval, and what is its typical default value?

• A. Time to channel switch; 250 ms.
• B. Time for data retry; 1 ms.
• C. Time between beacon frames; typically 100 TUs (~102.4 ms).
• D. Time to association; 5 ms.

Answer: (C)

Beacons are periodic management frames that an access point broadcasts to advertise the network and help clients synchronize with the network timing. The beacon interval is simply the time between successive beacon frames, and it’s measured in Time Units, where 1 Time Unit equals 1024 microseconds. A very common default is 100 Time Units, which is about 102.4 milliseconds. That’s why this choice is the best: it directly defines the interval between beacons and matches the typical default value used in many networks. Shorter intervals increase overhead and wake-time traffic, while longer intervals reduce airtime usage but can slow down network discovery and synchronization. The other timing concepts referenced relate to different processes and not the beacon interval itself.

Beacons are periodic management frames that an access point broadcasts to advertise the network and help clients synchronize with the network timing. The beacon interval is simply the time between successive beacon frames, and it’s measured in Time Units, where 1 Time Unit equals 1024 microseconds. A very common default is 100 Time Units, which is about 102.4 milliseconds. That’s why this choice is the best: it directly defines the interval between beacons and matches the typical default value used in many networks. Shorter intervals increase overhead and wake-time traffic, while longer intervals reduce airtime usage but can slow down network discovery and synchronization. The other timing concepts referenced relate to different processes and not the beacon interval itself.