All Layer 2 frames consist of a header, payload, and FCS section as shown in Figure 1. The 802.11 frame format is similar to the Ethernet frame format, with the exception that it contains more fields.

As shown in Figure 2, all 802.11 wireless frames contain the following fields:

Figure 3 displays a Wireshark capture of a WLAN beacon frame. Notice how the Frame Control field has also been expanded to display its subfields.

Note: The content of the Address fields vary depending on settings in the Frame Control field.