MULTI-LINK WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS CONNECTIONS

A method, comprising: receiving, from a receiver, a broadcast probe request with a multi-link designator that identifies the probe request as a multilink probe request; determining that the receiver is multi-link capable based on the multi-link designator; transmitting a probe response including a first multi-link upper Media Access Control (MAC) entity identity of a transmitter, the transmitter having a MAC layer that is divided into an upper MAC and a lower MAC, the upper MAC being affiliated with the first multi-link upper Media Access Control (MAC) entity; receiving an authentication trigger from the receiver; and transmitting an authentication response to the receiver, wherein after a successful authentication, the transmitter and the receiver to establish a security association at the upper MAC.