Clear Channel Assessment

The Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) is a mechanism for determining whether the
medium is idle or not. The CCA includes carrier sensing and energy
detection. The Carrier Sense (CS) mechanism consists of a physical CS and a virtual
CS. The physical CS is provided by the PHY and is a
straightforward measuring of the received signal strength of a valid 802.11 symbol.
If it is above a certain level the medium is considered busy.