802.11 State machine or Connection State

= Idle phase 

client is actively looking for a network to join

or 

or passively listening to beacons from APs

Clients in this state are passing Class 1 frames 

Control frames
Management frames
Data frames

Authenticated
We are talking about 802.11 Authentication here.
This is either Open or Shared Key
successfully performed "a 4 packet 802.11 Authentication process"

State 2 is agreeing "we can talk and understand each other"

client is Authenticated and Associated

Pending RSNA Authentication

Class 3 frames consist of the following:

Data frames (all)
Management frames
Control frames