A method of communication between a transmitter node and a receiver node in an ad hoc, self forming wireless multi-hop mesh communication network, comprising: formatting information into a data structure to generate a mesh action frame of a mesh action frame type, the mesh action frame type enabling nodes of the network to identify the mesh action frame as carrying network management traffic and not user data traffic without examining a contents field of the frame, wherein the mesh action frame comprises: a header comprising a source address, SA, that identifies a source node, a destination address, DA, that identifies a recipient node, a transmitter address, TA, that identifies a transmitter node, and a receiver address, RA, that identifies a receiver node; and a body field comprising a mesh action data unit, wherein the mesh action data unit comprises: a category field configured to specify at least one of a plurality of category values, wherein each category value corresponds to a particular management category; an action field configured to specify at least one of a plurality of management action values for each category field; and the contents field comprising information corresponding to the action value specified in the action field, wherein the category value and the action value uniquely identify the contents field; and sending the mesh action frame from the transmitter node to the receiver node such that the receiver node forwards the mesh action frame without examining the contents field of the frame if the header is a four-address header comprising the SA, DA, TA, and RA, and if the receiver node is not the destination node. formatting information into a data structure to generate a mesh action frame of a mesh action frame type, the mesh action frame type enabling nodes of the network to identify the mesh action frame as carrying network management traffic and not user data traffic without examining a contents field of the frame, wherein the mesh action frame comprises: a header comprising a source address, SA, that identifies a source node, a destination address, DA, that identifies a recipient node, a transmitter address, TA, that identifies a transmitter node, and a receiver address, RA, that identifies a receiver node; and a body field comprising a mesh action data unit, wherein the mesh action data unit comprises: a category field configured to specify at least one of a plurality of category values, wherein each category value corresponds to a particular management category; an action field configured to specify at least one of a plurality of management action values for each category field; and the contents field comprising information corresponding to the action value specified in the action field, wherein the category value and the action value uniquely identify the contents field; and a header comprising a source address, SA, that identifies a source node, a destination address, DA, that identifies a recipient node, a transmitter address, TA, that identifies a transmitter node, and a receiver address, RA, that identifies a receiver node; and a body field comprising a mesh action data unit, wherein the mesh action data unit comprises: a category field configured to specify at least one of a plurality of category values, wherein each category value corresponds to a particular management category; an action field configured to specify at least one of a plurality of management action values for each category field; and the contents field comprising information corresponding to the action value specified in the action field, wherein the category value and the action value uniquely identify the contents field; and a category field configured to specify at least one of a plurality of category values, wherein each category value corresponds to a particular management category; an action field configured to specify at least one of a plurality of management action values for each category field; and the contents field comprising information corresponding to the action value specified in the action field, wherein the category value and the action value uniquely identify the contents field; and sending the mesh action frame from the transmitter node to the receiver node such that the receiver node forwards the mesh action frame without examining the contents field of the frame if the header is a four-address header comprising the SA, DA, TA, and RA, and if the receiver node is not the destination node.