Target Wake Time (TWT) is a new feature that enables an access point (AP) and stations at negotiated times. Stations and access points enter into a TWT agreement that defines when a station is awake to receive and send data.
Without the TWT, the AP will transmit a beacon frame to alert some stations to possible data transmissions. This beacon frame informs some stations of the information that their data has been stored in the AP's cache. Since the access point can only communicate with one station at a time, they have to "stay awake" to receive data packets from the access point one after the other regardless of how long that process takes. When station 1 exchanges data with the access point, station 2 is in an idle state and waits for the access point to terminate its communication with station 1. This results in additional power consumption and battery life shorter for network devices.
This mechanism allows each station to negotiate its periods with the access point to transmit and receive data packets before the beacon period. Stations only wake up during TWT sessions and remain in sleep mode the rest of the time
