Wireless Extension: a generic driver API that allows user space configuration on Wireless LAN interface (IOCTL based).
cfg80211: Kernel side of configuration management for wireless device
nl80211: User-space side of configuration management for wireless devices. It is a Netlink-based user-space protocol.
iw: iw is a new nl80211 based CLI configuration utility for wireless devices.
MLME: MLME is the management entity where the Physical layer (PHY) MAC state machines reside. ex:- authenticate, disassociate etc...
FullMAC: FullMAC is a term used to describe a type of wireless card where the MLME is managed in hardware.
Reference:
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/Glossary
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Tools.html
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/Wireless-Extensions