Abstract: A MAC (medium access control) architecture for wireless communications comprises a plurality of filter chains, wherein each filter chain comprises a number of filter drivers that are appropriate to the processing of a particular wireless medium. In one embodiment, a filter manager dynamically builds filter chains that correspond to prevailing wireless media. The filter manager is operable to dynamically insert filter drivers into, and remove filter drivers from respective filter chains, based on the properties of the filters required for processing a particular wireless medium.