Systems and methods are presented that a STA that has not set up a target wake time (TWT) schedule with an AP to use a control frame without incurring the overhead of the Next TWT field in order to determine AP changes or to sync with the AP's time synchronization function without receiving a beacon. In an embodiment, the configuration may include using one bit in a frame control (FC) field of a control frame to indicate a presence of a Next TWT field, such that the Next TWT field is optionally present in the control frame and contains the next target wake time value for an intended recipient of the control frame.