In some embodiments, one or more wireless stations operate according to Neighbor Awareness Networking (NAN)—direct communication with neighboring wireless stations, e.g., direct communication between the wireless stations without utilizing an intermediate access point. Embodiments of the disclosure relate to NAN datapath scheduling and NAN pre-datapath operation setup and scheduling. The NAN datapath embodiments described herein provide a mechanism through which devices can communicate and provide services. Aspects of the datapath development include datapath scheduling, including datapath setup and scheduling attributes, as well as pre-datapath operation triggering and scheduling. Scheduling attributes may include a native scheduler rank and a NAN data cluster scheduler rank. NAN data cluster base schedules may be scheduled as equal-sets or subsets of datapath schedules. The datapath model may be implemented for unicast and multicast communication between wireless stations, including mobile stations.