BCS502 - COMPUTER NETWORKS Module 2 Notes

Module-2
Data Link Layer: Error Detection and Correction

Networks must be able to transfer data from one device to another with acceptable
accuracy. A system must guarantee that the data received are identical to the data
transmitted. Many factors can alter one or more bits of a message when it is
transmitted from one node to another. Some applications require a mechanism for
detecting and correcting errors.

Random errors in audio or video transmissions may be tolerable, but when we

transfer text, we expect a very high level of accuracy.

Types of Errors

Whenever bits flow from one point to another, they are subject to unpredictable
changes because of interference. This interference can change the shape of the
signal.

The single-bit error means that only 1 bit of a given data unit (such as a byte,
character, or packet) is changed from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1. The burst error
means that 2 or more bits in the data unit have changed from 1 to 0 or from 0 to
1.

A burst error is more likely to occur than a single-bit error because the duration
of the noise signal is normally longer than the duration of 1 bit, which means that
when noise affects data, it affects a set of bits. The number of bits affected
depends on the data rate and duration of noise. If we are sending data at 1 kbps,
a noise of 1/100 second can affect 10 bits

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1kbps = 1000 bits per second

Duration of noise = 1/100 second

Number of bits affected = 1000 * 1/100 = 10 bits.

Similarly, if we are sending data at 1 Mbps, a noise of 1/100 second can affect
10000 bits

1Mbps = 1000000 bits per second

Duration of noise = 1/100 second

Number of bits affected = 1000000 * 1/100 = 10000 bits.

Redundancy

To detect or correct errors, we need to send some extra bits with data known as
redundant bits. These redundant bits are added by the sender and removed by
the receiver. Redundant bits allow the receiver to detect or correct corrupted bits.

Detection versus Correction

• The process of detecting errors is known as error detection. The process of

correcting detected errors is known as error correction.
• In error detection, we are only looking to see if any error has occurred. We
are not even interested in the number of corrupted bits. A single-bit error
is the same for us as a burst error.
• In error correction, we need to know the exact number of bits that are
corrupted and, more importantly, their location in the message.
• If we need to correct a single error in an 8-bit data unit, we need to consider
eight possible error locations. if we need to correct two errors in 8-bit data
unit we need to consider 8C2 = 28 possibilities.

Coding

Redundancy is achieved through various coding schemes. We can divide coding

schemes into two broad categories: block coding and convolution coding.

Block Coding

• In block coding, we divide message into blocks, each of k bits, called

datawords.

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• We add r redundant bits to each block to make the length n = k + r.

The resulting n-bit blocks are called codewords.
• With k bits, we can create a combination of 2k datawords; with n bits,
we can create a combination of 2n codewords.
• The block coding process is one-to-one; the same data word is always
encoded as the same codeword. 2n − 2k codewords that are not used.
These codewords invalid or illegal.

Error Detection in block coding

If the following two conditions are met, the receiver can detect errors.

1. The receiver has (or can find) a list of valid codewords.

2. The original codeword has changed to an invalid one.

Process of error detection in block coding

The sender creates code words out of datawords by using a generator. Each
codeword sent to the receiver. If the received codeword is the same as one
of the valid codewords, the word is accepted; the corresponding dataword
is extracted for use. If the received code word is not valid, it is discarded.
One of the limitation of this approach is if the codeword is corrupted during
transmission but the received word still matches a valid codeword, the error
remains undetected.

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Example

Let us assume that k = 2 and n = 3.

Assume the sender encodes the dataword 01 as 011 and sends it to the
receiver. Consider the following cases:

1. The receiver receives 011. It is a valid codeword. The receiver extracts

the dataword 01 from it.

2. The codeword is corrupted during transmission, and 111 is received (the

leftmost bit is cor rupted). This is not a valid codeword and is discarded.

3. The codeword is corrupted during transmission, and 000 is received (the

right two bits are corrupted). This is a valid codeword. The receiver
incorrectly extracts the dataword 00. Two corrupted bits have made the
error undetectable.

Hamming Distance

The Hamming distance between two words (of the same size) is the number
of differences between the corresponding bits. Hamming distance between
two words x and y is represented as d(x, y).

Hamming distance between the received codeword and the sent codeword
is the number of bits that are corrupted during transmission.

For example, if the codeword 00000 is sent and 01101 is received, 3 bits
are in error and the Hamming distance between the two is d(00000, 01101)
= 3.

The Hamming distance can easily be found if we apply the XOR operation
(⊕) on the two words and count the number of 1s in the result. Note that
the Hamming distance is a value greater than or equal to zero.

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Minimum Hamming Distance for Error Detection

To guarantee the detection of up to s errors in all cases, the minimum

Hamming distance in a block code must be dmin = s + 1.

Linear Block Codes

A linear block code is a code in which the exclusive OR (addition modulo-

2) of two valid codewords creates another valid codeword.

Minimum Distance for Linear Block Codes

The minimum Hamming distance is the number of 1s in the nonzero valid
codeword with the smallest number of 1s.

Parity-Check Code

Parity-Check Code is a linear block code. In this code, a k-bit dataword is

changed to an n-bit codeword where n = k + 1. The extra bit, called the
parity bit, is selected to make the total number of 1s in the codeword even.

The minimum Hamming distance for this category is dmin = 2, which means
that the code is a single-bit error-detecting code.

Simple parity-check code C(5, 4)

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Encoder and decoder for simple parity-check code

The encoder uses a generator that takes a copy of a 4-bit dataword (a0,
a1, a2, and a3) and generates a parity bit r0. The dataword bits and the
parity bit create the 5-bit codeword. The parity bit that is added makes the
number of 1s in the codeword even.

r0 = a3 + a2 + a1 + a0 (modulo-2)

The sender sends the codeword, which may be corrupted during

transmission. The receiver receives a 5-bit word. The checker at the
receiver does the same thing as the generator in the sender the addition is
done over all 5 bits. The result, which is called the syndrome, is just 1 bit.

s0 = b3 + b2 + b1 + b0 + q0 (modulo-2)

The syndrome is passed to the decision logic analyzer. If the syndrome is

0, there is no detectable error in the received codeword; the data portion
of the received code word is accepted as the dataword; if the syndrome is
1, the data portion of the received codeword is discarded. The dataword is
not created.

Example:

Let us look at some transmission scenarios. Assume the sender sends the
dataword 1011. The code word created from this dataword is 10111, which
is sent to the receiver. We examine five cases:

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1. No error occurs; the received codeword is 10111. The syndrome is 0.

The dataword 1011 is created.

2. One single-bit error changes a1. The received codeword is 10011. The
syndrome is 1. No dataword is created.

3. One single-bit error changes r0. The received codeword is 10110. The
syndrome is 1. No data word is created. Note that although none of the
dataword bits are corrupted, no dataword is created because the code is
not sophisticated enough to show the position of the corrupted bit.

4. An error changes r0 and a second error changes a3. The received

codeword is 00110. The syndrome is 0. The dataword 0011 is created at
the receiver. Note that here the dataword is wrongly created due to the
syndrome value. The simple parity-check decoder cannot detect an even
number of errors. The errors cancel each other out and give the syndrome
a value of 0.

5. Three bits—a3, a2, and a1—are changed by errors. The received codeword
is 01011. The syndrome is 1. The dataword is not created. This shows that
the simple parity check, guaranteed to detect one single error, can also find
any odd number of errors.

Cyclic codes

Cyclic codes are special linear block codes with one extra property. In a
cyclic code, if a codeword is cyclically shifted (rotated), the result is another
codeword.

For example, if 1011000 is a codeword and we cyclically left-shift, then

0110001 is also a codeword. In this case, if we call the bits in the first word
a0 to a6, and the bits in the second word b0 to b6, we can shift the bits by
using the following: b1 = a0 b2 = a1 b3 = a2 b4 = a3 b5 = a4 b6 = a5 b0 = a6
In the rightmost equation, the last bit of the first word is wrapped around
and becomes the first bit of the second word.

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Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)

CRC encoder and decoder

• In the encoder, the dataword has k bits, the codeword has n bits.
• n – k (bits) 0s are appended to the right hand side of dataword.
• This n-bit result is fed into the generator. The generator uses a divisor
of size n − k + 1, predefined and agreed upon.
• The generator divides the augmented dataword by the divisor
(modulo-2 division).
• The quotient of the division is discarded; the remainder ( n-k bits ) is
appended to the dataword to create the codeword.
• The decoder receives the codeword. A copy of all n bits is fed to the
checker, which is a replica of the generator.
• The remainder produced by the checker is a syndrome of n – k which
is fed to the decision logic analyzer.
• Analyzer checks If the syndrome bits are all 0s, the k left most bits
of the codeword are accepted as the dataword (interpreted as no
error) else the k bits are discarded (error).

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Example - Encoder

Example – Decoder

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Polynomials

A pattern of 0s and 1s can be represented as a polynomial with coefficients

of 0 and 1. The power of each term shows the position of the bit; the
coefficient shows the value of the bit.

A polynomial to represent a binary word

Degree of a Polynomial

• The degree of a polynomial is the highest power in the polynomial.

For example, the degree of the polynomial x6 + x + 1 is 6.
• Degree of a polynomial is 1 less than the number of bits in the
pattern. The bit pattern in this case has 7 bits.

Adding and Subtracting Polynomials

• Adding and subtracting polynomials in mathematics are done by

adding or subtracting the coefficients of terms with the same power.
• If the coefficients are only 0 and 1, and adding is in modulo-2 and
addition and subtraction are the same .

Adding x5 + x4 + x2 and x6 + x4 + x2 gives just x6 + x5

Multiplying or Dividing Terms

Multiplying a term by another term is just adding the powers.

Ex: x3 × x4 is x7

For dividing, we just subtract the power of the second term from the power
of the first.

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Ex: x5/x2 is x3.

Multiplying Two Polynomials

Multiplying a polynomial by another is done term by term. Each term of the

first polynomial must be multiplied by all terms of the second.

(x5 + x3 + x2 + x)(x2 + x + 1) = x7 + x6 + x5 + x5 + x4 + x3 + x4 + x3 + x2
+ x3 + x2 + x = x7 + x6 + x3 + x

Dividing One Polynomial by Another

• Division of polynomials is conceptually the same as the binary division

we discussed for an encoder.
• We divide the first term of the dividend by the first term of the divisor
to get the first term of the quotient.
• We multiply the term in the quotient by the divisor and subtract the
result from the dividend. We repeat the process until the dividend
degree is less than the divisor degree.

Shifting

• A binary pattern is often shifted a number of bits to the right or left.

• Shifting to the left means adding extra 0s as rightmost bits; shifting
to the right means deleting some right most bits.
• Shifting to the left is accomplished by multiplying each term of the
polynomial by xm, where m is the number of shifted bits;
• shifting to the right is accomplished by dividing each term of the
polynomial by xm. We do not have negative powers in the polynomial
representation.

Cyclic Code Encoder Using Polynomials

Consider the dataword 1001 is represented as x3 + 1. The divisor 1011 is

represented as x3 + x + 1.

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To find the augmented dataword, we have left-shifted the dataword 3 bits

(multiplying the dataword by x3). The result is x6 + x3.

The divisor in a cyclic code is normally called the generator polynomial or

simply the generator.

Cyclic Code Analysis

We can analyze a cyclic code to find its capabilities by using polynomials.

We define the following, where f(x) is a polynomial with binary coefficients.

Dataword: d(x)

Codeword: c(x)

Generator: g(x)

Syndrome: s(x)

Error: e(x)

If s(x) is not zero, then one or more bits is corrupted. However, if s(x) is
zero, either no bit is corrupted or the decoder failed to detect any errors.

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The received codeword is the sum of the sent codeword and the error.

Received codeword = c(x) + e(x)

The receiver divides the received codeword by g(x) to get the syndrome.

The first term at the right-hand side of the equality has a remainder of zero.
So the syndrome is actually the remainder of the second term on the right-
hand side. If this term does not have a remainder (syndrome = 0), either
e(x) is 0 or e(x) is divisible by g(x). In a cyclic code, those e(x) errors
that are divisible by g(x) are not caught.

Single-Bit Error

If the generator has more than one term and the coefficient of x0 is 1, all
single-bit errors can be caught.

Two Isolated Single-Bit Errors

If a generator cannot divide xt + 1 (t between 0 and n - 1), then all isolated

double errors can be detected.

Odd Numbers of Errors

A generator that contains a factor of x + 1 can detect all odd-numbered

errors.

Burst error

If L is the length of error and r is the length of remainder then

All burst errors with L ≤ r will be detected.

All burst errors with L = r + 1 will be detected with probability

1 – (1/2)r–1

All burst errors with L > r + 1 will be detected with probability 1 – (1/2)r.

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A good polynomial generator needs to have the following characteristics:

1. It should have at least two terms.

2. The coefficient of the term x0 should be 1.

3. It should not divide xt + 1, for t between 2 and n - 1.

4. It should have the factor x + 1.

Standard Polynomials

ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode )

AAL (ATM Adaptation Layer)

HDLC (High-level Data Link Control)

Advantages of Cyclic Codes

1. Cyclic codes have a very good performance in detecting single-bit

errors, double errors, an odd number of errors, and burst errors.
2. They can easily be implemented in hardware and software.
3. They are fast when implemented in hardware.

Other Cyclic Codes

Reed Solomon code used today for both detection and correction.

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Hardware Implementation

Encoder and decoder can easily and cheaply be implemented in hardware

by using a handful of electronic devices.

General design of encoder and decoder of a CRC code

We have n – k, 1-bit shift registers in both the encoder and decoder. We

have up to n – k, XOR devices.

Checksum

• Checksum is an error-detecting technique that can be applied to a

message of any length.
• At the source, the message is first divided into m-bit units.
• The generator then creates an extra m-bit unit called the checksum,
which is sent with the message.
• At the destination, the checker creates a new checksum from the
combination of the message and sent checksum.
• If the new checksum is all 0s, the message is accepted; otherwise,
the message is discarded.

Suppose the message is a list of five 4-bit numbers. In addition to sending

these numbers, we send the sum of the numbers. For example, if the set
of numbers is (7, 11, 12, 0, 6), we send (7, 11, 12, 0, 6, 36), where 36 is
the sum of the original numbers. The receiver adds the five numbers and
compares the result with the sum. If the two are the same, the receiver

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assumes no error, accepts the five numbers, and discards the sum.
Otherwise, there is an error somewhere and the message is not accepted.

Checksum

One’s Complement Addition

• One’s complement of a number is obtained by changing 1 to 0 and 0

to 1.
• In One’s complement addition given numbers are first converted to
1’s complement and added. If there is a carry over it is added to right
most bit.

Example:

• Suppose the message is a list of five 4-bit numbers(7, 11, 12, 0, 6).
The sender adds all five numbers in one’s complement to get the sum
= 6.
• The sender then complements the result to get the checksum = 9,
which is 15 − 6.
• The sender sends the five data numbers and the checksum (7, 11,
12, 0, 6, 9).
• If there is no corruption in transmission, the receiver receives (7, 11,
12, 0, 6, 9) and adds them in one’s complement to get 15.

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• The sender complements 15 to get 0. This shows that data have not
been corrupted. Figure 10.16 shows the process.

Sender side

7 = 0111, 11 = 1011, 12 = 1100, 0 = 0000, 6 = 0110, 0 = 0000

Adding 2 words at a time in 1’s complement we get

0111+ 1011= 1 0010 = 0011

0011+ 1100 = 1111

1111 + 0000 = 1111

1111+ 0110 =1 0101 = 0110

0110 + 0000 = 0110 = 6

Finally we take 1’s complement of 0110 to get 1001 = 9

Receiver side

7 = 0111, 11 = 1011, 12 = 1100, 0 = 0000, 6 = 0110, 9 = 1001

0111+ 1011= 1 0010 = 0011

0011+ 1100 = 1111

1111 + 0000 = 1111

1111+ 0110 =1 0101 = 0110

0110 + 1001= 1111 = 15

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Finally we take 1’s complement of 1111 to get 0000 = 0

Since the calculated checksum is 0 the message is accepted.

Internet Checksum

Flowchart to calculate a traditional checksum

Performance

• It is not as strong as the CRC in error-checking capability.

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• For example, if the value of one word is incremented and the value
of another word is decremented by the same amount, the two errors
cannot be detected because the sum and checksum remain the same.
• If the values of several words are incremented but the sum and the
checksum do not change, the errors are not detected.

Other checksums

Fletcher Checksum

• Fletcher has proposed two algorithms: 8-bit and 16-bit.

• The first, 8-bit Fletcher, calculates on 8-bit data items and creates a
16-bit checksum.
• The second, 16-bit Fletcher, calculates on 16-bit data items and
creates a 32-bit checksum.
• The calculation is done modulo 256 (28), which means the
intermediate results are divided by 256 and the remainder is kept.
• The algorithm uses two accumulators, L and R. The first simply adds
data items together; the second adds a weight to the calculation.
• The 16-bit Fletcher checksum is similar to the 8-bit Fletcher
checksum, but it is calculated over 16-bit data items and creates a
32-bit checksum. The calculation is done modulo 65,536

Flowchart to calculate an 8-bit Fletcher checksum

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Adler Checksum

It is similar to the 16-bit Fletcher with three differences. First, calculation

is done on single bytes instead of 2 bytes at a time. Second, the modulus
is a prime number (65,521) instead of 65,536. Third, L is initialized to 1
instead of 0. It has been proved that a prime modulo has a better detecting
capability in some combinations of data.

Flowchart to calculate an Adler checksum

DLC(Data Link Control) Services

The data link control (DLC) deals with procedures for communication
between two adjacent nodes—node-to-node communication.

Data link control functions include framing and flow and error control.

Framing

• Data transmission in the physical layer means moving bits in the form
of a signal from the source to the destination.
• The data-link layer, needs to pack bits into frames, so that each frame
is distinguishable from another.

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• Framing in the data-link layer separates a message from one source

to a destination by adding a sender MAC address and a destination
MAC address.
• When a message is carried in one very large frame, even a single-bit
error would require the retransmission of the whole frame. When a
message is divided into smaller frames, a single-bit error affects only
that small frame.

Frame Size

• Frames can be of fixed or variable size. In fixed-size framing, there

is no need for defining the boundaries of the frames; the size itself
can be used as a delimiter.
• An example of this type of framing is the ATM WAN, which uses
frames of fixed size called cells of 53 bytes size.
• In variable-size framing, we need a way to define the end of one
frame and the beginning of the next.
• There are two types of framing a character-oriented framing and a
bit-oriented framing.

Character-Oriented Framing

• Data to be carried are 8-bit characters which are encoded using

ASCII.
• The header, carries the source and destination addresses and other
control information
• The trailer, which carries error detection redundant bits, are also
multiples of 8 bits.
• To separate one frame from the next, an 8-bit flag is added at the
beginning and the end of a frame.

A frame in a character-oriented protocol

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• The flag, is composed of protocol-dependent special characters,

which signals the start or end of a frame.
• The flag could be selected to be any character not used for text
communication.
• When we send other types of information such as graphs, audio, and
video, if the flag selected is part of the data sent, the receiver, when
it encounters this pattern in the middle of the data, thinks it has
reached the end of the frame.
• To overcome the above problem a byte-stuffing strategy was added
to character-oriented framing.
• In byte stuffing, a special byte is added to the data section of the
frame when there is a character with the same pattern as the flag.
• This byte is usually called the escape character (ESC) and has a
predefined bit pattern. Whenever the receiver encounters the ESC
character, it removes it from the data section and treats the next
character as data.

Byte stuffing and unstuffing

• In general Byte stuffing is the process of adding one extra byte

whenever there is a flag or escape character in the text.
• If the escape character is part of the text, an extra one is added to
show that the second one is part of the text.

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• The universal coding systems in use today, such as Unicode, have 16-
bit and 32-bit characters that conflict with 8-bit characters, in
general, the tendency is moving toward the use of the bit-oriented
protocols.

Bit-Oriented Framing

• In bit oriented framing, most protocols use a special 8-bit pattern

flag, 01111110, as the delimiter to define the beginning and the end
of the frame, along with header and trailer.

A frame in a bit-oriented protocol

• If the flag appears as part of data we need to somehow inform the

receiver that this is not the end of the frame.
• We do this by stuffing 1 single bit (instead of 1 byte) to prevent the
pattern from looking like a flag. The strategy is called bit stuffing.
• In bit stuffing, if a 0 and five consecutive 1 bits are encountered, an
extra 0 is added. This extra stuffed bit is eventually removed from
the data by the receiver.

Bit stuffing and unstuffing

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Flow Control

• Whenever an entity produces items and another entity consumes

them, If the items are produced faster than they can be consumed,
the consumer can be overwhelmed and may need to discard some
items.
• If the items are produced more slowly than they can be consumed,
the consumer must wait, and the system becomes less efficient.

Flow control at the data-link layer

• The figure shows that the data-link layer at the sending node tries to
push frames toward the data-link layer at the receiving node.
• If the receiving node cannot process and deliver the packet to its
network at the same rate that the frames arrive, it becomes
overwhelmed with frames.
• Flow control in this case can be feedback from the receiving node to
the sending node to stop or slow down pushing frames.

Buffers

• Although flow control can be implemented in several ways, one of the

solutions is normally to use two buffers; one at the sending data-link
layer and the other at the receiving data-link layer.
• When the buffer of the receiving data-link layer is full, it informs the
sending data-link layer to stop pushing frames.

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Error Control

• The technology at the physical layer is not fully reliable we need to

implement error control at the data-link layer to prevent the receiving
node from delivering corrupted packets to its network layer.
• Error control can be implemented using one of the following two
methods. In both methods, a CRC is added to the frame header by
the sender and checked by the receiver.
• In the first method, if the frame is corrupted, it is silently discarded;
if it is not corrupted, the packet is delivered to the network layer. This
method is used mostly in wired LANs such as Ethernet.
• In the second method, if the frame is corrupted, it is silently
discarded; if it is not corrupted, an acknowledgment is sent (for the
purpose of both flow and error control) to the sender.

Combination of Flow and Error Control

Flow and error control can be combined. In a simple situation, the

acknowledgment that is sent for flow control can also be used for error
control to tell the sender the packet has arrived uncorrupted. The lack of
acknowledgment means that there is a problem in the sent frame.

Connectionless and Connection-Oriented

Connectionless protocol

• In a connectionless protocol, frames are sent from one node to the

next without any relationship between the frames; each frame is
independent.
• The term connectionless here does not mean that there is no physical
connection (transmission medium) between the nodes; it means that
there is no connection between frames.

Connection-Oriented Protocol

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• In a connection-oriented protocol, a logical connection should first be

established between the two nodes (setup phase).

• After all related frames are transmitted (transfer phase), the logical
connection is terminated (teardown phase).

• In this type of communication, the frames are numbered and sent in

order.

• If they are not received in order, the receiver needs to wait until all
frames belonging to the same set are received and then deliver them
in order to the network layer.

DATA-LINK LAYER PROTOCOLS

Simple Protocol

Simple protocol has neither flow nor error control. It is assumed that the
receiver can immediately handle any frame it receives. the receiver is never
overwhelmed with incoming frames.

Simple protocol

• The data-link layer at the sender gets a packet from its network layer,
makes a frame out of it, and sends the frame.
• The data-link layer at the receiver receives a frame from the link,
extracts the packet from the frame, and delivers the packet to its
network layer.
• The data-link layers of the sender and receiver provide transmission
services for their network layers.

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FSM (Finite State Machine)

Each FSM has only one state, the ready state.

• The sending machine remains in the ready state until a request comes
from the process in the network layer.
• When this event occurs, the sending machine encapsulates the
message in a frame and sends it to the receiving machine.
• The receiving machine remains in the ready state until a frame arrives
from the sending machine.
• When this event occurs, the receiving machine decapsulates the
message out of the frame and delivers it to the process at the network
layer.

FSMs for the simple protocol

Flow diagram for simple protocol

Flow diagram for simple protocol

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Stop-and-Wait Protocol

• Stop-and-Wait protocol, uses both flow and error control.

• Sender before sending the frame starts a timer and saves the copy
of the frame in buffer.
• Sender waits for acknowledgement from receiver.
• If sender receives acknowledgement, it discards the saved frame
from buffer transmits next frame if it has one.
• If the acknowledgement is not received within timeout interval then
timer is reset and resends the buffered frame.
• Receiver receives the frame it checks CRC, if the received frame has
no error it sends acknowledgement, if it has any error it is discards
the frame.

Stop-and-Wait protocol

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FSM

FSM for the Stop-and-Wait protocol

Sender States

The sender is initially in the ready state, but it can move between the ready
and blocking state.

Ready State: When the sender is in this state, it is only waiting for a packet
from the network layer. If a packet comes from the network layer, the
sender creates a frame, saves a copy of the frame, starts the only timer
and sends the frame. The sender then moves to the blocking state.

Blocking State: When the sender is in this state, three events can occur:

a. If a time-out occurs, the sender resends the saved copy of the frame and
restarts the timer.

b. If a corrupted ACK arrives, it is discarded.

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c. If an error-free ACK arrives, the sender stops the timer and discards the
saved copy of the frame. It then moves to the ready state.

Receiver states

The receiver is always in the ready state.

Two events may occur:

a. If an error-free frame arrives, the message in the frame is delivered to

the network layer and an ACK is sent.

b. If a corrupted frame arrives, the frame is discarded.

Consider the following example1

The first frame is sent and acknowledged. The second frame is sent, but
lost. After time-out, it is resent. The third frame is sent and acknowledged,
but the acknowledgment is lost. The frame is resent. However, there is a
problem with this scheme. The network layer at the receiver site receives
two copies of the third packet, which is not right.

Flow diagram for Example1

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Sequence and Acknowledgment Numbers

• To correct the duplicate packet problem of network layer at receiver

side we need to add sequence numbers to the data frames and
acknowledgment numbers to the ACK frames.
• However, numbering in this case is very simple. Sequence numbers
are 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, . . . ; the acknowledgment numbers can also be
1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, …
• In other words, the sequence numbers start with 0, the
acknowledgment numbers start with 1. An acknowledgment number
always defines the sequence number of the next frame to receive.
• Consider the example 2 where frames are sent with sequence
numbers and acknowledgement numbers.

Flow diagram for example 2.

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Piggybacking

• The simple protocol and stop-and-wait protocol are designed for

unidirectional communication, in which data is flowing only in one
direction.
• Although the acknowledgment may travel in the other direction.
• However, to make the communication more efficient, the data in one
direction is piggybacked with the acknowledgment in the other
direction.
• In other words, when node A is sending data to node B, Node A also
acknowledges the data received from node B.

HDLC (High-level Data Link Control)

HDLC is a bit-oriented protocol for communication over point-to-point and

multipoint links. It implements the Stop-and-Wait protocol.

HDLC provides two common transfer modes that can be used in different
configurations.

1. Normal Response Mode (NRM)

2. Asynchronous Balanced Mode (ABM).

In NRM the station configuration is unbalanced. We have one primary

station and multiple secondary stations. A primary station can send
commands; a secondary station can only respond. The NRM is used for
both point-to-point and multipoint links.

In ABM, the configuration is balanced. The link is point-to-point, and

each station can function as a primary and a secondary.

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Normal response mode

Asynchronous balanced mode

Framing

HDLC defines three types of frames:

1. Information frames (I-frames) – I-frames are used to carry both

user data and control information.
2. Supervisory frames (S-frames) - S-frames are used only to
transport control information.
3. Unnumbered frames (U-frames) - U-frames are reserved for
system management.

Each frame in HDLC may contain up to six fields, a beginning flag field,
an address field, a control field, an information field, a frame check
sequence (FCS) field, and an ending flag field.

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HDLC frames

Flag field : This field contains synchronization pattern 01111110, which

identifies both the beginning and the end of a frame.

Address field : If a primary station created the frame, it contains a to

address. If a secondary station creates the frame, it contains a from
address. The address field can be one byte or several bytes long,
depending on the needs of the network.

Control field : The control field is one or two bytes used for flow and
error control.

Information field : The information field contains the user’s data from
the network layer or management information.

FCS field: The frame check sequence (FCS) is the HDLC error detection
field. It can contain either a 2- or 4-byte CRC.

Control field for I frames

• I-Frames along with user data carries flow and error control
information. I-Frame has first bit of the control field as 0.
• The next 3 bits define the sequence number of the frame N(S). We
can define a sequence number between 0 and 7.

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• The last 3 bits, called N(R), correspond to the acknowledgment

number when piggybacking is used.
• The bit between N(S) and N(R) is P/F bit. When this bit is set it
can be either poll or final. It means poll when the frame is sent by
a primary station to a secondary (when the address field contains
the address of the receiver).
• It means final when the frame is sent by a secondary to a primary
(when the address field contains the address of the sender).

Control Field for S-Frames

• Supervisory frames (S Frames) are used for flow and error control
whenever piggybacking is either impossible or inappropriate.
• S-Frames will have first 2 bits as 10.
• The last 3 bits, called N(R), correspond to the acknowledgment
number (ACK) or negative acknowledgment number (NAK),
depending on the type of S-frame.
• The 2 bits called code are used to define the type of S-frame itself.
With 2 bits, we can have four types of S-frames. Depending on the
value of 2 bits we have 4 different types of S frames.
1. Receive ready (RR) - If the value of the code subfield is 00, it is
an RR S-frame. This kind of frame acknowledges the receipt of a
safe and sound frame or group of frames. In this case, the value
of the N(R) field defines the acknowledgment number.
2. Receive not ready (RNR) - If the value of the code subfield is 10,
it is an RNR S frame. This kind of frame is an RR frame with
additional functions. It acknowledges the receipt of a frame or
group of frames, and it announces that the receiver is busy and

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cannot receive more frames. It acts as a kind of congestion-control

mechanism by asking the sender to slow down. The value of N(R)
is the acknowledgment number.
3. Reject (REJ) - If the value of the code subfield is 01, it is an REJ
S-frame. This is a NAK frame, It is a NAK that can be used in Go-
Back-N ARQ to improve the efficiency of the process by informing
the sender, before the sender timer expires, that the last frame is
lost or damaged. The value of N(R) is the negative
acknowledgment number.
4. Selective reject (SREJ) - If the value of the code subfield is 11, it
is an SREJ S frame. This is a NAK frame used in Selective Repeat
ARQ. Note that the HDLC Protocol uses the term selective reject
instead of selective repeat. The value of N(R) is the negative
acknowledgment number.

Control Field for U-Frames

• Unnumbered frames are used to exchange session management

and control information between connected devices.
• U-frame codes are divided into two sections: a 2-bit prefix before
the P/ F bit and a 3-bit suffix after the P/F bit.
• Together, these two segments (5 bits) can be used to create up to
32 different types of U-frames.
• Consider the following example Node A asks for a connection with
a set asynchronous balanced mode (SABM) frame; node B gives a
positive response with an unnumbered acknowledgment (UA)
frame.

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• After these two exchanges, data can be transferred between the

two nodes.
• After data transfer, node A sends a DISC (disconnect) frame to
release the connection; it is confirmed by node B responding with
a UA (unnumbered acknowledgment).

Example of connection and disconnection

Consider the example two exchanges using piggybacking. The first is the
case where no error has occurred; the second is the case where an error
has occurred and some frames are discarded.

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POINT-TO-POINT PROTOCOL (PPP)

Internet users who need to connect their home computers to the server
of an Internet service provider use PPP.

Services Provided by PPP

• PPP is designed to accept payloads from several network layers

• Authentication is also provided in the protocol, but it is optional.
• The new version of PPP, called Multilink PPP, provides connections
over multiple links.

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• It provides network address configuration. This is particularly

useful when a home user needs a temporary network address to
connect to the Internet.

Services Not Provided by PPP

• PPP does not provide flow control.

• PPP has a very simple mechanism for error control. A CRC field is
used to detect errors. If the frame is corrupted, it is silently
discarded; the upper-layer protocol needs to take care of the
problem. Lack of error control and sequence numbering may cause a
packet to be received out of order. PPP does not provide a
sophisticated addressing mechanism to handle frames in a multipoint
configuration.

Framing

PPP frame format

Flag: A PPP frame starts and ends with a 1-byte flag with the bit pattern
01111110.

Address: The address field in this protocol is a constant value and set to
11111111 (broadcast address).

Control: This field is set to the constant value 00000011 PPP does not
provide any flow control. Error control is also limited to error detection.

Protocol: The protocol field defines what is being carried in the data field:
either user data or other information. This field is by default 2 bytes long,
but the two parties can agree to use only 1 byte.

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Payload field: The data field is a sequence of bytes with the default of a
maximum of 1500 bytes; but this can be changed during negotiation. The
data field is byte-stuffed if the flag byte pattern appears in this field.
Because there is no field defining the size of the data field, padding is
needed if the size is less than the maximum default value or the maximum
negotiated value.

FCS: The frame check sequence (FCS) is simply a 2-byte or 4-byte standard
CRC.

Byte Stuffing

Since PPP is a byte-oriented protocol, the flag in PPP is a byte that needs
to be escaped whenever it appears in the data section of the frame. The
escape byte is 01111101, which means that every time the flaglike pattern
appears in the data, this extra byte is stuffed to tell the receiver that the
next byte is not a flag. Obviously, the escape byte itself should be stuffed
with another escape byte.

Transition Phases

• FSM, starts with the dead state. In this state there is no active carrier
(at the physical layer) and the line is quiet.
• When one of the two nodes starts the communication, the connection
goes into the establish state.
• In this state, options are negotiated between the two parties.
• If the two parties agree that they need authentication then the
system needs to do authentication otherwise, the parties can simply
start communication. Data transfer takes place in the open state.
• The connection remains in this state until one of the endpoints wants
to terminate the connection. In this case, the system goes to the
terminate state.

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Transition phases

Multiplexing

• PPP uses a set of protocols to establish the link, authenticate and

carry the network-layer data.
• Three sets of protocols are defined to make PPP powerful: the Link
Control Protocol (LCP), two Authentication Protocols (APs), and
several Network Control Protocols (NCPs).
• At any moment, a PPP packet can carry data from one of these
protocols in its data field.

Multiplexing in PPP

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Link Control Protocol

• The Link Control Protocol (LCP) is responsible for establishing,

maintaining, configuring, and terminating links.
• It also provides negotiation mechanisms to set options between the
two endpoints.
• All LCP packets are carried in the payload field of the PPP frame with
the protocol field set to C021 in hexadecimal.

LCP packet encapsulated in a frame

The code field defines the type of LCP packet.

There are many options that can be negotiated between the two endpoints.
Options are inserted in the information field of the configuration packets.
In this case, information field is divided into three fields: option type, option
length, and option data.

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Authentication Protocols

• Authentication means validating the identity of a user who needs to

access a set of resources.
• PPP has created two protocols for authentication: Password
Authentication Protocol and Challenge Handshake Authentication
Protocol.

PAP

• The Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) is a simple authentication

procedure with a two-step process:
a. The user who wants to access a system sends an authentication
identification (usually the user name) and a password.
b. The system checks the validity of the identification and password
and either accepts or denies connection.
• When a PPP frame is carrying any PAP packets, the value of the
protocol field is 0xC023.
• The three PAP packets are authenticate-request, authenticate-ack,
and authenticate-nak.
• The first packet is used by the user to send the user name and
password.
• The second is used by the system to allow access.
• The third is used by the system to deny access.

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PAP packets encapsulated in a PPP frame

CHAP

The Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) is a three-way

hand shaking authentication protocol that provides greater security than
PAP. In this method, the password is kept secret; it is never sent online.

a. The system sends the user a challenge packet containing a challenge

value, usually a few bytes.
b. The user applies a predefined function that takes the challenge value
and the user’s own password and creates a result. The user sends the
result in the response packet to the system.
c. The system does the same. It applies the same function to the
password of the user (known to the system) and the challenge value
to create a result. If the result created is the same as the result sent
in the response packet, access is granted; otherwise, it is denied.

CHAP is more secure than PAP, especially if the system continuously

changes the challenge value. Even if the intruder learns the challenge value
and the result, the password is still secret.

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CHAP packets encapsulated in a PPP frame

• CHAP packets are encapsulated in the PPP frame with the
protocol value C223 in hexadecimal.
• There are four CHAP packets: challenge, response, success,
and failure.
• The first packet is used by the system to send the challenge
value.
• The second is used by the user to return the result of the
calculation.
• The third is used by the system to allow access to the system.
• The fourth is used by the system to deny access to the system.

Network Control Protocols

• PPP is a multiple-network-layer protocol.
• It can carry a network-layer data packet from protocols defined
by the Internet, OSI, Xerox, DECnet, AppleTalk, Novel, and so
on.
• To do this, PPP has defined a specific Network Control Protocol
for each network protocol.

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• IPCP (Internet Protocol Control Protocol) configures the link for

carrying IP data packets.
• Xerox CP does the same for the Xerox protocol data packets.

IPCP
One NCP protocol is the Internet Protocol Control Protocol (IPCP).
This protocol configures the link used to carry IP packets in the
Internet.

IPCP packet encapsulated in PPP frame

Data from the Network Layer

If PPP is carrying data from the IP network layer, the field value is
0021.

IP datagram encapsulated in a PPP frame

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Multilink PPP
In multilink PPP, a logical PPP frame is divided into several actual PPP
frames. A segment of the logical frame is carried in the payload of an
actual PPP frame. To show that the actual PPP frame is carrying a
fragment of a logical PPP frame, the protocol field is set to (003d)16.

Media Access Control (MAC)

• When nodes or stations are connected and use a common link, called
a multipoint or broadcast link, we need a multiple-access protocol to
coordinate access to the link.
• Media Access Control (MAC) is a sublayer in the data-link layer.

Taxonomy of multiple-access protocols

Random Access

In random-access or contention methods, no station is superior to another

station and none is assigned control over another. There is no scheduled
time for a station to transmit. Transmission is random among the stations.
No rules specify which station should send next. Stations compete with one
another to access the medium.

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ALOHA

ALOHA, the earliest random access method.

Pure ALOHA: Each station sends a frame whenever it has a frame to send
(multiple access). However, since there is only one channel to share, there
is the possibility of collision between frames from different stations.

Frames in a pure ALOHA network

There are four stations (unrealistic assumption) that contend with one
another for access to the shared channel. The figure shows that each
station sends two frames; there are a total of eight frames on the shared
medium. Some of these frames collide because multiple frames are in
contention for the shared channel. Only two frames survive: one frame
from station 1 and one frame from station 3.

The pure ALOHA protocol relies on acknowledgments from the receiver.

When a station sends a frame, it expects the receiver to send an
acknowledgment. If the acknowledgment does not arrive after a time-out
period, the station assumes that the frame (or the acknowledgment) has
been destroyed and resends the frame.

A collision involves two or more stations. If all these stations try to resend
their frames after the time-out, the frames will collide again. Pure ALOHA
dictates that when the time-out period passes, each station waits a random

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amount of time before resending its frame. The randomness will help avoid
more collisions. We call this time the backoff time TB.

Procedure for pure ALOHA protocol

Example:

The stations on a wireless ALOHA network are a maximum of 600 km apart.

If we assume that signals propagate at 3 × 108 m/s, we find Tp = (600 ×
103) / (3 × 108) = 2 ms. For K = 2, the range of R is {0, 1, 2, 3}. This
means that TB can be 0, 2, 4, or 6 ms, based on the outcome of the random
variable R.

If each frame takes Tfr seconds to send.

Pure ALOHA vulnerable time = 2 x Tfr

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Vulnerable time for pure ALOHA protocol

Example:

A pure ALOHA network transmits 200-bit frames on a shared channel of

200 kbps. What is the requirement to make this frame collision-free?
Solution

Average frame transmission time Tfr is 200 bits/200 kbps or 1 ms. The
vulnerable time is 2 × 1 ms = 2 ms. This means no station should send
later than 1 ms before this station starts transmission and no station should
start sending during the period (1 ms) that this station is sending.

Throughput

Let us call G the average number of frames generated by the system during
one frame transmission time. Then it can be proven that the average
number of successfully transmitted frames for pure ALOHA is S = G × e−2G.
The maximum throughput Smax is 0.184, for G = 1/2.

Example

A pure ALOHA network transmits 200-bit frames on a shared channel of

200 kbps. What is the throughput if the system (all stations together)
produces

a. 1000 frames per second?

b. 500 frames per second?

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c. 250 frames per second?

The frame transmission time is 200/200 kbps or 1 ms.

a. If the system creates 1000 frames per second, or 1 frame per

millisecond, then G = 1. In this case S = G × e−2G = 0.135 (13.5 percent).
This means that the throughput is 1000 × 0.135 = 135 frames. Only 135
frames out of 1000 will probably survive.

b. If the system creates 500 frames per second, or 1/2 frames per
millisecond, then G = 1/2. In this case S = G × e−2G = 0.184 (18.4
percent). This means that the throughput is 500 × 0.184 = 92 and that
only 92 frames out of 500 will probably survive. Note that this is the
maximum throughput case, percentagewise.

c. If the system creates 250 frames per second, or 1/4 frames per
millisecond, then G = 1/4. In this case S = G × e−2G = 0.152 (15.2
percent). This means that the throughput is 250 × 0.152 = 38. Only 38
frames out of 250 will probably survive.

Slotted ALOHA

In slotted ALOHA we divide the time into slots of T fr seconds and force the
station to send only at the beginning of the time slot.

Frames in a slotted ALOHA network

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• Because a station is allowed to send only at the beginning of the

synchronized time slot, if a station misses this moment, it must wait
until the beginning of the next time slot.
• This means that the station which started at the beginning of this slot
has already finished sending its frame.
• Of course, there is still the possibility of collision if two stations try to
send at the beginning of the same time slot.
• However, the vulnerable time is now reduced to one-half, equal to Tfr.

Vulnerable time for slotted ALOHA protocol

Throughput

The throughput for slotted ALOHA is S = G x e-G. The maximum throughput

Smax = 0.368 when G = 1.

Example:

A slotted ALOHA network transmits 200-bit frames using a shared channel

with a 200-kbps bandwidth. Find the throughput if the system (all stations
together) produces

a. 1000 frames per second.

b. 500 frames per second.

c. 250 frames per second.

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Solution This situation is similar to the previous exercise except that the
network is using slotted ALOHA instead of pure ALOHA. The frame
transmission time is 200/200 kbps or 1 ms.

a. In this case G is 1. So S = G × e−G = 0.368 (36.8 percent). This means

that the throughput is 1000 × 0.0368 = 368 frames. Only 368 out of 1000
frames will probably survive. Note that this is the maximum throughput
case, percentagewise.

b. Here G is 1/2. In this case S = G × e−G = 0.303 (30.3 percent). This

means that the throughput is 500 × 0.0303 = 151. Only 151 frames out of
500 will probably survive.

c. Now G is 1/4. In this case S = G × e −G = 0.195 (19.5 percent). This

means that the throughput is 250 × 0.195 = 49. Only 49 frames out of 250
will probably survive.

CSMA

To minimize the chance of collision and, therefore, increase the

performance, the CSMA method was developed. Carrier sense multiple
access (CSMA) requires that each station first listen to the medium (or
check the state of the medium) before sending. In other words, CSMA is
based on the principle “sense before transmit” or “listen before talk.”

Space/time model of a collision in CSMA

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At time t1, station B senses the medium and finds it idle, so it sends a
frame. At time t2 (t2 > t1), station C senses the medium and finds it idle
because, at this time, the first bits from station B have not reached station
C. Station C also sends a frame. The two signals collide and both frames
are destroyed.

The vulnerable time for CSMA is the propagation time Tp. This is the time
needed for a signal to propagate from one end of the medium to the other.

Vulnerable time in CSMA

Persistence Methods

What the channel should do if the channel is idle or busy, there are three
approaches 1-persistent method, the nonpersistent method, and the p-
persistent method.

1-Persistent

The 1-persistent method is simple and straightforward. In this method,

after the station finds the line idle, it sends its frame immediately (with
probability 1). This method has the highest chance of collision because two
or more stations may find the line idle and send their frames immediately.

Nonpersistent

In the nonpersistent method, a station that has a frame to send senses the
line. If the line is idle, it sends immediately. If the line is not idle, it waits a
random amount of time and then senses the line again. The nonpersistent
approach reduces the chance of collision because it is unlikely that two or

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more stations will wait the same amount of time and retry to send
simultaneously. However, this method reduces the efficiency of the network
because the medium remains idle when there may be stations with frames
to send.

p-Persistent

The p-persistent method is used if the channel has time slots with a slot
duration equal to or greater than the maximum propagation time. The p-
persistent approach combines the advantages of the other two strategies.
It reduces the chance of collision and improves efficiency. In this method,
after the station finds the line idle it follows these steps:

1. With probability p, the station sends its frame

2. With probability q = 1 − p, the station waits for the beginning of the
next time slot and checks the line again.
a. If the line is idle, it goes to step 1.
b. If the line is busy, it acts as though a collision has occurred and
uses the back off procedure.

Behaviour of three persistence methods

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Flow diagram for three persistence methods

CSMA/CD

• Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD)

augments the algorithm to handle the collision.
• A station monitors the medium after it sends a frame to see if the
transmission was successful.
• If so, the station is finished. If, however, there is a collision, the frame
is sent again.

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Collision of the first bits in CSMA/CD

• At time t1, station A has executed its persistence procedure and

starts sending the bits of its frame.
• At time t2, station C has not yet sensed the first bit sent by A. Station
C executes its persistence procedure and starts sending the bits in its
frame, which propagate both to the left and to the right.
• The collision occurs some time after time t2. Station C detects a
collision at time t3 when it receives the first bit of A’s frame. Station
C immediately aborts transmission.
• Station A detects collision at time t4 when it receives the first bit of
C’s frame; it also immediately aborts transmission.

Collision and abortion in CSMA/CD

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Minimum Frame Size

• For CSMA/CD to work, we need a restriction on the frame size. Before

sending the last bit of the frame, the sending station must detect a
collision, if any, and abort the transmission.
• This is so because the station, once the entire frame is sent, does not
keep a copy of the frame and does not monitor the line for collision
detection.
• Therefore, the frame transmission time Tfr must be at least two times
the maximum propagation time Tp.

Example:

A network using CSMA/CD has a bandwidth of 10 Mbps. If the maximum

propagation time (including the delays in the devices and ignoring the time
needed to send a jamming signal) is 25.6 μs, what is the minimum size of
the frame?

The minimum frame transmission time is Tfr = 2 × Tp = 51.2 μs. This

means, in the worst case, a station needs to transmit for a period of 51.2
μs to detect the collision. The minimum size of the frame is 10 Mbps × 51.2
μs = 512 bits or 64 bytes.

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Procedure:

Flow diagram for the CSMA/CD

It is similar to the one for the ALOHA protocol, but there are differences.

• The first difference is the addition of the persistence process

(nonpersistent, 1-persistent, or p-persistent)
• The second difference is, in ALOHA, we first transmit the entire frame
and then wait for an acknowledgment. In CSMA/CD, transmission and
collision detection are continuous processes.
• We do not send the entire frame and then look for a collision. The
station transmits and receives continuously and simultaneously
(using two different ports or a bidirectional port).
• The third difference is the sending of a short jamming signal to make
sure that all other stations become aware of the collision.

Energy Level

We can say that the level of energy in a channel can have three values:
zero, normal, and abnormal. At the zero level, the channel is idle. At the
normal level, a station has successfully captured the channel and is sending
its frame. At the abnormal level, there is a collision and the level of the

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energy is twice the normal level. A station that has a frame to send or is
sending a frame needs to monitor the energy level to determine if the
channel is idle, busy, or in collision mode.

Energy level during transmission, idleness, or collision

Throughput

• The throughput of CSMA/CD is greater than that of pure or slotted

ALOHA.
• The maximum throughput occurs at a different value of G and is
based on the persistence method and the value of p in the p-
persistent approach.
• For the 1-persistent method, the maximum throughput is around 50
percent when G = 1.
• For the nonpersistent method, the maximum throughput can go up
to 90 percent when G is between 3 and 8.

CSMA/CA

Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) was

invented for wireless networks. Collisions are avoided through the use of
CSMA/CA’s three strategies: the interframe space, the contention window,
and acknowledgments.

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Flow diagram of CSMA/CA

Interframe Space (IFS):

• Collisions are avoided by deferring transmission even if the channel

is found idle.
• When an idle channel is found, the station does not send immediately.
• It waits for a period of time called the interframe space or IFS.
• Even though the channel may appear idle when it is sensed, a distant
station may have already started transmitting. The distant station’s
signal has not yet reached this station.
• The IFS time allows the front of the transmitted signal by the distant
station to reach this station.

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• After waiting an IFS time, if the channel is still idle, the station can
send, but it still needs to wait a time equal to the contention window.

Contention Window:

• The contention window is an amount of time divided into slots.

• A station that is ready to send chooses a random number of slots as
its wait time.
• The number of slots in the window changes according to the binary
exponential backoff strategy.
• This means that it is set to one slot the first time and then doubles
each time the station cannot detect an idle channel after the IFS time.

Contention window

With all these precautions, there still may be a collision resulting in

destroyed data. In addition, the data may be corrupted during the
transmission. The positive acknowledgment and the time-out timer can
help guarantee that the receiver has received the frame.

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CSMA/CA and NAV

1. Before sending a frame, the source station senses the medium by

checking the energy level at the carrier frequency.

a. The channel uses a persistence strategy with backoff until the

channel is idle.

b. After the station is found to be idle, the station waits for a period
of time called the DCF interframe space (DIFS); then the station
sends a control frame called the request to send (RTS).

2. After receiving the RTS and waiting a period of time called the short
interframe space (SIFS), the destination station sends a control frame,
called the clear to send (CTS), to the source station. This control frame
indicates that the destination station is ready to receive data.

3. The source station sends data after waiting an amount of time equal to
SIFS.

4. The destination station, after waiting an amount of time equal to SIFS,

sends an acknowledgment to show that the frame has been received.
Acknowledgment is needed in this protocol because the station does not
have any means to check for the successful arrival of its data at the

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destination. On the other hand, the lack of collision in CSMA/CD is a kind

of indication to the source that data have arrived.

Network Allocation Vector

• When a station sends an RTS frame, it includes the duration of time

that it needs to occupy the channel.
• The stations that are affected by this transmission create a timer
called a network allocation vector (NAV) that shows how much time
must pass before these stations are allowed to check the channel for
idleness.
• Each time a station accesses the system and sends an RTS frame,
other stations start their NAV.
• In other words, each station, before sensing the physical medium to
see if it is idle, first checks its NAV to see if it has expired.

Collision During Handshaking

• What happens if there is a collision during the time when RTS or CTS
control frames are in transition, often called the handshaking period?
• Two or more stations may try to send RTS frames at the same time.
These control frames may collide.
• However, because there is no mechanism for collision detection, the
sender assumes there has been a collision if it has not received a CTS
frame from the receiver.
• The backoff strategy is employed, and the sender tries again.

Hidden-Station Problem

• CSMA/CA and NAV figure shows that the RTS message from B reaches
A, but not C.
• However, because both B and C are within the range of A, the CTS
message, which contains the duration of data transmission from B to
A, reaches C.

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• Station C knows that some hidden station is using the channel and
refrains from transmitting until that duration is over.

CONTROLLED ACCESS

In controlled access, the stations consult one another to find which station
has the right to send. A station cannot send unless it has been authorized
by other stations.

Reservation

• In the reservation method, a station needs to make a reservation

before sending data.
• Time is divided into intervals.
• In each interval, a reservation frame precedes the data frames sent
in that interval.
• If there are N stations in the system, there are exactly N reservation
minislots in the reservation frame.
• Each minislot belongs to a station. When a station needs to send a
data frame, it makes a reservation in its own minislot.
• The stations that have made reservations can send their data frames
after the reservation frame.

Reservation access method

Polling

Polling works with topologies in which one device is designated as a primary

station and the other devices are secondary stations. All data exchanges
must be made through the primary device even when the ultimate

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destination is a secondary device. The primary device controls the link; the
secondary devices follow its instructions. It is up to the primary device to
determine which device is allowed to use the channel at a given time. The
primary device, therefore, is always the initiator of a session This method
uses poll and select functions to prevent collisions. However, the drawback
is if the primary station fails, the system goes down.

Select and poll functions in polling-access method

Select

The select function is used whenever the primary device has something to
send. Remember that the primary controls the link. If the primary is neither
sending nor receiving data, it knows the link is available. If it has something
to send, the primary device sends it. What it does not know, however, is
whether the target device is prepared to receive. So the primary must alert
the secondary to the upcoming transmission and wait for an
acknowledgment of the secondary’s ready status. Before sending data, the
primary creates and transmits a select (SEL) frame, one field of which
includes the address of the intended secondary.

Poll

The poll function is used by the primary device to solicit transmissions from
the secondary devices. When the primary is ready to receive data, it must
ask (poll) each device if it has anything to send. When the first secondary

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is approached, it responds either with a NAK frame if it has nothing to send

or with data (in the form of a data frame) if it does. If the response is
negative (a NAK frame), then the primary polls the next secondary in the
same manner until it finds one with data to send. When the response is
positive (a data frame), the primary reads the frame and returns an
acknowledgment (ACK frame), verifying its receipt.

Token Passing

• In the token-passing method, the stations in a network are organized

in a logical ring.

• For each station, there is a predecessor and a successor.

• In this method, a special packet called a token circulates through the

ring.

• When a station has some data to send, it waits until it receives the
token from its predecessor.

• It then holds the token and sends its data. When the station has no
more data to send, it releases the token, passing it to the next logical
station in the ring.

• When a station receives the token and has no data to send, it just
passes the data to the next station.

• Token management is needed for this access method. Stations must

be limited in the time they can have possession of the token.

• The token must be monitored to ensure it has not been lost or

destroyed.

• For example, if a station that is holding the token fails, the token will
disappear from the network.

• Another function of token management is to assign priorities to the

stations and to the types of data being transmitted.

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• And finally, token management is needed to make low-priority

stations release the token to high-priority stations.

Logical Ring

Logical ring and physical topology in token-passing access method

In the physical ring topology, when a station sends the token to its
successor, the token cannot be seen by other stations; the successor is the
next one in line. This means that the token does not have to have the
address of the next successor. The problem with this topology is that if one
of the links—the medium between two adjacent stations—fails, the whole
system fails.

• The dual ring topology uses a second (auxiliary) ring which operates
in the reverse direction compared with the main ring. The second ring
is for emergencies only.

• If one of the links in the main ring fails, the system automatically
combines the two rings to form a temporary ring.

• After the failed link is restored, the auxiliary ring becomes idle again.
Note that for this topology to work, each station needs to have two
transmitter ports and two receiver ports.

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• The high-speed Token Ring networks called FDDI (Fiber Distributed

Data Interface) and CDDI (Copper Distributed Data Interface) use
this topology.

In the bus ring topology, also called a token bus, the stations are connected
to a single cable called a bus. They, however, make a logical ring, because
each station knows the address of its successor (and also predecessor for
token management purposes). When a station has finished sending its
data, it releases the token and inserts the address of its successor in the
token. Only the station with the address matching the destination address
of the token gets the token to access the shared media. The Token Bus
LAN, standardized by IEEE, uses this topology.

In a star ring topology, the physical topology is a star. There is a hub,

however, that acts as the connector. The wiring inside the hub makes the
ring; the stations are connected to this ring through the two wire
connections. This topology makes the network less prone to failure because
if a link goes down, it will be bypassed by the hub and the rest of the
stations can operate. Also adding and removing stations from the ring is
easier. This topology is still used in the Token Ring LAN designed by IBM.

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