CHAPTER 4

Data Link Layer

Objectives…
● To study Error Detecting Techniques.
● To study Elementary Data Link Protocols.
● To learn Sliding Window Protocol.
● To study Protocols used in Random Access Method.
● To understand Protocols used in Controlled Access Method.
● To learn Protocols used in Channelization Access Method.

4.1 INTRODUCTION
● The Data Link Layer is the second layer in the OSI model, above the Physical Layer,
which ensures that the error free data is transferred between the adjacent nodes in
the network.
● It breaks the datagram passed down by above layers and converts them into frames
ready for transfer. This is called Framing.
● It provides following two main functionalities:
1. Reliable data transfer service between two peer network layers.
2. Flow Control mechanism which regulates the flow of frames such that data
congestion is not there at slow receivers due to fast senders.
● So Data link layer has two sub-layers:
1. Logical Link Control (LLC): It deals with protocols, flow-control, and error control.
2. Media Access Control (MAC): It deals with actual control of media.

4.2 FRAMING
● Data link layer is intermediate between network layer and physical layer.
● To provide service to the network layer, the data link layer must use the service
provided to it by the physical layer.
● Physical layer accepts raw bit stream which is not guaranteed to be error free, and
attempt it to deliver it to the destination.
● So it is the responsibility of data link layer to detect errors such as number of bits
received may be less or contain different values etc.
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● The data link layer breaks the bit stream into the frames and compute checksum for
each frame. When frame comes at destination, the checksum is recomputed, if it is
different, an error has occurred and it will be corrected.
4.2.1 Framing Concept
● A frame is a digital data transmission unit in computer networking.
● The data link layer divides the continuous bit stream that physical layer uses into units
called frames, and computes the checksum for each frame and puts it as a field called
Frame Check Sequence (FCS) in the frame format, i.e. the way bits are organized in the
frame.
● At the destination, the checksum is recomputed when the frame arrives. This
facilitates error detection.
● Recognizing the frame boundaries as a synchronous bit pattern arrives is called
framing.
● The data link layer accepts the bit stream from the physical layer and breaks it into
frames, this process is known as framing.
● Fig. 4.1 shows frame format in data link layer.
Destination Control Error checking
Address Information Information

Source Data sent by

Address Source
Fig. 4.1: Frame Format

4.2.2 Framing Methods (S-19, 18)

● We will study following three methods of framing:
1. Character count.
2. Flag bytes with byte stuffing.
3. Starting and ending flags, with bit stuffing.
4.2.2.1 Character Count
● It uses a field in the header to specify the number of characters in the frame.
● When the data link layer at the destination see the character count, it knows how
many character follows and where the end of frame is.
● The following Fig. 4.2 shows four frames of sizes 5, 5, 8 and 8 characters respectively.
● The problem with this method is the count can be garbled by a transmission error.
● In Fig. 4.2 (b), the character 5 in frame 2 becomes 7, so destination frames get out of
synchronization and is unable to locate the start of the next frame.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Fig. 4.2: A Character Stream (a) Without Error, (b) With One Error
● So in case of any error, the entire data has to be retransmitted. But retransmission
does not help either, since the destination does not know how many characters to skip
over to get to the start of the retransmission. For this reason, the character count
method is rarely used anymore.
4.2.2.2 Flag Bytes with Byte Stuffing
● This method solves the problem of resynchronization.
● Each frame start and end with special bytes called flag byte.
● The flag byte is used as starting and ending delimiter as shown in Fig. 4.3.

(a) A Frame Delimited by Flag Bytes

(b) Four Examples of Byte Sequences

Fig. 4.3
● If the receiver loses synchronization, it can just search the FLAG byte to find the end of
the current frame. Two consecutive flag bytes indicate the end of one frame and start
of next frame.
● A problem here comes with the binary data or floating point numbers are being
transmitted. It may easily happen that the flag byte's bit pattern occurs in the data.
This situation will usually interfere with the framing. One way to solve this, a special
4.3
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

ESC byte is inserted just before each accidental flag byte in the data. The data link
layer on the receiving end remove the escape byte before the data are given to the
network layer. This is known as byte stuffing or character stuffing.
● A major drawback is it uses 8-bit characters. Not all character codes use 8-bit
characters. Unicode uses 16-bit characters. So, it cannot be used for arbitrary sized
characters.
4.2.2.3 Starting and Ending Flags with Bit Stuffing
● In this method, it allows character codes with an arbitrary number of bits per
character. Each frame begins and ends with a special bit pattern, 01111110.
● Whenever the sender's data link layer-encounters a five consecutive 1s in the data, it
automatically stuffs a 0-bit into the outgoing bit stream. So this is bit stuffing.
● When receiver sees 5 consecutive 1-bit followed by a 0-bit, it automatically destuffs the
0-bit.
● If the user data contain the flag pattern, 01111110, this is transmitted as 011111010 but
stored in the receiver's memory as 01111110.
● With bit stuffing, the boundary between two frames can be unambiguously recognized
by the flag pattern. Thus, if the receiver loses track of where it is, all it has to do is scan
the input for flag sequences, since they can only occur at frame boundaries and never
within the data.
● The Fig. 4.4 shows the bit stuffing.

Fig. 4.4: (a) Original Data (b) The Data Appear on the Line
(c) The Data at Receivers Site

4.3 ERROR DETECTION CODE

● As the signal is transmitted through a media, the signal gets corrupted because of
noise and distortion. In other words, the media is not reliable. To achieve a reliable
communication through this unreliable media, there is need for detecting the error in
the signal so that suitable mechanism can be devised to take corrective actions.
● The errors can be divided into two types: Single-bit error and Burst error. (S-19)
1. Single-bit Error: The term single-bit error means that only one bit of given data unit
(such as a byte, character, or data unit) is changed from 1 to 0 or from 0 to 1.
● In a frame, there is only one bit, anywhere though, which is corrupt.

4.4
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Sent Received
1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1

Fig. 4.5: Concept of Single-bit Error

2. Burst Error: The term burst error means that two or more bits in the data unit have
changed from 0 to 1 or vice-versa. Note that burst error doesn’t necessary means that
error occurs in consecutive bits.
● Frame contains more than 1 consecutive bits corrupted.
Sent Received
1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1

Fig. 4.6: Concept of Burst Error

● There are two ways for dealing with errors:

1. Error Correcting Codes: Include some redundant information along with each
block of data so that receiver can know what the transmitted data must have
been.
2. Error Detecting Codes: Here, only enough redundant information is added with
data so the receiver can know that error has occurred but not which error, and
can request a retransmission.
4.3.1 Hamming Distance
● This error detecting and correcting code technique is developed by R.W.Hamming .
This code not only identifies the error bit in the whole data sequence it also corrects it.
● The Hamming distance between two words (of the same size) is the number of
differences between the corresponding bits. The Hamming distance between two
words x and y is shown as d(x, y). In other words, the Hamming distance between the
received codeword and the sent codeword is the number of bits that are corrupted
during transmission.
● 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 zero.
● If two codewords are a Hamming distance d-apart, it will require d single-bit errors to
convert one codeword to other. The error detecting and correcting properties depends
on its Hamming distance.
1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 220
1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 246
XOR

0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 Hamming distance = 3

4.5
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● For example, if the codeword 00000 is sent and 01101 is received, the Hamming
distance between the two is d(00000, 01101) = 3 because 00000 ⊕ 01101 is 01101 (three
1’s)
● The Hamming distance d(10101, 11110) is 3 because 10101 ⊕ 11110 is 01011
Minimum Hamming Distance:
● The minimum Hamming distance is the smallest Hamming distance between all
possible pairs. To find this value, we find the Hamming distances between all words
and select the smallest one.
● To detect d errors, you need a distance (d+1) code because with such a code there is no
way that d-single bit errors can change a valid codeword into another valid codeword.
Whenever receiver sees an invalid codeword, it can tell that a transmission error has
occurred.
● Similarly, to correct d errors, you need a distance 2d+1 code because that way the legal
codewords are so far apart that even with d changes, the original codeword is still
closer than any other codeword, so it can be uniquely determined.
4.3.2 CRC (S-19,18)
● The most popular error detection technique is based on polynomial is called as CRC
(Cyclic Redundancy Check).
● In general, in this method, The transmitter generates an n-bit check sequence number
from a given k-bit frame such that the resulting (k+n) bit frame is divisible by some
number. The receiver divides the incoming frame by the same number. If the result of
the division does not leave a remainder, the receiver assumes that there was no error.
● CRC is used by all advanced data link protocols, for the following reasons:
1. Powerful error detection capability.
2. CRC can be efficiently implemented in hardware.
● In CRC , bit strings are represented as polynomials with the coefficients of 0 and 1
k–1
only. A k-bit frame is a coefficient list for a polynomial with k terms, ranging from x
0
to x . Such a polynomial is said to be of degree k-1.
● For example, 110001 has 6-bits so it will be represented as six term polynomial with
5 4 0
the coefficients 1, 1, 0, 0, 0 and 1.So polynomial is x + x + x .
● Polynomial arithmetic is done modulo 2 according to the algebra theory. It does not
have carries for addition or borrows for subtraction. Both addition and subtraction
are identical to exclusive OR.
● When this technique is used, sender and receiver must agree upon a generator
polynomial, G(x). High and low order bits must be 1. The checksum is appended in
such a way that polynomial represented by the checksummed frame is divisible by
G(x).
● When the receiver gets this frame, it divides it by G(x). If there is a remainder then
there is a transmission error.
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● To compute the CRC for some frame with m bits corresponding to the polynomial M(x),
the algorithm for computing the CRC is as follows:
1. Let r be the degree of G(x). Append r zero bits to the low-order end of the frame so
r
it now contains m + r bits and corresponds to the polynomial x M(x).
r
2. Divide the bit string corresponding to G(x) into the bit string corresponding to x
M(x), using modulo 2 division.
3. Subtract the remainder (which is always r or fewer bits) from the bit string
r
corresponding to x M(x) using modulo 2 subtraction. The result is the
checksummed frame to be transmitted. Call its polynomial T(x).
● The Fig. 4.7 shows basic scheme of CRC.
Sender Receiver

m n m n
Data 00...0 Data CRC

(n+1) bits (n+1) bits

Divisor Divisor

n bits n bits
CRC Reminder

N Y
Reject Zero Accept
Data CRC

Fig. 4.7: Basic Scheme of CRC

● To understand this, we will study the following example. Suppose the message is
1101011011 and
G (x) = x4 + x + 1
∴ Generator = 10011
The message after 4-bits appended is r = 4.
11010110110000
Now this stream is divided by the generator.
xr M(x) = 11010110110000
Remainder = – 1110
T(x) = 11010110111110
Thus the transmitted frame is 11010110111110.
● Actual data bits plus the remainder is called a codeword. The sender transmits data
bits as codewords. At the other end, the receiver performs division operation on
codewords using the same CRC divisor. If the remainder contains all zeros the data
bits are accepted, otherwise it is considered as there is some data corruption occurred
in transit.
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
100 11 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 1 1

1 0 0 1 1
1 0 0 1 1

0 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0

0 1 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0

1 0 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 0

0 1 0 1 0
0 0 0 0 0

1 0 1 0 0
1 0 0 1 1

0 1 1 1 0
0 0 0 0 0 Remeinder
1 1 1 0
Fig. 4.8: Calculation of CRC
Points to note in CRC:
1. The only relationship between the size of the codeword and dataword is the one
based on the definition: n = k + r, where n is the size of the codeword, k is the size
of the dataword, and r is the size of the remainder.
2. The remainder is always one bit smaller than the divisor.
3. The degree of the generator polynomial is one less than the size of the divisor. For
example, the CRC-32 generator (with the polynomial of degree 32) uses a 33-bit
divisor.
4. The degree of the generator polynomial is the same as the size of the remainder
(length of checkbits). For example, CRC-32 (with the polynomial of degree 32)
creates a remainder of 32 bits.
● A polynomial is selected to have at least the following properties:
o It should not be divisible by X.
o It should not be divisible by (X+1).
● The first condition guarantees that all burst errors of a length equal to the degree of
polynomial are detected. The second condition guarantees that all burst errors
affecting an odd number of bits are detected.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● Commonly used divisor polynomials are:

12 11 3 2
CRC-12:P(X) = X + X + X + X + X + 1
16 15 2
CRC-16:P(X) = X + X + X + 1
16 12 5
CRC-CCITT: P(X) = X + X + X + 1
32 26 23 22 16 12 11 10 8 7 5 4 2
CRC-32: P(X) = X + X + X + X + X + X + X + X + X + X + X + X + X + X + 1
Performance:
● CRC is a very effective error detection technique. If the divisor is chosen according to
the previously mentioned rules, its performance can be summarized as follows:
o CRC can detect all single-bit errors.
o CRC can detect all double-bit errors (three 1’s).
o CRC can detect any odd number of errors (X+1).
o CRC can detect all burst errors of less than the degree of the polynomial.
o CRC detects most of the larger burst errors with a high probability.
Example 1: Given the dataword 1010011110 and the divisor 10111. (S-18)
(a) Show the generation of the codeword at the sender site (using binary division).
(b) Show the checking of the codeword at the receiver site (assume no error).
Solution: Fig. 4.9 shows solution for above problems (a) and (b).
(a) (b)
Dataword 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 Codeword 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Quotient 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 Quotient
10111 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 10111 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1
Divisor 1 0 1 1 1 Divisor 1 0 1 1 1

0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1

1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Sender Receiver
1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1

0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1

1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1
1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1
Remainder 0 0 0 1 Remainder (No error) 0 0 0 0

Codeword 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 Dataword 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1

Fig. 4.9
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Example 2: Dataword to be sent is 100100 and the divisor is 1101:

(a) Show the generation of the codeword at the sender side.
(b) Show the checking of the codeword at the receiver side.
Solution:
Sender Side: 1 1 1 1 0 1
1101 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
1 1 0 1
1 0 0 0
1 1 0 1
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 0
1 1 0 1
0 1 1 0
0 0 0 0
1 1 0 0
1 1 0 1
0 0 1
Therefore, the remainder is 001 and hence the codeword sent is 100100001.
Receiver Side: Let there be 1 1 1 0 1 0
error in transmission media. 1101 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Codeword received at the 1 1 0 1
receiver side is 100000001. 1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 0
1 1 0 1
0 1 1 0
0 0 0 0
1 1 0 0
1 1 0 1
0 0 1 1
0 0 0 0
0 1 1
● Since the remainder is not all zeroes, the error is detected at the receiver side.

4.4 ELEMENTARY DATA LINK PROTOCOLS (W-18)

● Data Link Control is the service provided by the Data Link Layer to provide reliable
data transfer over the physical medium. For example, In the half-duplex transmission
mode, one device can only transmit the data at a time.
● If both the devices at the end of the links transmit the data simultaneously, they will
collide and leads to the loss of the information. The Data link layer provides the
coordination among the devices so that no collision occurs.
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● For reliable and efficient data communication a great deal of coordination is necessary
between at least two machines. Some of the following constraints should be
considered:
o Both sender and receiver have limited speed.
o Both sender and receiver have limited memory.
It is necessary to satisfy the following requirements:
o A fast sender should not overwhelm a slow receiver, which must perform a certain
amount of processing before passing the data on to the higher level software.
o If error occur during transmission, it is necessary to devise mechanism to correct
it.
● The most important functions of Data Link layer to satisfy the above requirements are
error control and flow control. Collectively, these functions are known as data link
control.
● Flow Control is a technique so that transmitter and receiver with different speed
characteristics can communicate with each other. Flow Control is a set of procedures
that tells the sender how much data it can transmit before it must wait for an
acknowledgment from the receiver. The flow of data should not be allowed to
overwhelm the receiver. Receiver should also be able to inform the transmitter before
its limits (this limit may be amount of memory used to store the incoming data or the
processing power at the receiver end) are reached and the sender must send fewer
frames.
● Hence, Flow control refers to the set of procedures used to restrict the amount of data
the transmitter can send before waiting for acknowledgment. It ensures that a
transmitting station, such as a server with higher processing capability, does not
overwhelm a receiving station, such as a desktop system, with lesser processing
capability. This is where there is an orderly flow of transmitted data between the
source and the destination.
● Error Control involves both error detection and error correction. It is necessary
because errors are inevitable in data communication, in spite of the use of better
equipment and reliable transmission media based on the current technology. In the
preceding section, we have already discussed how errors can be detected. When an
error is detected, the receiver can have the specified frame retransmitted by the
sender. This process is commonly known as Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ).
● Data link layer protocols combine framing, flow control, and error control to achieve
the delivery of data from one node to another. By using any common programming
language protocols are implemented. These protocols are divided into two types i.e.,
for noiseless channel, and for noisy channel as shown in Fig. 4.10.
● There are two methods developed for flow control namely Stop-and-wait and Sliding-
window.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Fig. 4.10 Types of Protocol

● Stop-and-wait is also known as Request/reply sometimes. Request/reply (Stop-and-
wait) flow control requires each data packet to be acknowledged by the remote host
before the next packet is sent.
● Sliding window algorithms, used by TCP, permit multiple data packets to be in
simultaneous transit, making more efficient use of network bandwidth.
4.4.1 Simplex Protocol
● This protocol is a simple but unrealistic protocol. It assumes that an ideal channel
exists in which no frames are lost, duplicated, or corrupted.
● In this protocol:
o It has no flow or error control.
o It is a unidirectional protocol in which data frames are traveling in only one
direction-from the sender to receiver.
o The sender and receiver are always ready.
o Processing time can be ignored.
o Infinite buffer space is available.
o No errors occur; i.e. no damaged frames and no lost frames (perfect channel).
o The data link layer of the receiver immediately removes the header from the
frame and hands the data packet to its network layer, which can also accept the
packet immediately.
Design:
● The sender site cannot send a frame until its network layer has a data packet to send.
The receiver site cannot deliver a data packet to its network layer until a frame
arrives.
● The data link layer at the sender site gets data from its network layer, makes a frame
out of the data, and sends it.
● The data link layer at the receiver site receives a frame from its physical layer, extracts
data from the frame, and delivers the data to its network layer.

4.12
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Sender Receiver

Deliver
Network Get data Network
data

Data link Data link

Physical Send Receive Physical

frame frame
Data frames

Request from
network layer Event

Repeat forever
Repeat forever
Algorithm for receiver site
Algorithm for sender site

Notification from
physical layer Event

Fig. 4.11: The design of the simplest protocol with no flow or error control
● If the protocol is implemented as a procedure, There is need to introduce the idea of
events in the protocol. The procedure at the sender site is constantly running; there is
no action until there is a request from the network layer. The procedure at the
receiver site is also constantly running, but there is no action until notification from
the physical layer arrives.
4.4.2 Stop-and-Wait Protocol
● Flow control deals with problem that sender transmits frames faster than receiver can
accept, and solution is to limit sender into sending no faster than receiver can handle.
● In this protocol, assumptions are as follows:
o Data are transmitted in one direction only.
o No errors occur (perfect channel).
o The receiver can only process the received information at a finite rate.
o These assumptions imply that the transmitter cannot send frames at a rate faster
than the receiver can process them.
Working:
● This is the simplest form of flow control where a sender transmits a data frame.
● After receiving the frame, the receiver indicates its willingness to accept another
frame by sending back an ACK frame acknowledging the frame just received.
● The sender must wait until it receives the ACK frame before sending the next data
frame. This is sometimes referred to as ping-pong behavior, request/reply is simple to
understand and easy to implement, but not very efficient.
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● In LAN environment with fast links, this isn't much of a concern, but WAN links will
spend most of their time idle, especially if several hops are required.
Design:
● The following Fig 4.12 shows the design of stop-and-wait protocol.
Sender Receiver

Deliver
Network Get data data Network

Data link Data link

Physical Receive Send Receive Send Physical

frame frame Data frames frame frame

ACK frame

Request from
Event
network layer

Repeat forever Repeat forever

Algorithm for sender site Algorithm for receiver site

Notification from Notification from

physical layer Event physical layer Event

Fig. 4.12 Design of Stop-and-Wait Protocol

● In above figure, we can see the traffic on the forward channel (from sender to
receiver) and the reverse channel. At any time, there is either one data frame on the
forward channel or one ACK frame on the reverse channel. Therefore a half-duplex
link is needed.

Sender Receiver

Request Frame
Arrival
ACK
Arrival

Request Frame
Arrival
ACK
Arrival

Time Time
Fig. 4.13: Communication using Stop-and-Wait Protocol

4.14
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● Above Fig. 4.13 shows an example of communication using Stop-and-Wait protocol. It

is still very simple. The sender sends one frame and waits for feedback from the
receiver. When the ACK arrives, the sender sends the next frame. Note that sending
two frames in the protocol involves the sender in four events and the receiver in two
events.
Advantages of Stop-and-Wait Protocol:
1. It is very simple to implement.
2. The main advantage of this protocol is the accuracy. The next frame is sent only
when the first frame is acknowledged. So, there is no chance of any frame being
lost.
Disadvantages of Stop-and-Wait Protocol
1. We can send only one packet at a time.
2. If the distance between the sender and the receiver is large then the propagation
delay would be more than the transmission delay. Hence, efficiency would become
very low.
3. After every transmission, the sender has to wait for the acknowledgment and this
time will increase the total transmission time. This makes the transmission
process slow.
4.4.3 Simplex Protocol for Noisy Channel
● When an error is detected in a message, the receiver sends a request to the transmitter
to retransmit the ill-fated message or packet. The most popular retransmission scheme
is known as Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ).
● Such schemes, where receiver asks sender to retransmit if it detects an error, are
known as reverse error correction techniques. There exist three popular ARQ
techniques.
Error Control

Stop-and-wait ARQ Sliding window ARQ

Go-back-n Selective-repeat

Fig. 4.14: Error control techniques

Stop-and-Wait Automatic Repeat Request
● The Stop-and-Wait Automatic Repeat Request (Stop-and-Wait ARQ), adds a simple
error control mechanism to the Stop-and-Wait Protocol.
Working:
● A stop-and-wait ARQ sender sends one frame at a time.
● After sending each frame, the sender doesn't send any further frames until it receives
an acknowledgement (ACK) signal.
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● After receiving a good frame, the receiver sends an ACK.

● If the ACK does not reach the sender before a certain time, known as the timeout, the
sender sends the same frame again.
● To detect and correct corrupted frames, there is need to add redundancy bits to data
frame. Typically the transmitter adds a redundancy check number to the end of each
frame.
● The receiver uses the redundancy check number to check for possible damage. If the
receiver sees that the frame is good, it sends an ACK.
● If the receiver sees that the frame is damaged, the receiver discards it and does not
send an ACK—pretending that the frame was completely lost, not merely damaged
● Stop and wait ARQ includes the following extra elements:
Time out timer
● The corrupted and lost frames need to be resent in this protocol. If the receiver does
not respond when there is an error, how can the sender know which frame to resend?
To solve this problem, the sender keeps a copy of the sent frame. At the same time, it
starts a timer. If the timer expires and there is no ACK for the sent frame, the frame is
resent, the copy is held, and the timer is restarted. Since the protocol uses the stop-
and-wait mechanism, there is only one specific frame that needs an ACK even though
several copies of the same frame can be in the network.
Sequence Numbers
● The protocol specifies that frames need to be numbered. This is done by using
sequence numbers. A field is added to the data frame to hold the sequence number of
that frame. For example, if we decide that the field is m bits long, the sequence
m
numbers start from 0, go to 2 - 1, and then are repeated.
Acknowledgment Numbers
● Since the sequence numbers must be suitable for both data frames and ACK frames,
the convention used is the acknowledgment numbers always announce the sequence
number of the next frame expected by the receiver. For example, if frame 0 has
arrived safe and sound, the receiver sends an ACK frame with acknowledgment 1
(meaning frame 1 is expected next). If frame 1 has arrived safe and sound, the receiver
sends an ACK frame with acknowledgment 0 (meaning frame 0 is expected).
Design
● The Fig. 4.15 shows the design of the Stop-and-Wait ARQ Protocol.
● The sending device keeps a copy of the last frame transmitted until it receives an
acknowledgment for that frame. A data frames uses a seq No (sequence number); an
ACK frame uses an ack No (acknowledgment number). The sender has a control
variable, which we call Sn (sender, next frame to send), that holds the sequence
number for the next frame to be sent (0 or 1).

4.16
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Sn Next frame Rn Next frame

to send to receive
0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0

Sender Receiver

Deliver
Network Get data Data frame ACK frame data Network

seqNo ackNo
Data link Data link

Physical Receive Send Receive Send Physical

frame frame Data frames frame frame

Request from Event

network layer

Repeat forever Repeat forever

Algorithm for sender site Time out Algorithm for receiver site
Event

Notification from Notification from

Event Event
physical layer physical layer

Fig. 4.15: Design of the Stop-and-Wait ARQ Protocol

● The receiver has a control variable, which we call Rn (receiver, next frame expected),
that holds the number of the next frame expected. When a frame is sent, the value of
Sn is incremented (modulo-2), which means if it is 0, it becomes 1 and vice versa. When
a frame is received, the value of Rn is incremented (modulo-2), which means if it is 0, it
becomes 1 and vice versa.
● In following figure, three events can happen at the sender site; one event can happen
at the receiver site. Variable Sn points to the slot that matches the sequence number of
the frame that has been sent, but not acknowledged; Rn points to the slot that matches
the sequence number of the expected frame.
● Example: Frame 0 is sent and acknowledged. Frame 1 is lost and resent after the time-
out. The resent frame 1 is acknowledged and the timer stops. Frame 0 is sent and
acknowledged, but the acknowledgment is lost. The sender has no idea if the frame or
the acknowledgment is lost, so after the time-out, it resends frame 0, which is
acknowledged.

4.17
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Sender Receiver
Sn

Start Request 0 1 0 1 0 1 Rn
Frame 0
Sn 0 1 0 1 0 1 Arrival
ACK 1
Stop Arrival 0 1 0 1 0 1
Sn

Start Request 0 1 0 1 0 1 Frame 1

Lost
Sn
Time-out Rn
Time-out 0 1 0 1 0 1 Frame 1 (r
restart e sent)
Sn 0 1 0 1 0 1 Arrival
ACK 0
Stop Arrival 0 1 0 1 0 1

Start Request 0 1 0 1 0 1 Rn
Frame 0
Sn 0 1 0 1 0 1 Arrival
ACK 1

Sn Lost
Time-out Rn
Time-out 0 1 0 1 0 1 Frame 0 (r
restart e sent)
Sn 0 1 0 1 0 1 Arrival
ACK 1 Discard, duplicate
Stop Arrival 0 1 0 1 0 1

Time Time

Fig. 4.16: Flow Diagram for above Example

Advantages of stop and wait protocol with ARQ:

1. It can be used for noisy channels.
2. It has both flow and error control mechanism.
3. It has timer implementation
Disadvantages of stop and wait protocol with ARQ:
1. Efficiency is very less.
2. Only one frame is sent at a time.
3. Timer should be set for each individual frame.
4. Sender and receiver window size is one.

4.18
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Difference between Stop and wait protocol & stop and wait ARQ:
Sr. No. Stop and Wait protocol Stop and Wait ARQ
1. It assumes that the communication It assumes that the communication
channel is perfect and noise free. channel is imperfect and noisy.
2. Data packet sent by the sender can Data packet sent by the sender may get
never get corrupt. corrupt.
3. There is no concept of negative A negative acknowledgement is sent by
acknowledgements. the receiver if the data packet is found to
be corrupt.
4. There is no concept of time out Sender starts the time out timer after
timer. sending the data packet.
5. There is no concept of sequence Data packets and acknowledgements are
numbers. numbered using sequence numbers.

4.4.4 PPP (Point to Point Protocol)

● Point - to - Point Protocol (PPP) is a communication protocol of the data link layer that
is used to transmit multiprotocol data between two directly connected (point-to-point)
computers.
● It is a byte - oriented protocol that is widely used in broadband communications
having heavy loads and high speeds.
● Since it is a data link layer protocol, data is transmitted in frames. It is also known as
RFC 1661.
● PPP handles error detection, supports multiple protocols, allows IP addresses to be
negotiated at connection time, permits authentication, and has many other features.
PPP provides several services:
1. PPP defines the format of the frame to be exchanged between devices and also defines
how two devices can negotiate the establishment of the link and the exchange of data.
2. It also explain how network layer data are encapsulated in the data link frame.
3. It also authenticates two devices with each other.
4. PPP provides multiple network layer services supporting a variety of network layer
protocols.
5. PPP provides connections over multiple links as well as network address
configuration. This is particularly useful when a home user needs a temporary
network address to connect to the Internet
PPP provides the following features:
1. A framing method that unambiguously delineates the end of one frame and the start
of the next one. The frame format also handles error detection.

4.19
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

2. A link control protocol for bringing lines up, testing them, negotiating options, and
bringing them down again gracefully when they are no longer needed. This protocol is
called LCP (Link Control Protocol). It supports synchronous and asynchronous circuits
and byte oriented and bit oriented encodings.
3. A way to negotiate network layer options in a way that is independent of the network
layer protocol to be used. The method chosen is to have a different NCP (Network
Control Protocol) for each network layer supported. The IP Control Protocol (IPCP)
negotiates IP address assignments and other parameters when IP is used as network
layer.
4. Authentication: It supports authentication. PPP supports two authentication protocols:
Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) and Challenge Handshake Authentication
Protocol (CHAP).
PPP Frame:
● PPP is a byte oriented protocol where each field of the frame is composed of one or
more bytes. The fields of a PPP frame are −
o Flag: 1 byte that marks the beginning and the end of the frame. The bit pattern of
the flag is 01111110.
o Address: 1 byte which is set to 11111111 in case of broadcast.
o Control: 1 byte set to a constant value of 11000000.
o Protocol: 1 or 2 bytes that define the type of data contained in the payload field.
o Payload: This carries the data from the network layer. The maximum length of the
payload field is 1500 bytes. However, this may be negotiated between the
endpoints of communication.
o FCS: It is a 2 byte or 4 bytes frame check sequence for error detection. The
standard code used is CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Code)
PPP Frame

Flag Address Control Protocol Payload FCS Flag

1 byte 1 byte 1 byte 1 or 2 byte Variable 2 or 4 byte 1 byte

(11111111) (11000000) (01111110)
Fig. 4.17: PPP Frame
o Byte Stuffing in PPP Frame − Byte stuffing is used PPP payload field whenever the
flag sequence appears in the message, so that the receiver does not consider it as
the end of the frame. The escape byte, 01111101, is stuffed before every byte that
contains the same byte as the flag byte or the escape byte. The receiver on
receiving the message removes the escape byte before passing it onto the network
layer.

4.20
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

4.4.5 HDLC (High-Level Data Link Control)

● HDLC is a bit oriented protocol. It falls under the ISO standards ISO 3309 and ISO 4335.
It specifies a packitization standard for serial links. It has been so widely implemented
because it supports both half-duplex and full-duplex communication lines, point-to-
point (peer to peer) and multi-point networks, and switched or non-switched channels.
HDLC supports several modes of operation, including a simple sliding-window mode
for reliable delivery. Other benefits of HDLC are that the control information is always
in the same position, and specific bit patterns used for control differ dramatically from
those in representing data, which reduces the chance of errors.
● HDLC operational Mode is the relationship between two devices involved in an
exchange; the mode describes who controls the link. Exchanges over unbalanced
configurations are always conducted in normal response mode. Exchanges over
symmetric or balanced configurations can be set to specific mode using a frame design
to deliver the command.
● The two transfer modes in HDLC are the normal response mode (NRM) and
asynchronous balanced mode (ABM).
o In the normal response mode (NRM), the station configuration is unbalanced.
There is only one primary station and multiple secondary stations. A primary
station can send commands whereas a secondary station can only respond.
o In asynchronous balanced mode (ABM), the configuration is balanced. The link is
point-to-point, and each station can function as a primary and a secondary (acting
as peers).
o For the HDLC protocol the following three types of stations have been defined.
1. Primary Station: A primary station takes care of the data link management.
The frames sent by a primary station are called commands.
2. Secondary Station: A secondary station operates under the control of a
primary station. The frames sent by the secondary station are called responses.
3. Combined Station: A combined station can act as primary as well as
secondary stations. Therefore it can send both commands and responses.
HDLC Frame:
● HDLC is a bit oriented protocol where each frame contains up to six fields. The
structure varies according to the type of frame. The fields of a HDLC frame are:
o Flag: It is an 8-bit sequence that marks the beginning and the end of the frame.
The bit pattern of the flag is 01111110.
o Address: It contains the address of the receiver. If the frame is sent by the primary
station, it contains the address(es) of the secondary station(s). If it is sent by the
secondary station, it contains the address of the primary station. The address field
may be from 1 byte to several bytes.

4.21
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

o Control: It is 1 or 2 bytes containing flow and error control information.

o Payload: This carries the data from the network layer. Its length may vary from
one network to another.
o FCS: It is a 2 byte or 4 bytes frame check sequence for error detection. The
standard code used is CRC (cyclic redundancy code)
HDLC Frame

Flag Address Control Payload FCS Flag

1 byte 1 byte 1 byte Variable 2 or 4 byte 1 byte

(01111110) (01111110)
Fig. 4.18: HDLC Frame
Types of HDLC Frames
● There are three types of HDLC frames. The type of frame is determined by the control
field of the frame:
o I-frame: I-frames or Information frames carry user data from the network layer.
They also include flow and error control information that is piggybacked on user
data. The first bit of control field of I-frame is 0.
o S-frame: S-frames or Supervisory frames do not contain information field. They
are used for flow and error control when piggybacking is not required. The first
two bits of control field of S-frame is 10.
o U-frame: U-frames or Un-numbered frames are used for myriad miscellaneous
functions, like link management. It may contain an information field, if required.
The first two bits of control field of U-frame is 11.
HDLC Frame
I - Frame

Flag Address Control User data from upper layers FCS Flag

S - Frame

Flag Address Control FCS Flag

F

U - Frame

Flag Address Control Management information FCS Flag

Fig. 4.19 HDLC Frame Types

4.22
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

4.5 SLIDING WINDOW PROTOCOLS

● The Stop and Wait ARQ offers error and flow control, but may cause big performance
issues as sender always waits for acknowledgement even if it has next packet ready to
send. If we have a high bandwidth connection and propagation delay is also high ,we
can’t use this full speed due to limitations of stop and wait.
● Sliding Window protocol handles this efficiency issue by sending more than one
packet at a time with a larger sequence numbers. The term sliding window refers to
the imaginary boxes to hold frames. Sliding window method is also known as
windowing.
Working:
● In these protocols, the sender has a buffer called the sending window and the receiver
has buffer called the receiving window.
● The size of the sending window determines the sequence number of the outbound
frames. If the sequence number of the frames is an n-bit field, then the range of
n
sequence numbers that can be assigned is 0 to 2 −1.
n
● Consequently, the size of the sending window is 2 −1. Thus in order to accommodate a
n
sending window size of 2 −1, n-bit sequence number is chosen.

Sender Receiver

0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3

Frame 0, Frame 1 sent

0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3

ACK 2 Received

0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3

Frame 2 sent

0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3

ACK 3 Received

0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3

Fig. 4.20: Working of Sliding Window

4.23
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● The sequence numbers are numbered as modulo-n means that they are numbered
from 0 to n-1. For example, if the sending window size is 4, then the sequence
numbers will be 0, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, and so on. The number of bits in the sequence
number is 2 to generate the binary sequence 00, 01, 10, 11.
● The size of the receiving window is the maximum number of frames that the receiver
can accept at a time. It determines the maximum number of frames that the sender
can send before receiving acknowledgment.
● For example, Suppose that we have sender window and receiver window each of size
4. So the sequence numbering of both the windows will be 0,1,2,3,0,1,2 and so on. The
following figure shows the positions of the windows after sending the frames and
receiving acknowledgments.
● The sliding window of sender shrinks from left when frames of data are sending. The
sliding window of the sender expands to right when acknowledgments are received.
● The sliding window of the receiver shrinks from left when frames of data are received.
The sliding window of the receiver expands to the right when acknowledgement is
sent.
Sender Window
● At the beginning of a transmission, the sender window contains n-1 frames, and when
they are sent out, the left boundary moves inward shrinking the size of the window.
For example, if the size of the window is w if three frames are sent out, then the
number of frames left out in the sender window is w-3.
● Once the ACK has arrived, then the sender window expands to the number which will
be equal to the number of frames acknowledged by ACK.
● For example, the size of the window is 7, and if frames 0 through 4 have been sent out
and no acknowledgement has arrived, then the sender window contains only two
frames, i.e., 5 and 6. Now, if ACK has arrived with a number 4 which means that 0
through 3 frames have arrived undamaged and the sender window is expanded to
include the next four frames. Therefore, the sender window contains six frames
(5,6,7,0,1,2).
Sender window

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Direction Direction

This wall moves to the right This wall moves to the right
when a frame is sent when an ACK is received

Fig. 4.21: Sender Window

Receiver Window:
● At the beginning of transmission, the receiver window does not contain n frames, but
it contains n-1 spaces for frames.

4.24
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● When the new frame arrives, the size of the window shrinks.
● The receiver window does not represent the number of frames received, but it
represents the number of frames that can be received before an ACK is sent. For
example, the size of the window is w, if three frames are received then the number of
spaces available in the window is (w-3).
● Once the acknowledgement is sent, the receiver window expands by the number equal
to the number of frames acknowledged.
● Suppose the size of the window is 7 means that the receiver window contains seven
spaces for seven frames. If the one frame is received, then the receiver window
shrinks and moving the boundary from 0 to 1. In this way, window shrinks one by
one, so window now contains the six spaces. If frames from 0 through 4 have sent,
then the window contains two spaces before an acknowledgement is sent.
Receiver window

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Direction Direction

This wall moves to the right This wall moves to the right
when a frame is received when an ACK is sent

Fig. 4.22: Receiver Window

4.5.1 1-bit Sliding Window Protocols

1-bit sliding window Protocol
1. In one – bit sliding window protocol, the size of the window is 1. So the sender
transmits a frame, waits for its acknowledgment, then transmits the next frame. Thus
it uses the concept of stop and waits for the protocol. This protocol provides for full –
duplex communications.
2. Problem with Stop-And-Wait protocol is that it is very inefficient. At any one moment,
only in frame is in transition. The sender will have to wait at least one round trip time
before sending next. The waiting can be long for a slow network such as satellite link.
3. In this protocol, the sender fetches the packet, builds a frame and sends it. The
receiver window checks to see if it is a duplicate frame. If the frame is arrived which
was expected, it is accepted and the receiver window is slide up.
4. The acknowledgment field contains the number of the last frame received without
error. If it matches with the frame. The sender is trying to send then the frame is
stored in the buffer and next frame is send. If they do not match, it will resend the
same frame.
5. Let us see the simple example. A is trying to send frame 0 to computer B and B is
trying to send its frame 0 to A. A sends frame to B and A's timeout interval is too short.
So, A may continuously send identical frames to B.

4.25
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

6. When the first valid frame arrives at computer B, it will be accepted. All other frames
will be rejected because, B is expecting a frame with sequence number 1 and not 0.
Now B is waiting for an acknowledgment of 0 and will not send any more frames.
7. This situation arises if both sides simultaneously send an initial packet. Here,
duplicate frames are delivered even though there is no transmission error.
8. Diagrammatically, it can be represented as follows:
o Show normal operation.
o A and B starts simultaneously, so there are duplicates. The format is (sequential
acknowledgment, packet number). An asterisk indicates where a network layer
accepts a packet.

Fig. 4.23: Representation of 1- bit Sliding Window Protocol

Advantages:
1. Multiple packets can be transmit without waiting for acknowledgements
2. Piggybacking can be beneficial using full-duplex lines.
Disadvantages:
1. No limit of the size or sequence numbers that can be required in this protocol.
2. The bandwidth may be wasted in some special situations.
4.5.2 Piggybacking
● In full – duplex transmission, the data flow occurs in both directions. To achieve full –
duplex communication, both the communication is considered as a pair of simplex
communication. Each link comprises a forward channel for sending data and a

4.26
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

reverse channel for sending acknowledgments. However, in the above arrangement,

traffic load doubles for each data unit that is transmitted. Half of all data transmission
comprise of transmission of acknowledgments.
● So, a solution that provides better utilization of bandwidth is piggybacking. Here,
sending of acknowledgment is delayed until the next data frame is available for
transmission. The acknowledgment is then hooked onto the outgoing data frame. The
data frame consists of an ack field. The size of the ack field is only a few bits, while an
acknowledgment frame comprises of several bytes. Thus, a substantial gain is
obtained in reducing bandwidth requirement.
● In reliable full - duplex data transmission, the technique of hooking up
acknowledgments onto outgoing data frames is called piggybacking.
Working Principle:
● Suppose that there are two communication stations X and Y. The data frames
transmitted have an acknowledgment field, ack field that is of a few bits length.
Additionally, there are frames for sending acknowledgments, ACK frames. The
purpose is to minimize the ACK frames.
● The three principles governing piggybacking when the station X wants to
communicate with station Y are:
1. If station X has both data and acknowledgment to send, it sends a data frame with
the ack field containing the sequence number of the frame to be acknowledged.
2. If station X has only an acknowledgment to send, it waits for a finite period of time
to see whether a data frame is available to be sent. If a data frame becomes
available, then it piggybacks the acknowledgment with it. Otherwise, it sends an
ACK frame.
3. If station X has only a data frame to send, it adds the last acknowledgment with it.
The station Y discards all duplicate acknowledgments. Alternatively, station X may
send the data frame with the ack field containing a bit combination denoting no
acknowledgment.
● The following figure illustrates the three scenario-
Station X Station Y
X has data to send D a ta

Y has data to send

+A CK
Data

X has data to send Data

+ AC
K

Y does not have data to send

ACK
ACK Arrival

Time Time
Fig. 4.24: Shows three principles of governing piggybacking
4.27
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Advantages of Piggybacking:
1. A better use of available channel bandwidth.
2. The acknowledgment field is only a few bits whereas the entire acknowledgment
frame would consist of many bits because of header, checksum etc.
3. Fewer frames sent means fewer received reducing the traffic and requires fewer
buffers in the receiver.
Disadvantages of Piggybacking:
1. The main problem with piggybacking is how long the sender should wait for a
packet onto which the acknowledgment is sent. If it waits longer than the senders
timeout, the frame will be retransmitted.
2. Actually piggybacking is used for better channel utilization, here due to
retransmission bandwidth is wasted.
4.5.3 Pipelining – Go-Back-N and Selective Repeat
● Pipelining is a process of sending multiple data frames serially without waiting for the
previous acknowledgement.
● This technique is beneficial when the amount of data to be transferred is very large,
and we send the data by dividing them into various parts.
● These data parts can be pipelined and sent to the receiver over the channel. In
pipelining, we do not wait for the acknowledgement of sent data frames. We keep on
sending the data frames continuously without bothering about the acknowledgements.
● Hence, pipelining ensures the efficient and better utilization of network resources. It
also enhances the speed of delivery of data frames, ensuring the timely transmission
of data.
● Two basic approaches are available for dealing with errors in the presence of
pipelining i.e. Go-Back-N, and Selective Repeat

Sliding Window ARQ

Go - back - N ARQ Selective Repeat ARQ

Fig. 4.25: Types of Sliding Window ARQ using Pipelining

1. Go-Back-N ARQ:
● Go-Back-N ARQ makes efficient use of a connection than Stop-and-wait ARQ. Go – Back
– N ARQ provides for sending multiple frames before receiving the acknowledgment
for the first frame.
● In this protocol, the sending process continues to send a number of frames specified
by a window size even without receiving an acknowledgement (ACK) packet from the
receiver.
4.28
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● Unlike waiting for an acknowledgement for each packet in stop-and-wait ARQ, the
connection is still being utilized as packets are being sent. In other words, during the
time that would otherwise be spent waiting, more packets are being sent.
● It is a special case of the general sliding window protocol with the transmit window
size of N and receive window size of 1. It can transmit N frames to the peer before
requiring an ACK.
● The receiver process keeps track of the sequence number of the next frame it expects
to receive, and sends that number with every ACK it sends.
● The receiver will discard any frame that does not have the exact sequence number it
expects (either a duplicate frame it already acknowledged, or an out-of-order frame it
expects to receive later) and will resend an ACK for the last correct in-order frame.
● Once the sender has sent all of the frames in its window, it will detect that all of the
frames since the first lost frame are outstanding, and will go back to the sequence
number of the last ACK it received from the receiver process and fill its window
starting with that frame and continue the process over again.
● Consider the figure given below. Suppose sender window size of 4. Now the sender
has sent the packets 0, 1, 2 and 3. After acknowledging the packets 0 and 1, receiver is
now expecting packet 2 and sender window has also slided to further transmit the
packets 4 and 5.
● Now suppose the packet 2 is lost in the network, Receiver will discard all the packets
which sender has transmitted after packet 2 as it is expecting sequence number of 2.
On the sender side for every packet send there is a time out timer which will expire
for packet number 2.
● Now from the last transmitted packet number 5 sender will go back to the packet
number 2 in the current window and transmit all the packets till packet number 5.
That’s why it is called Go Back N. Go back means sender has to go back N places from
the last transmitted packet in the unacknowledged window and not from the point
where the packet is lost.
Packet 2 is lost in network 0 1 2
0 1
0
1
2
3
5 4 3 2 1 0
Lost
(Discarded as 2 is expected)
Time out 4
Timer 5
Go Back 4
2 Discarded
3 Discarded
4 Window
5 Transmitted
again
Fig. 4.26: Working of Go-Back-N protocol

4.29
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Design of Go-Back-N protocol:

First Next Next
Sf outstanding Sn to sent Rn to receive

Receiver
Sender

Deliver
Network Get data Data frame ACK frame data Network

SeqNo ackNo
Data link Data link

Physical Receive Send Receive Send Physical

frame frame frame frame

Request from
Event
network layer

Repeat forever Repeat forever

Algorithm for sender site Time out Algorithm for receiver site
Event

Notification from Notification from

physical layer Event physical layer Event

Fig. 4.27: Design of Go-Back-N protocol

● Figure 4.27 shows the design for Go-Back-N protocol. As we can see, multiple frames
can be transit in the forward direction, and multiple acknowledgments in the reverse
direction. The idea is similar to Stop-and-Wait ARQ; the difference is that the send
window allows us to have as many frames in transition as there are slots in the send
window.
Send Window Size:
m
● The size of the send window must be less than 2 . As an example, we choose m =2,
m
which means the size of the window can be 2 - 1, or 3. The following compares a
window size of 3 against a window size of 4. If the size of the window is 3 (less than 22)
and all three acknowledgments are lost, the frame 0 timer expires and all three frames
are re-sent. The receiver is now expecting frame 3, not frame 0, so the duplicate frame
is correctly discarded.

4.30
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Sender Receiver Sender Receiver

Sf Sn Sf Sn
Fram Fram
I 0 1 2 3 e 0 I 0 1 2 3 0 e 0
0123 0 12 30
Sf Sn Sf Sn
Rn Rn
Fram Fram
0 1 2 3 e 1 0 1 2 3 0 e 1
01 2 3 01 2 30
Sf Sn Rn Sf Sn Rn
Fram Fram
0 1 2 3 e 2 0 1 2 3 0 e 2
01 23 01 230
Sf Sn Rn Sf Sn Rn
Fram Fram
0 1 2 3 e0 0 1 2 3 0 e3
Time out 0123 01 2 30
Rn Rn
Fram
Time out e0
Correctly 01230
discards
Rn

m m
(a) window size < 2 (b) Window size = 2
m m
Fig. 4.28: Comparison between window size < 2 and Window size = 2
Advantages of Go-Back N :
1. The sender can send many frames at a time.
2. Timer can be set for a group of frames.
3. Only one ACK can acknowledge one or more frames.
4. Efficiency is more.
5. Waiting time is low.
6. We can alter the size of the sender window.
Disadvantages of Go-Back N:
1. Buffer requirement is more.
2. Transmitter needs to store the last N packets.
3. Scheme is inefficient when round-trip delay large and data transmission rate is
high
4. If NACK is lost , a long time is wasted until re-transmission of all packets (until
another NACK is sent).
2. Selective Repeat ARQ:
● In Go-Back N method results in sending frames multiple times – if any frame was lost
or damaged, or the ACK acknowledging them was lost or damaged, then that frame

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

and all following frames in the send window (even if they were received without
error) will be re-sent. To avoid this, Selective Repeat ARQ can be used.
● Selective Repeat ARQ protocol supports sending of multiple frames before receiving
the acknowledgment for the first frame. However, here only the erroneous or lost
frames are retransmitted, while the good frames are received and buffered.
Working:
● The Selective Repeat Protocol also uses two windows: a send window and a receive
window.
● Sender window size is always same as receiver window size.
● If n bits are available for sequence numbers, then- Sender window size = Receiver
n n-1
window size = 2 /2 = 2 . This is to avoid packets being recognized incorrectly. If the
windows size is greater than half the sequence number space, then if an ACK is lost,
the sender may send new packets that the receiver believes are retransmissions.
● Selective Repeat protocol provides for sending multiple frames depending upon the
availability of frames in the sending window, even if it does not receive
acknowledgement for any frame in the interim. The maximum number of frames that
can be sent depends upon the size of the sending window.
● Receiver acknowledges each frame independently. As receiver receives a new frame
from the sender, it sends its acknowledgement.
● The receiver records the sequence number of the earliest incorrect or un-received
frame. It then fills the receiving window with the subsequent frames that it has
received. It sends the sequence number of the missing frame along with every
acknowledgement frame.
● The sender continues to send frames that are in its sending window. Once, it has sent
all the frames in the window, it retransmits the frame whose sequence number is
given by the acknowledgements. It then continues sending the other frames.
● If receiver receives a frame that is corrupted, then it does not silently discard that
frame. Receiver handles the situation efficiently by sending a negative
acknowledgement (NACK). Negative acknowledgement allows early retransmission of
the corrupted frame. It also avoids waiting for the time out timer to expire at the
sender side to retransmit the frame.
● If receiver receives a frame whose sequence number is not what the receiver expects,
then it does not discard that frame rather accepts it and keeps it in its window.
Design:
● The design in this case is to some extent similar to the Go Back-N, but more
complicated, as shown in the following figure.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

First Next Next

Sf Sn Rn to receive
outstanding to sent

Sender Receiver

Deliver
Network Get data Data frame ACK or NAK data Network

SeqNo ackNo
Data link or Data link
nakNo

Physical Receive Send Receive Send Physical

frame frame frame frame

Request from
Event
network layer

Repeat forever Repeat forever

Algorithm for sender site Time out Algorithm for receiver site
Event

Notification from Notification from

physical layer Event physical layer Event

Fig. 4.29: Design of Selective Repeat

● This is the most efficient among the ARQ schemes, but the sender must be more
complex so that it can send out-of-order frames. The receiver also must have storage
space to store the post NAK frames and processing power to reinsert frames in proper
sequence.
Sr. Protocol Go-Back-N Stop and Selective
No. Wait Repeat
1. Bandwidth utilization Medium Low High
2. Maximum sender Size 2^m-1 N.A. 2^(m-1)
Window
3. Maximum receiver 1 N.A. 2^(m-1)
Size Window
Contd...

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

4. Pipelining Implemented Not Implemented

implemented
5. Out of order Frames Discarded Discarded Accepted
6. Cumulative ACK Applicable N.A. Applicable
7. NAK N.A. N.A. Applicable

4.6 RANDOM ACCESS PROTOCOLS

● As we have seen already, according to transmission technology the networks are
divided into two major categories, i.e. Point-to-point connections and Broadcast
channels.
● In point-to-point network dedicated links are reserved for communication, whereas in
broadcast network all stations share a single communication channel.
● The main problem with the broadcast network is that who will get to use the channel
when there is a competition for it. Because if more than one station, simultaneously
going to access the channel accident (collision) of data packet will occurs. Both time
and bandwidth will be wasted.
● Broadcast channels are sometimes called as multi-access channels or random access
channels.
● As we know Data link layer is divided into two sub layers i.e. Logical Link Control
(LLC) and Medium Access Control (MAC) Layer.
● MAC layer provides addressing and channel access control mechanisms that make it
possible for several stations to communicate within a multiple access network that
incorporates a shared medium, for example, Ethernet.
● Many formal protocols have been devised to handle access to a shared link. We
categorize them into three groups.

Multiple - access
Protocols

Random Access Controlled Access Channelization

Protocols Protocols Protocols

ALOHA Reservation FDMA

Polling TDMA

CSMA/CD Token Passing CDMA

CSMA/CA

Fig. 4.30: Categories of Multiple Access Protocol

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● Protocols belonging to each group are shown in the Fig. 4.30

1. Random Access Protocols: In these type of protocols any station can transmit at
any time. Use of the channel is not controlled by any station.
2. Controlled Access Protocols: In controlled access some sort of mechanism is used
to decide which station can transmit.
3. Channelization: In channelization, the available channel bandwidth is shared
either in frequency, time or code.
Concept of Random Access Protocols:
● In random access or contention method, each station in the network has equal right.
● No station is superior to other station. No station permits, or does not permit another
station to send. All can have direct access to the medium through which the
information or data flows. And that individual station is not controlled by any other
station.
● At any instance of time, stations which want to transmit data uses a procedure defined
by protocol, and decide whether to transmit or not.
● This decision depends upon whether medium is free or busy.
● Random access protocols has two features:
1. There is no scheduled time for a station to transmit. Transmission is random
among the stations.
2. No rules specify which station should send next. Stations compete with one
another to access the medium. So these protocols also called contention method.
● Even though, if more stations tried to send frames then there may be a conflict called
collision occurs or the frames may be destroyed or modified.
● To avoid this collision, modification etc., we need a procedure which handles the
situation properly. And it will help us to get answers of few questions like:
1. When station can access the medium?
2. If medium is busy, what station can do?
3. If collision occurs, what station can do?
4. How station gets information about the success and failure of a transmission?
● To answer these types of questions, we have evolution of random access methods.
These are shown in Fig. 4.31.
● In this case, Multiple Access (MA) is a simple procedure called ALOHA. This method
was improved with the addition of procedure on the basis of sense the medium before
transmitting. This is called CSMA i.e. carrier sense multiple access which has two
parallel methods i.e. CSMA/CD and CSMA/CA.
● CSMA/CA is for collision avoidance which defines a procedure to avoid the collision.
CSMA/CD is for collision detection which defines to be followed if collision is detected.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Fig. 4.31: Evolution of Random Access Methods

4.6.1 ALOHA
● ALOHA is a system for coordinating and arbitrating access to a shared communication
Networks channel.
● ALOHA was developed in the 1970s by Norman Abramson and his colleagues at the
University of Hawaii to solve the problem of channel allocation.
● ALOHA was designed for a wireless LAN, but it can be used on any shared medium.
● The medium is shared between the stations. When a station sends data , another
station may attempt to send data same time. It is obvious that the data from the two
stations collide and destroyed.
● There are two types of ALOHA protocols i.e., Pure ALOHA and Slotted ALOHA as
discussed in following sections.
4.6.1.1 Pure ALOHA (W-18)

● The original ALOHA protocol is called pure ALOHA.

● Concept of ALOHA is very simple, each station sends a frame whenever it has frame to
send. Since there is only one channel to share, there is possibility of collisions between
frames from different stations.
● Fig. 4.32 shows an example of frame collisions in pure ALOHA.
● In Fig. 4.32 four stations are shown. Every station sends a frames on shared medium.
Some of these frames collide because multiple frames are in contention for the shared
channel. Only two frames, frame 1.1 and frame 2.2 survive. All other frames are
destroyed.
● In pure ALOHA, whenever any station transmits a frame, it expects the
acknowledgement from the receiver. If acknowledgement is not received within
specified time, the station assumes that the frame (or acknowledgement) has been
destroyed.
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● If the frame is destroyed because of collision the station waits for a random amount of
time and sends it again. This waiting time must be random otherwise same frames will
collide again and again.
● Therefore pure ALOHA dictates that when time-out period passes, each station must
wait for a random amount of time before resending its frame. This randomness will
help avoid more collisions.

Fig. 4.32: Frames in Pure ALOHA

● The pure ALOHA protocol has second method to prevent congesting the channel with
retransmissions. It is shown in Fig. 4.33.

Fig. 4.33: ALOHA Protocol Procedure

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● A node or station sends the frame. Then wait for a period of time which is 2 times the
maximum propagation delay.
● If the acknowledgement is received, the transmission is successful. If the
acknowledgement is not given then station has to use a backoff strategy and send the
packet again. After several tries, if it is not happen then procedure is aborted.
● Vulnerable Time: Vulnerable time is a time in which there is possibility of collision. It
is calculated as,
Pure ALOHA vulnerable time = 2 × T fr
● Throughput: Let G be the average number of frames generated by the system during
one frame transmission time. Then average number of successful transmission for
-2G.
pure ALOHA is S = G × e The maximum throughput of pure ALOHA is 0.184 i.e. not
more than 18.4 %.
Example 3: 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 and (c) 250 frames per second.
Solution:
The frame transmission time is 200/200 kbps or 1 ms.
(a) If the system creates 1000 frames per second, this is 1 frame per millisecond. The
-2G
load is 1. In this case S = G × e or S = 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, this is (1/2) frame per millisecond. The
–2G
load is (112). In this case S =G x e or S = 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, this is (1/4) frame per millisecond. The
–2G
load is (1/4). In this case S = G × e or S = 0.152 (15.2 percent). This means that the
throughput is 250 × 0.152 = 38. Only 38 frames out of 250 will probably survive.

4.6.1.2 Slotted ALOHA (S-19)

● An improvement to the original ALOHA protocol was "Slotted ALOHA", which
introduced discrete timeslots and increased the maximum throughput.
● Slotted ALOHA was invented to improve the efficiency of pure ALOHA as chances of
collision in pure ALOHA are very high.
● In slotted ALOHA, the time of the shared channel is divided into discrete intervals
called slots.
● The stations can send a frame only at the beginning of the synchronized time slot and
only one frame is sent in each slot.
● In slotted ALOHA, if any station is not able to place the frame onto the channel at the
beginning of the slot i.e. it misses the time slot then the station has to wait until the
beginning of the next time slot.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● In slotted ALOHA, there is still a possibility of collision if two stations try to send at the
beginning of the same time slot as shown in Fig. 4.34.

Fig. 4.34: Frames in Slotted ALOHA

● Slotted ALOHA still has an edge over pure ALOHA as chances of collision are reduced
to one-half. Slotted ALOHA requires global time synchronization.
● Vulnerable Time: It reduces the vulnerable period from 2T to T frames and improves
efficiency by reducing the probability of collision.
Slotted ALOHA vulnerable time = T fr

Fig. 4.35: Throughput of Pure and Slotted ALOHA

4.39
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● Throughput:
-G
Slotted ALOHA is S = G × e .
● The maximum throughput of slotted ALOHA is 0.37 i.e. not more than 37 %.
Example 4: A slotted ALOHA network transmists 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, and
(c) 250 frames per second.
Solution: This solution is similar to the previous example except that the network is
using slotted ALOHA instead of pure ALOHA. The frame transmission time is 200/200 kpbs
or 1 ms.
–G
(a) In this case G is 1. So S = G × e or S = 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.
–G
(b) Here G is 1/2. In this case S = G × e or S = 0.303 (30.3 per cent). This means
that the throughput is 500 × 0.0303 = 151. Only 151 frames out of 500 will
probably survive.
–G
(c) Now G is 1/4. In this case S = G × e or S = 0.195 (19.5 percent). This means that the
throughtput is 250 × 0.195 = 49. Only 49 frames out of 250 will probably
survive.

4.6.2 CSMA
● The poor efficiency of the ALOHA scheme can be attributed to the fact that a node start
transmission without paying any attention to what others are doing.
● In situations where propagation delay of the signal between two nodes is small
compared to the transmission time of a packet, all other nodes will know very quickly
when a node starts transmission. This observation is the basis of the Carrier Sense
Multiple Access (CSMA) protocol.
● In this scheme, a node having data to transmit first listens to the medium to check
whether another transmission is in progress or not. The node starts sending only
when the channel is free, that is there is no carrier. That is why the scheme is also
known as listen-before talk.
● CSMA is a network access method used on shared network topologies such as Ethernet
to control access to the network.
● Devices attached to the network cable listen (carrier sense) before transmitting. If the
channel is in use, devices wait before transmitting. MA (Multiple Access) indicates that
4.40
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

many devices can connect to and share the same network. All devices have equal
access to use the network when it is clear.
● Even though devices attempt to sense whether the network is in use, there is a good
chance that two stations will attempt to access it at the same time. On large networks,
the transmission time between one end of the cable and another is enough that one
station may access the cable even though another has already just accessed it.

Fig. 4.36: Time/Space Model of the Collision in CSMA

● The chances of collision still exist because of propagation delay. The frame transmitted
by one station takes some time to reach other stations. In the meantime, other stations
may sense the channel to be idle and transmit their frames. This results in the
collision, as shown in Fig. 4.36.
● In CSMA, Carrier Sense (CS) means that whenever a device wants to send a packet over
the network media, it first listens to the network media to see whether anyone else is
already sending a packet. Multiple Access (MA) means that nothing prevents two or
more devices from trying to send a message at the same time. Sure, each device listens
before sending.
Vulnerable Time:
● The vulnerable time for CSMA is the propagation time Tp1, needed for a signal to
propagate from one end of the medium to the other. When a station sends a frame,
and any other station tries to send, collision occurs. But if the first bit of the frame
reaches the end of the medium, other stations will already have heard the bit and will
stop ourselves from sending.

4.41
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Fig. 4.37: Vulnerable time in CSMA

Persistence Methods:
● If channel is free, definitely station will transmit data. But if channel is busy, what
should a station do? Three different protocols are invented for this.
● There are three different type of CSMA protocols i.e., 1-persistent CSMA, Non-
persistent CSMA and P-persistent CSMA as shown in Fig. 4.38.

Fig. 4.38: Types of CSMA

4.6.2.1 1-persistent CSMA

● This method is very simple and straightforward.
● In 1-persistent CSMA method, station that wants to transmit data continuously senses
the channel to check whether the channel is idle or busy. If the channel is busy, the
station waits until it becomes idle.
● When the station detects an idle-channel, it immediately transmits the frame with
probability 1. Hence, it is called 1-persistent CSMA.
● This method has the highest chance of collision because two or more stations may find
channel to be idle at the same time and transmit their frames.
● When the collision occurs, the stations wait a random amount of time and start all
over again.
● The 1-persistent CSMA is used in CSMA/CD systems including Ethernet.
Drawback of 1-persistent CSMA:
● The propagation delay time greatly affects this protocol. Let us suppose, just after the
station 1 begins its transmission, station 2 also became ready to send its data and
senses the channel.

4.42
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● If the station 1 signal has not yet reached station 2, station 2 will sense the channel to
be idle and will begin its transmission. This will result in collision.
Sense and Transmit
Continuously sense

Channel ?
Time Busy
Idle
idle channel
Busy channel Station can transmit

Fig. 4.39: 1-persistent CSMA

● Even if propagation delay time is zero, collision will still occur. If two stations became
ready in the middle of third station's transmission, both stations will wait until the
transmission of first station ends and then both will begin their transmission exactly
simultaneously. This will also result in collision.
4.6.2.2 Non-persistent CSMA
● In non persistent CSMA, a station that has a frame to send senses the channel. If the
channel is idle, it sends immediately. If the channel is busy, it waits for a random
amount of time and then senses the channel again.

Busy Wait
Channel ? Randomely

Idle

Station can transmit

Sense and Transmit
Sense Sense
Wait Wait

Time
Idle channel
Busy channel
Fig. 4.40: Non-persistent CSMA
● In non-persistent CSMA, the station does not continuously sense the channel for the
purpose of capturing it when it detects the end of previous transmission.
Advantage of Non-persistent CSMA: (S-18)
1. It reduces the chance of collision because the stations wait a random amount of
time.
2. It is unlikely that two or more stations will wait for same amount of time and will
retransmit at the same time.
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Disadvantage of Non-persistent CSMA:

1. It reduces the efficiency of network because the channel remains idle when there
may be stations with frames to send.
2. This is due to the fact that the stations wait a random amount of time after the
collision.
4.6.2.3 P-persistent CSMA
● This method is used when channel has time slots such that the time slot duration is
equal to or greater than the maximum propagation delay time.
● Whenever a station becomes ready to send, it senses the channel. If channel is busy,
station waits until next slot. If channel is idle, it transmits with a probability p. With
the probability q=l-p, the station then waits for the beginning of the next time slot.
Probability outcome does
Continuously sense not allow transmission
Transmit

Time slot Time slot Time slot Time slot

Time

Channel ?
Busy
Idle
Idle
>p Probability
Channel ? Wait a slot
outcome
Busy <=P

Acts as a though collision has Station can transmit

occurred and Start again
Fig. 4.41: P-persistent CSMA
● If the next slot is also idle, it either transmits or waits again with probabilities p and q.
This process is repeated till either frame has been transmitted or another station has
begun transmitting.
● In case of the transmission by another station, the station acts as a collision has
occurred and it waits a random amount of time and starts again.
● Advantage of p-persistent CSMA is it reduces the chance of collision and improves the
efficiency of the network.
● P-persistent CSMA is used in CSMA/CA systems including Wi-Fi and other packet
radio systems.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● The efficiency of CSMA scheme depends on the propagation delay, which is

represented by a parameter a, as defined below:
a = Propagation delay / Packet transmission time
● It may be noted that smaller the value of propagation delay, lower is the vulnerable
period and higher is the efficiency.
4.6.3 CSMA/CD (W-18)

● CSMA/CD stands for Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection. Collision
detection means that after a device sends a packet, it listens carefully to see whether
the packet crashes into another packet.
● CSMA/CD protocol can be considered as a refinement over the CSMA scheme. It has
evolved to overcome one glaring inefficiency of CSMA. In CSMA scheme, when two
packets collide the channel remains unutilized for the entire duration of transmission
time of both the packets. If the propagation time is small (which is usually the case)
compared to the packet transmission time, wasted channel capacity can be
considerable.
● This wastage of channel capacity can be reduced if the nodes continue to monitor the
channel while transmitting a packet and immediately stop transmission when
collision is detected. This refined scheme is known as CSMA/CD or Listen-While-Talk.
● On top of the CSMA, the following rules are added to convert it into CSMA/CD:
1. If a collision is detected during transmission of a packet, the node immediately
stops transmission and it transmits jamming signal for a brief duration to ensure
that all stations know that collision has occurred.
2. After transmitting the jamming signal, the node waits for a random amount of
time and then transmission is resumed.
● The random delay ensures that the nodes, which were involved in the collision, are
not likely to have a collision at the time of retransmissions. To achieve stability in the
back off scheme, a technique known as binary exponential back off is used. A node
will attempt to transmit repeatedly in the face of repeated collisions, but after each
collision, the mean value of the random delay is doubled.
● Therefore the CSMA/CD method consists of alternating transmission period and
collisions with idle periods when none of the stations is transmitting.

Collision
Idle period

Frame Frame
Time
Transmission Transmission
period period
Fig. 4.42: CSMA/CD with Three States

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● The entire scheme of CSMA/CD is described in the Fig. 4.43 and 4.44.
1 2 3 4

t1
First bit of 1
Transmission t2
Transmission
time
t3 time
fC
t4 First bit o 3’ s collision
1’ s collision detection
detection Collision and abortion
and abortion occurs

Time
Fig. 4.43: Collision of the First Bit in CSMA/CD
1 2 3 4
Collision
t1 occurs
Transmission t2 Transmission
time Part of 1’s frame t3 time
frame
t4 Part of 3’s
1 detects
collision and
aborts
3 detects
collision and
Time aborts Time
Fig. 4.44: Collision and Abortion in CSMA/CD
CSMA/CD Procedure:
● Fig. 4.45 shows a flow chart for the CSMA/CD protocol.
Explanation of Fig. 4.45:
● The station that has a ready frame sets the back off parameter to zero.
● Then it senses the line using one of the persistent strategies.
● It then sends the frame. If there is no collision for a period corresponding to one
complete frame, then the transmission is successful.
● Otherwise the station sends the jam signal to inform the other stations about the
collision.
● The station then increments the back off time and waits for a random back off time
and sends the frame again.
● If the back off has reached its limit then the station aborts the transmission.
● CSMA/CD is used for the traditional Ethernet.
● CSMA/CD is an important protocol. IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) is an example of CSMNCD. It
is an international standard.
● The MAC sublayer protocol does not guarantee reliable delivery. Even in absence of
collision the receiver may not have copied the frame correctly.
4.46
Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

Note: Station has

Start
K : Number of attempts a frame to send
Tp : Maximum propagation time
Tfr : Average transmission time for a frame
K=0
TB : Back - off time

Apply one of the

persistence methods
(1- persistence, non-persistent,
or p-persistent)

Eligible for transmission

Transmission done
Wait TB time Yes
or
(TB =R X or R X Tfr) Collision detected
No

Choose a random
Transmit
number R between
K and Receive
0 and 2 - 1

No
Kmax is Send a Yes Collision
K > Kmax K=K+1
normally 15 jamming signal detected
Yes No

Abort Success

Fig. 4.45: Procedure for CSMA/CD

Advantages of CSMA/CD: (S-19)
1. Reliable because of collisions are detected and packets are re-sent, so no data is
lost.
2. CSMA/CD has low overhead.
3. CSMA/CD is able to utilize all available bandwidth when possible.
Disadvantages of CSMA/CD:
1. Not useful for large/active networks.
2. In CSMA/CD collisions degrade network performance.
3. In CSMA/CD priorities cannot be assigned to certain nodes.
4. In CSMA/CD performance degrades exponentially as devices are added.
4.6.4 CSMA/CA
● CSMA/CA stands for Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance.
● The basic idea behind CSMA/CD is that a station needs to be able to receive while
transmitting to detect a collision.
● When there is no collision, station receives its own signal.
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● When there is collision, the station receives two signals, its own and signals
transmitted by another station. Station needs to distinguish between these two signals.
● In wired networks if collision occurs detected energy is almost double whereas in
wireless networks much of the energy is lost in transmission only. So it becomes
difficult to detect collision.
● There is need to avoid collision in wireless networks , because they cannot be detected.
Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) was invented for this
network.
● CSMA/CA avoids the collisions using three basic techniques as shown in the Fig. 4.46..
1. Inter frame space.
2. Contention window.
3. Acknowledgements.
Found idle Size:Binary
eponential
IFS

Time
Contention window
Busy Send frame Time out
Fig. 4.46: CSMA/CA with Three States
1. Inter-Frame Space (IFS):
● Whenever the channel is found idle, the station does not transmit immediately. It
waits for a period of time called Inter Frame Space (IFS).
● When channel is sensed to be idle, it may be possible that same distant station may
have already started transmitting and the signal of that distant station has not yet
reached other stations.
● Therefore, the purpose of IFS time is to allow this transmitted signal to reach other
stations.
● If after this IFS time, the channel is still idle, the station can send, but it still needs to
wait a time equal to contention time.
● IFS variable can also be used to define the priority of a station or a frame.
2. Contention Window:
● 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 back-
off strategy. It means that it is set of one slot the first time and then doubles each time
the station cannot detect an idle channel after the IFS time.
● This is very similar to the p-persistent method except that a random outcome defines
the number of slots taken by the waiting station.
● In contention window the station needs to sense the channel after each time slot.
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● If the station finds the channel busy, it does not restart the process. It just stops the
timer and restarts it when the channel is sensed as idle.
3. Acknowledgement:
● Despite all the precautions, collisions may occur and destroy the data.
● The positive acknowledgment and the time-out timer can help guarantee that receiver
has received the frame.
CSMA/CA Procedure:
● Fig. 4.47 shows the flow chart explaining the principle of CSMA/CA.
Explanation of Fig. 4.47:
● This is the CSMA protocol with collision avoidance.
● The station ready to transmit, senses the line by using one of the persistent strategies.
● As soon as it finds the line to be idle, the station waits for an IFG (Interframe gap)
amount of time.
● If then waits for some random time and sends the frame.
● After sending the frame, it sets a timer and waits for the acknowledgement from the
receiver.
Start

Set back off

to zero

Persistent
strategy

Wait IFG time

Wait for a
random time

Wait for
back off time Send the frame

Set a timer
No

ACK
Back off Increment received before
limit? back off time out?
Yes Yes
Abort Success

Fig. 4.47: Procedure of CSMA/CA

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● If the acknowledgement is received before expiry of the timer, then the transmission is
successful.
● But if the transmitting station does not receive the expected acknowledgement before
the timer expiry then it increments the back off parameter, waits for the back off time
and resenses the line.
Advantages of CSMA/CA:
1. CSMA/CA is effective and it avoids data collisions.
2. CSMA/CA is reliable. Intent signals are sent until the cable is clear so that data will
travel and reach its destination safely.
Disadvantages of CSMA/CA:
1. CSMA/CA is relatively slow. A signal of intent must be sent every time a computer
wants to transmit causing signal traffic.
2. CSMA/CA is not useful for large/active networks.
3. CSMA/CA suffers from same distance limitations as CSMA/CD since it must listen
for the signals of intent.

4.7 CONTROLLED ACCESS

● In controlled access, the stations consult each other to find which station has the right
to send. A station cannot send unless it is authorized by other stations.
● Controlled access protocols grant permission to send data only to one node at a time,
avoiding collision on the shared medium.
● There are three methods in the controlled access are:
1. Reservation.
2. Polling.
3. Token passing.
4.7.1 Reservation
● In this method, the station needs to make a registration "before sending data".
● The time is divided into intervals. If there are m stations, then the intervals are
exactly m.
● Each interval will belong to a station. In its own slot also, it has to make reservation to
send the data frame.
● In each interval a reservation frame precedes the data frame.
● Fig. 4.48 shows this scenario.

Fig. 4.48: Reservation Access Method

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● Fig. 4.48 shows five stations. In the first, reservation frame stations 1, 3 and 4 have
made the reservations.
● So the reservation frame is first followed by data frames of station 1, 3 and 4. In the
second interval, only station 1 has made the reservation.
4.7.2 Polling (W-18)
● In this method, one station is designated as a primary station and others are secondary
stations.
● All data exchanges must be made through the primary device even when the ultimate
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. If the
primary station wants to receive data, it asks the secondary’s if they have anything to
send. This method is called as polling.
● If primary station wants to send data, it asks secondary station to receive the data.
This is called as selecting.
1. Select:
● This is used when primary device sends the data.
● When primary station wants to send data to other machines, it should intimate the
other secondary device that it is sending the data.
● To do this, the primary machine first sends the SEL frame in which the address of the
machine (secondary machine) to which it wants to send the data is present.
● Then, the primary machine waits for the acknowledgement from that machine. Once
the acknowledgement is reached then the data is send.
2. Poll:
● Whenever primary wants to receive data then polling is used. It polls each machine, if
it has something to send.
A B C A B C
Primary Primary

SEL Poll
ACK
NAK
Select
Data Poll
Poll
ACK
Data
ACK

(a) Select Function (b) Poll Function

Fig. 4.49 Select and Poll functions in polling access method
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● The secondary responds either with NAK frame which means nothing to send or with
data frame if it wants to send data. If the response from the secondary device is
negative i.e. received NAK frame then the next machine is polled until it finds one
with data to send.
● When the primary machine gets the data, it accepts the data frame and returns the
acknowledgement.
● Fig. 4.49 shows select and poll functions in polling access method.
4.7.3 Token Passing (W-18)
● In this method, a station is allowed to send data when the station receives a special
frame called token.
● In token passing, the stations are organized in the form of a logical ring. For every
station there is predecessor and a successor.
● Control of the access to the medium is performed using a token. A token is a special bit
pattern or a small packet, usually several bits in length, which circulate from node to
node.
● The right to access the channel has been passed from predecessor to the current
station. The right will be passed to the successor when the current station has no more
data to send.
● The possession of the token gives the station the right to access the channel and send
its data.
● Fig. 4.50 shows concepts of token passing.

Fig. 4.50: Token Passing

● When the channel is idle then the token circulates around the ring. When station
wants to send data, it waits for a token, when the token comes, the station captures the
token and sends the data. When the machine finishes the data, it releases the token to
the next machine (the successor).
● The station cannot send data until it receives the token again in the next round. In this
process, 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.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

● The procedure is as shown in Fig. 4.51.

Start

Wait for
the token

Capture
the token

No
Allocated time Yes Data frame
expired? Sent a frame to send?

Yes No

Release
the token

Stop

Fig. 4.51 Procedure of Token Passing

Advantages of Token Passing: (S-18)
1. In token passing no collisions mean more consistent performance in high-load
configurations.
2. Token passing is effective because of collisions are prevented altogether.
3. Performance is consistently predictable, making token passing suitable for time
sensitive applications.
4. Reliable because of the maximum amount of time before a given computer will be
able to transmit can be calculated.
5. It is a non-contention method. Computers do not compete for access to the cable.
Each computer will get its "turn" as the token comes around the network.
Disadvantages of Token Passing:
1. Slow because of a large amount of network bandwidth is consumed in the process.
2. The generation of a token creates network overhead.
3. In token passing the maximum speed is limited due to the overhead of token
passing and re-generation.
4. Network hardware in token passing is more complex and expensive than that used
with other access methods.
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4.8 CHANNELIZATION (W-18; S-18)

● Channelization is the multiple access method in which the available bandwidth of a
link is shared in time, frequency or through code between different station.
● Three channelization protocols are present in networking as shown in Fig. 4.52.
● Sometimes, channelization also called as channel partition.

Channelization Protocols

FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access)

TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)

CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)

Fig. 4.52 Channelization Protocols

● Fig. 4.52 shows following channelization protocols.
1. FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access): Here, the bandwidth is shared by
all stations. Each band is given to the station. Station sends data in its allocated
band. The band belongs to the station all the time. It is data link layer protocol.
Here, the bandwidth is divided into channels.
2. TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access): The entire bandwidth is one channel.
Each station is allocated a time slice. During its time slice, the data is send.
3. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access): Here, only one channel occupies the
entire bandwidth of the link. All stations can send data simultaneously. Here, the
channel carries all transmissions simultaneously. Each station is assigned a code
which is a sequence number called chip.
4.8.1 FDMA
● FDMA is a channel access method used in multiple-access protocols as channelization
protocol.
● In FDMA, the available bandwidth is divided into various frequency bands.
● Each station is allocated a band to send its data. This band is reserved for that station
for all the time.
● Each station also uses a band pass filter to confine the transmitter frequencies.
● The frequency bands of different stations are separated by small bands of unused
frequency. These unused frequency bands are called guard bands that prevent station
interferences.

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● FDM is a physical layer technique whereas FDMA is an access method in the data link
layer. The data link layer in each station tells its physical layer to make a band pass
signal from the data passed to it. The signal must be created in the allocated band.
● So FDMA is the process of dividing one channel or bandwidth into multiple individual
bands, each for use by a single user. Each individual band or channel is wide enough
to accommodate the signal spectra of the transmissions to be propagated. The data to
be transmitted is modulated on to each subcarrier, and all of them are linearly mixed
together.
● The best example of FDMA is the cable television system.
● Fig. 4.53 shows FDMA concept.
Data Data
f f

A B

t t

Common
Channel

Data
f f

C D

t t
Silent Data
Fig. 4.53: FDMA
Advantages of FDMA:
1. A continuous transmission scheme and therefore of lower complexity.
2. FDMA technology is mature and cost is low.
3. Simple to implement from a hardware stand-point, because multiple users are
isolated by employing simple band pass filters.
4. No channel equalization required in FDMA.
Disadvantages of FDMA:
1. Channel allocation is not flexible in FDMA.
2. In FDMA network and spectrum planning are intensive.
3. In FDMA frequency planning is time consuming.
4. FDMA requires unlink power control to maintain link quality.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

4.8.2 TDMA
● TDMA is a channel access method for stored medium networks.
● In time-division multiple access (TDMA) stations share the bandwidth of the channel
in time. Every station is allocated a time slot, in which it can send data.
● In TDMA, the bandwidth is just one channel that is timeshared between different
stations.
● The main problem with TDMA lies in achieving synchronization between the different
stations. Each station needs to know the beginning of its slot and the location of its
slot. This may be difficult because of propagation delays introduced in the system if
the stations are spread over a large area.
Data Data
f f

A B

t t

Common
Channel

Data

f f

C D

t t
Silent Data
Fig. 4.54: TDMA
● TDMA and TDM are seems to be conceptually same, but they are different. TDM is a
physical layer technique that combines the data from slower channels and transmits
them by using a faster channel. The process uses a physical multiplexer that
interleaves data units from each channel, whereas TDMA is Data link layer access
method. The Data link layer in each station tells its Physical layer to use the allocated
time slot.
● TDMA is used in digital mobile radio systems.
Advantages of TDMA:
1. TDMA is most efficient method of transmission because of efficient use of
transmission resources.
2. At a given time only one carrier is present on the channel hence intermodulation
distortion is eliminated.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

3. TDMA is more flexible than FDMA because of TDMA can accommodate a wider
range of bit rates by allowing a station to be allocated several slots.
4. TDMA transmission is separated in time domain. Processing of signal in time
domain is easier and simpler.
Disadvantages of TDMA:
1. Bit and frame timings must be maintained by TDMA.
2. Precise synchronization between stations is required. Transmission of every
station must occur during exact time slot.
4.8.3 CDMA
● CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) also called spread-spectrum and code division
multiplexing, one of the competing transmission technologies for digital mobile
phones.
● In CDMA, Data from all stations are transmitted simultaneously and are separated
based on coding theory.
● In TDMA and FDMA the transmissions from different stations are clearly separated in
either time or frequency.
● In case of CDMA, the transmissions from different stations occupy the entire
frequency band at the same time.
● Multiple simultaneous transmissions are separated by using coding theory.
● Each bit is assigned a unique m-bit code or chip sequence.
Advantages of CDMA:
1. High immunity for interference and jamming.
2. CDMA does not require any time synchronization among the stations.
3. In CDMA each stations can use entire bandwidth at any time.
4. CDMA offers highly secured communication.
Disadvantages of CDMA:
1. Low throughput efficiency.
2. The overall performance degrades with increase in number of users.
Summary
The Data Link Layer is the second layer in the OSI model. The main functions of the
data link layer are providing the service interface to the network layer and Dealing
with the transmission errors.
The data link layer services differ from system to system. The three main services are
unacknowledged connectionless service, acknowledged connectionless service and
acknowledged connection oriented service.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

In unacknowledged connectionless service the source machine send independent

frames to the destination machine without having the destination machine
acknowledge them.
When acknowledged connectionless service is offered, there are still no logical
connections used, but each frame sent is individually acknowledged.
With acknowledged connection oriented service, the source and destination machines
establish a connection before any data are transferred.
The data link layer on the receiving end remove the escape byte before the data are
given to the network layer. This is known as byte stuffing or character stuffing.
The most popular error detection technique is based on polynomial is called as CRC
(cyclic redundancy check).
The device that can be used to interconnect two separate LANs is known as a bridge.
ALOHA is a system for coordinating and arbitrating access to a shared communication
Networks channel.
The original ALOHA protocol is called pure ALOHA.
Slotted ALOHA was invented to improve the efficiency of pure ALOHA as chances of
collision in pure ALOHA are very high.
In slotted ALOHA, the time of the shared channel is divided into discrete intervals
called slots.
CSMA is a network access method used on shared network topologies such as Ethernet
to control access to the network.
In 1-persistent CSMA method, station that wants to transmit data continuously senses
the channel to check whether the channel is idle or busy. If the channel is busy, the
station waits until it becomes idle.
P-persistent CSMA method is used when channel has time slots such that the time slot
duration is equal to or greater than the maximum propagation delay time.
In non-persistent CSMA, a station that has a frame to send senses the channel. If the
channel is idle, it sends immediately. If the channel is busy, it waits for a random
amount of time and then senses the channel again.
CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection) protocol can be
considered as a refinement over the CSMA.
The basic idea behind CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
Avoidance) is that a station needs to be able to receive while transmitting to detect a
collision.
Whenever the channel is found idle, the station does not transmit immediately. It
waits for a period of time called Inter Frame Space (IFS).
In Reservation method, the station needs to make a registration "before sending data".

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

In Polling method, one station is designated as a primary station and others are
secondary stations.
In Token Passing method, a station is allowed to send data when the station receives a
special frame called token.
In token passing, the stations are organized in the form of a logical ring. For every
station there is predecessor and a successor.
Channelization is the multiple access method in which the available bandwidth of a
link is shared in time, frequency or through code between different stations.
Channelization protocols are FDMA ( Frequency Division Multiple Access) here, the
bandwidth is shared by all stations, TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) here, the
entire bandwidth is one channel. Each station is allocated a time slice. During its time
slice, the data is send and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) here, only one
channel occupies the entire bandwidth of the link. All stations can send data
simultaneously.

Check Your Understanding

1. Which error detection method involves polynomials?
(a) Simple parity check (b) 2-D parity check
(c) CRC (d) Checksum.
2. In cyclic redundancy checking what is the CRC?
(a) The divisor (b) The quotient
(c) The dividend (d) The remainder.
3. In cyclic redundancy checking the divisor is ________ the CRC.
(a) The same size as (b) 1 bit less than
(c) 1 bit more than (d) 2 bit more than.
4. Which one of the following is the multiple access protocol for channel access
control?
(a) CSMA/CD (b) CSMA/CA
(c) Both (a) and (b) (d) None of the mentioned.
5. In ________ each station sends a frame whenever it has a frame to send.
(a) Pure ALOHA (b) Slotted ALOHA
(c) both (a) and (b) (d) Neither (a) nor (b).
6. In the _________ method, after the station finds the line idle, it sends its frame
immediately. If the line is not idle, it continuously senses the line until it finds it
idle.
(a) Nonpersistent (b) 1-persistent
(c) P-persistent (d) None of the above.
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

7. In _______ methods, the stations consult one another to find which station has the
right to send.
(a) Random access (b) Controlled access
(c) Channelization (d) None of the above.
8. In the _______ method, each station has a predecessor and a successor.
(a) Reservation (b) Polling
(c) Token passing (d) None of the above.
9. In ________, the available bandwidth is divided into frequency bands.
(a) FDMA (b) TDMA
(c) CDMA (d) None of the above.
10. In _______, the sequences are generated using orthogonal codes such the Walsh
tables.
(a) FDMA (b) TDMA
(c) CDMA (d) None of the above.

Practice Questions
Q.I: Answers the Following Questions in short.
1. What is channelization?
2. What are different framing methods?
3. What is meant by byte stuffing?
4. What is meant by CRC?
5. Which are the type of errors?
6. List out the random access protocols.
7. List out persistence methods.
Q.II: Answers the Following Questions.
1. Explain the concept of framing in detail in data link layer
2. Explain error detection at the data link layer.
3. The 10 bit sequence is 1010011110 and the divisor of 1011. Find the CRC.
4. Explain the pure aloha and slotted aloha.
5. Compare and contrast between controlled accesses over random access.
6. What is the difference between polling and selecting?
7. What is chip sequence?
8. Write short note on:
(i) 1-persistent CSMA,
(ii) Non-persistent CSMA.

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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

9. Write short notes on:

(i) ALOHA (ii) CSMA (iii) CSMA / CD
(iv) CSMA/CA (v) Walsh table.
10. Explain the following terms:
(i) TDMA (ii) FDMA (iii) CDMA.
Q.III: Define the terms.
1. Framing
2. Channelization
3. Random access protocols
4. Pure ALOHA
5. Slotted ALOHA

Previous Exam Questions

Summer 2019
1. In token passing method, each station has a predecessor and ..................... [1 M]
(i) End (ii) Successor
(iii) First (iv) None of the above
2. What are the types of Errors ? [1 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.3
3. Write a note on framing methods in data link layer. [4 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.2.2
4. Explain slotted ALOHA in detail. [4 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.6.1.2
5. State advantage of CSMA/CD. [3 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.6.3
6. Explain error detection code CRC. [3]
Ans. Refer to section 4.3.2
Winter 2018
1. In....................available bandwidth is divided into frequency bands. [1 M]
(i) FDMA (ii) TDMA
(iii) CDMA (iv) CSMA/CA
2. Define channelization. [1 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.8.
3. Define PURE ALOHA. Explain frames in it with diagram. [4 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.6.1.1
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Computer Networks (BCA Science - III) Data Link Layer

4. Explain Token passing in detail. [5 M]

Ans. Refer to section 4.7.3
5. What is difference between polling and selecting ? [4 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.7.2
6. Write a short note on CSMA/CD. [4 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.6.3
Summer 2018
1. Which one of the following is the multiple access protocol for channel access
control? [1 M]
(a) CSMA/CD (b) CSMA/CA
(c) Both (a) and (b) (d) None of the mentioned.
2. In ________, the available bandwidth is divided into frequency bands. [1 M]
(a) FDMA (b) TDMA
(c) CDMA (d) None of the above.
3. Define channelization. [1 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.8
4. List the framing methods in Data link layer. [1 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.2.2
5. Give the advantages of token passing. [4 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.7.3
6. Write short note on Cyclic Redundancy Check. [5 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.3.2
7. State the advantages and disadvantages of Non persistant CSMA. [3 M]
Ans. Refer to section 4.6.2.2
8. Given the dataword 1010011110 and the divisor 10111 [4 M]
(a) Show the generation of the codeword at the sender site (using binary
division).
(b) Show the checking of the codeword at the receiver site (assume no error).
Ans. Refer to Example 1

4.62