Scribd
Upload
58 views4 pages

CN - Chapter 4 - Class 1, 2

The document discusses different protocols for determining access to a shared communication channel, including ALOHA, slotted ALOHA, and carrier sense multiple access (CSMA). ALOHA protocols allow nodes to transmit whenever they have data, which can cause collisions that reduce throughput. Slotted ALOHA divides time into slots to improve throughput. CSMA protocols require nodes to listen first before transmitting to further reduce collisions and allow higher channel utilization than ALOHA protocols. The document compares the throughput performance of these different channel access protocols.

Uploaded by

himanshuajaypandey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
58 views4 pages

CN - Chapter 4 - Class 1, 2

The document discusses different protocols for determining access to a shared communication channel, including ALOHA, slotted ALOHA, and carrier sense multiple access (CSMA). ALOHA protocols allow nodes to transmit whenever they have data, which can cause collisions that reduce throughput. Slotted ALOHA divides time into slots to improve throughput. CSMA protocols require nodes to listen first before transmitting to further reduce collisions and allow higher channel utilization than ALOHA protocols. The document compares the throughput performance of these different channel access protocols.

Uploaded by

himanshuajaypandey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Chapter 4.

The Medium Access Control Sublayer


The Medium Access Control Sublayer
• Networks can be divided into two categories: those using point to-point connections and those using broadcast
channels.
• In any broadcast network, the key issue is how to determine who gets to use the channel when there is
competition for it.
• When only a single channel is available, determining who should go next is much harder.
• Broadcast channels are sometimes referred to as multiaccess channels or random access channels.
• The protocols used to determine who goes next on a multiaccess channel belong to a sublayer of the data link
layer called the MAC (Medium Access Control) sublayer.
• The MAC sublayer is especially important in LANs, many of which use a multiaccess channel as the basis for
communication.
• WANs, in contrast, use point-to-point links, except for satellite networks.
• Technically, the MAC sublayer is the bottom part of the data link layer.
4.1 The Channel Allocation Problem
• Static Channel Allocation (Fixed Channel allocation)
• Dynamic Channel Allocation
Static Channel Allocation in LANs and MANs
• The traditional way of allocating a single channel, such as a telephone trunk, among multiple competing users is
Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM).
• If there are N users, the bandwidth is divided into N equal-sized portions, each user being assigned one portion.
• Since each user has a private frequency band, there is no interference between users.
• When there is only a small and constant number of users, FDM is a simple and efficient allocation mechanism.
• Disadvantage: when the number of senders is large and continuously varying, FDM presents some problems.
• If the spectrum is cut up into N regions and fewer than N users are currently interested in communicating, a
large piece of valuable spectrum will be wasted.
• If more than N users want to communicate, some of them will be denied permission for lack of bandwidth, even
if some of the users who have been assigned a frequency band hardly ever transmit or receive anything.
• In TDM based allocation Each user is statically allocated every Nth time slot. If a user does not use the allocated
slot, it is just wastage of bandwidth.
Dynamic Channel Allocation in LANs and MANs
• In dynamic channel allocation scheme, frequency bands are not permanently assigned to the users.
• Instead channels are allotted to users dynamically as needed.
• This allocation scheme optimizes bandwidth usage and results is faster transmissions.
• The allocation is done considering a number of parameters so that transmission interference is minimized.
4.2 Multiple Access Protocols
ALOHA
• In the 1970s, Norman Abramson developed this method to solve the channel allocation problem.
• Two versions of ALOHA here: pure and slotted.
• They differ with respect to whether time is divided into discrete slots into which all frames must fit.
• Pure ALOHA does not require global time synchronization; slotted ALOHA does.
Pure ALOHA
• The basic idea of an ALOHA system: Users transmit whenever they have data to be sent. There will be collisions,
of course, and the colliding frames will be damaged.
• However, due to the feedback property of broadcasting, a sender can always find out whether its frame was
destroyed by listening to the channel.
• If listening while transmitting is not possible for some reason, acknowledgements are needed.
• If the frame was destroyed, the sender just waits a random amount of time and sends it again.
• Systems in which multiple users share a common channel in a way that can lead to conflicts are widely known as
contention systems.
Figure 4-1. In pure ALOHA, frames are transmitted at completely
arbitrary times.

• Whenever two frames try to occupy the channel at the same time, there will be a collision and both will be
garbled.
• A frame will not suffer a collision if no other frames are sent within one frame time of its start.
• In pure ALOHA a station does not listen to the channel before transmitting, it has no way of knowing that
another frame was already underway.
• An interesting question is: What is the efficiency of an ALOHA channel? what fraction of all transmitted frames
escape collisions under these chaotic circumstances?

• Throughput
• The maximum throughput occurs at G = 0.5, with S = 1/2e, which is about 0.184.
• In other words, the best we can hope for is a channel utilization of 18 percent.
Figure 4-3. Throughput versus offered traffic for ALOHA systems

Slotted ALOHA
• In 1972, Roberts published a method for doubling the capacity of an ALOHA system.
• His proposal was to divide time into discrete intervals, each interval corresponding to one frame.
• In Roberts' method, which has come to be known as slotted ALOHA, in contrast to Abramson's pure ALOHA, a
computer is not permitted to send whenever a carriage return is typed.
• Instead, it wait for the beginning of the next slot. Thus, the continuous pure ALOHA is turned into a discrete
one.

• Throughput
• Slotted ALOHA peaks at G = 1, with a throughput of S =1/e or about 0.368, twice that of pure ALOHA.
• In other words, the best we can hope for is a channel utilization of 37 percent.
Carrier Sense Multiple Access Protocols
• Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) is a network protocol for carrier transmission that operates in the Medium
Access Control (MAC) layer.
• With slotted ALOHA the best channel utilization that can be achieved is 1/e.
• In local area networks, however, it is possible for stations to detect what other stations are doing, and adapt
their behavior accordingly. These networks can achieve a much better utilization than 1/e.
• Protocols in which stations listen for a carrier (i.e., a transmission) and act accordingly are called carrier sense
protocols.
• It senses or listens whether the shared channel for transmission is busy or not, and transmits if the channel is
not busy.

Working Principle
• When a station has frames to transmit, it attempts to detect presence of the carrier signal from the other nodes
connected to the shared channel.
• If a carrier signal is detected, it implies that a transmission is in progress.
• The station waits till the ongoing transmission executes to completion, and then initiates its own transmission.
• Generally, transmissions by the node are received by all other nodes connected to the channel.
• Since, the nodes detect for a transmission before sending their own frames, collision of frames is reduced.

You might also like