Multiple Access

McGraw-Hill ©The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2000

Figure 12.1 Data link layer divided into two functionality-oriented sublayers
Figure 12.2 Taxonomy of multiple-access protocols discussed in this chapter
12-1 RANDOM ACCESS

In random access or contention methods, no station is

superior to another station and none is assigned the
control over another. No station permits, or does not
permit, another station to send. At each instance, a
station that has data to send uses a procedure defined
by the protocol to make a decision on whether or not to
send.
Topics discussed in this section:
ALOHA
Carrier Sense Multiple Access
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance
 ALOHA Random Access Protocol

The ALOHA protocol or also known as the ALOHA method is a simple

communication scheme in which every transmitting station or source in a network

will send the data whenever a frame is available for transmission. If we succeed and

the frame reaches its destination, then the next frame is lined-up for transmission.

But remember, if the data frame is not received by the receiver (maybe due to

collision) then the frame is sent again until it successfully reaches the receiver's end.

Whenever we talk about a wireless broadcast system or a half-duplex two-way link,

the ALOHA method works efficiently. But as the network becomes more and more

complex e.g. the ethernet.

Now here in the ethernet, the system involves multiple sources and destinations

which share a common data path or channel, then the conflict occurs because data-

frames collide, and the information is lost. Following is the flow chart of Pure

ALOHA.
Figure 12.3 Frames in a pure ALOHA network
Figure 12.4 Procedure for pure ALOHA protocol
Figure 12.5 Vulnerable time for pure ALOHA protocol
Figure 12.6 Frames in a slotted ALOHA network
Figure 12.7 Vulnerable time for slotted ALOHA protocol
 Difference between Pure aloha and Slotted aloha

S.no. On the basis of Pure Aloha Slotted Aloha

1. Basic In pure aloha, data can be In slotted aloha, data can be
transmitted at any time by any transmitted at the beginning of the
station. time slot.
2. Time Time is not synchronized in pure Time is globally synchronized in
aloha. slotted aloha.
Time is continuous in it. Time is discrete in it.
3. Number of collisions It does not decrease the number On the other hand, slotted aloha
of collisions to half. enhances the efficiency of pure aloha.
It decreases the number of collisions
to half.

4. Vulnerable time In pure aloha, the vulnerable Whereas, in slotted aloha, the
time is = 2 x Tt vulnerable time is = Tt
5. Successful In pure aloha, the probability of In slotted aloha, the probability of the
transmission the successful transmission of successful transmission of the frame is
the frame is – –
S = G * e-2G S = G * e-G
6. Throughput The maximum throughput in The maximum throughput in slotted
pure aloha is about 18%. aloha is about 37%.
 Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)

This method was developed to decrease the chances of collisions when two or

more stations start sending their signals over the data link layer. Carrier Sense

multiple access requires that each station first check the state of the

medium before sending. 
 Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD)

In this method, a station monitors the medium after it sends a frame to see if the

transmission was successful. If successful, the transmission is finished, if not, the

frame is sent again. 

In the diagram, starts sending the first bit of its frame at t1

and since C sees the channel idle at t2, starts sending its frame

at t2. C detects A’s frame at t3 and aborts transmission. A

detects C’s frame at t4 and aborts its transmission.

Transmission time for C’s frame is, therefore, t3-t2         and

for A’s frame is t4-t1  

Figure 12.9 Vulnerable time in CSMA
Figure 12.10 Behavior of three persistence methods
Figure 12.11 Flow diagram for three persistence methods
Figure 12.14 Flow diagram for the CSMA/CD
Figure 12.15 Energy level during transmission, idleness, or collision
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)

The basic idea behind CSMA/CA is that the station should be able to receive while transmitting to

detect a collision from different stations. In wired networks, if a collision has occurred then the

energy of the received signal almost doubles, and the station can sense the possibility of collision. In

the case of wireless networks, most of the energy is used for transmission, and the energy of the

received signal increases by only 5-10% if a collision occurs. It can’t be used by the station to sense

collision. Therefore CSMA/CA has been specially designed for wireless networks. 

These are three types of strategies: 

1. InterFrame Space (IFS): When a station finds the channel busy it senses the channel again,
when the station finds a channel to be idle it waits for a period of time called IFS time. IFS can also

be used to define the priority of a station or a frame. Higher the IFS lower is the priority.
2. Contention Window: It is the amount of time divided into slots. A station that is ready to send
frames chooses a random number of slots as wait time.
Figure 12.16 Timing in CSMA/CA
Note

In CSMA/CA, the IFS can also be used to

define the priority of a station or a
frame.
Note

In CSMA/CA, if the station finds the

channel busy, it does not restart the
timer of the contention window;
it stops the timer and restarts it when
the channel becomes idle.
Figure 12.17 Flow diagram for CSMA/CA
 Types of CSMA Access Modes

There are 4 types of access modes available in CSMA. It is also referred as 4 different types of CSMA

protocols which decides time to start sending data across a shared media.

1.1-Persistent: It senses the shared channel first and delivers the data right away if the channel is
idle. If not, it must wait and continuously track for the channel to become idle and then broadcast the

frame without condition as soon as it does. It is an aggressive transmission algorithm.

2.Non-Persistent:  It first assesses the channel before transmitting data; if the channel is idle, the
node transmits data right away. If not, the station must wait for an arbitrary amount of time (not

continuously), and when it discovers the channel is empty, it sends the frames.
3.P-Persistent: It consists of the 1-Persistent and Non-Persistent modes combined. Each node

observes the channel in the P-Persistent mode, and if the channel is idle, it sends a frame with a P

probability. If the data is not transferred, the frame restarts with the following time slot after waiting

for a (q = 1-p probability) random period.

12-2 CONTROLLED ACCESS

In controlled access, the stations consult one another

to find which station has the right to send. A station
cannot send unless it has been authorized by other
stations. We discuss three popular controlled-access
methods.

Topics discussed in this section:

Reservation
Polling
Token Passing
 Reservation
•In the reservation method, a station needs to make a reservation before sending data.
•The time line has two kinds of periods:
• Reservation interval of fixed time length
• Data transmission period of variable frames.
•If there are M stations, the reservation interval is divided into M slots, and each
station has one slot.
•Suppose if station 1 has a frame to send, it transmits 1 bit during the slot 1. No other
station is allowed to transmit during this slot.
• th
In general, i   station may announce that it has a frame to send by inserting a 1 bit
th
into i   slot. After all N slots have been checked, each station knows which stations

wish to transmit.
•The stations which have reserved their slots transfer their frames in that order.
Figure 12.18 Reservation access method

The following figure shows a situation with five stations and a five-slot reservation frame.

In the first interval, only stations 1, 3, and 4 have made reservations. In the second

interval, only station 1 has made a reservation.

 Polling

•Polling process is similar to the roll-call performed in class. Just like the teacher,
a controller sends a message to each node in turn.
•In this, one acts as a primary station(controller) and the others are secondary
stations. All data exchanges must be made through the controller.
•The message sent by the controller contains the address of the node being

selected for granting access.

•Although all nodes receive the message but the addressed one responds to it and
sends data, if any. If there is no data, usually a “poll reject”(NAK) message is sent

back.
•Problems include high overhead of the polling messages and high dependence on
the reliability of the controller.
Figure 12.19 Select and poll functions in polling access method
 Token Passing

•In token passing scheme, the stations are connected logically to each other in form of ring
and access to stations is governed by tokens.
•A token is a special bit pattern or a small message, which circulate from one station to the
next in some predefined order.
•In Token ring, token is passed from one station to another adjacent station in the ring
whereas incase of Token bus, each station uses the bus to send the token to the next station in

some predefined order.

•In both cases, token represents permission to send. If a station has a frame queued for
transmission when it receives the token, it can send that frame before it passes the token to

the next station. If it has no queued frame, it passes the token simply.
•After sending a frame, each station must wait for all N stations (including itself) to send the
token to their neighbours and the other N – 1 stations to send a frame, if they have one.
Figure 12.20 Logical ring and physical topology in token-passing access method