FDDI

• Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)

• Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) or

Local Area Network (LAN) ?

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 Metropolitan Area Networks
• MANs are like LANs, only bigger and
faster
• MANs are typically used as campus-wide
or regional computer networks
• LAN < MAN < WAN

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 FDDI Characteristics
• 100 Mbps data rate
• Distances of up to 200 km
• Up to 1000 hosts attached
• Based on fiber optic cabling

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 FDDI Dual Ring Topology
• Two fiber rings:
– Fiber channels are unidirectional, so 2 are needed

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 FDDI Fault Tolerance
• Fault Tolerance
– Two rings can be merged into one after failure

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 FDDI Physical Layer Coding
• 4B5B (4 out of 5) coding is used
– Each 4-bit data message requires 5 bits to send
– Some of the unused 5-bit codes are used for
controlling the fiber rings or for synchronization
– To obtain a 100 Mbps data rate, a 125 Mbps physical
layer rate must be achieved

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• Each group of 4 bit MAC symbols is encoded as
a group of 5 bits
– 16 (of 32 combinations) are for date
– 3 are for delimiters
– 2 are for control
– 3 are for hardware signaling
– 8 are unused (reserved for future use)

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 FDDI Frame Format
• Similar to Token Ring

>8 1 1 2/6 2/6 unlimited 4 1 1

Destination Source
Preamble SD FC Address Address Data Checksum ED FS

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 FDDI token and data
frame formats
Token PA Preamble (16 or more I symbols)
SD Starting Delimiter (2 symbols: JK)
PA SD FC ED FC Frame Control (1 octet)
ED Ending Delimiter (2 T symbols)

Data Frame
SFS FCD coverage EFS

PA SD FC DA SA INFO FCS ED FS

SFS Start of Frame Sequence INFO Information (0 or more octets)

PA Preamble (16 or more I symbols) FCS Frame Check Sequence (4 octets)
SD Starting Delimiter (2 symbols: EFS End of Frame Sequence
JK) ED Ending Delimiter (1 T symbol)
FC Frame Control (1 octet) FS Frame Status (3 or more R or S symbols)
DA Destination Address (2 or 6
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SA Source Address (2 or 6 octets)
 Some Frame Control (FC)
values
Class of Service
0 Asynchronous
1 Synchronous

C L

Length of Address
0 = 16
1 = 48

Valid frames: (1) Integral number of bytes between JK & T;

(2) Number of bytes within limits for type of frame;
(3) Valid FCS (where appropriate);
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(4) E should be reset (R),June false.
2004
 FDDI Token Passing Protocol
• In Token Ring, a new token is not generated
until the frame is received again at the
transmitting host
• In FDDI, multiple tokens may be on the ring
simultaneously.
– After an FDDI host transmits a frame, it may put
another token on the ring
• Timers used to implement priority
– If a token is ahead of schedule (target token rotation
time), all priorities may transmit. If it is behind
schedule, only the highest ones may send.

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• Other FDDI timers
– Token Holding Timer
• determines how long a station may continue to transmit once
it has acquired the token.
– Token Rotation Timer
• is restarted every time a token is seen.
• If this timer expires, it means that the token has not been
sighted for too long an interval; possibly it has been lost.
Token recovery procedure is initiated.

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• Transmission mechanism
– Token captured (not repeated)
– Data frame transmitted
– Token released
– Receiver copies the frame
– Sender absorbs the frame
– More than one frame are possible on the ring.
• Station latency delay : 60 bits
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• Supports
– Synchronous traffic (guaranteed bandwidth)
– Asynchronous traffic (best effort)
• Eight priority classes
• Extended dialog between a pair of stations
• Synchronous Traffic
– Target token-rotation time (TTRT) defined
– Token is guaranteed in 2 x TTRT
– SA(i) – Synchronous allocation for ith station
D(Max) + F(Max) + Token time + ∑ SA(i) ≤ TTRT
D(Max) = Ring Latency
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F(Max) = Transmission time of largest
frame (4500 Bytes)
Token Time = Transmission time of token
• Timers and counter at each station
– Token-rotation Timer (TRT)
– Token-holding Timer (THT)
– Late Counter (LC)

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• Initialize
TRT = TTRT
LC = 0
• TRT counts down
• Token arrives before TRT=0
(a) TRT → THT
(b) TTRT →TRT
© Enable TRT
(d) LC = 0
(e) Transmit SA(i)
(f) Enable THT
(g) Transmit Async data till THT = 0
(h) Release token
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• Token arrives after TRT = 0
(a) When TRT = 0
– TTRT → TRT, LC=1
(b) Enable TRT
© Token arrives, LC=0
(d) TRT remains enabled
(e) Transmit SA(i), no async data transfer
• Token does not arrive before two consecutive
expiry of TRT : LC=2, token is lost.

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 FDDI Timed Token Rotation
Protocol

1. All hosts agree on a common Target Token Rotation Time (TTRT).

They will aim to make the token rotate around the network at least
once per TTRT. Hence, they can each expect to see the token once
TTRT.
2. Each host on the network maintains a timed token Rotation (TRT)
timer, that indicates when the token is next expected to arrive.
3. If the token arrives before TRT expires, we say it is “Early”.
If the token arrives after TRT expires, we say it is “Late”.
4. A host can only transmit if it receives the token, AND the token is
Early.

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FDDI Timed Token Rotation Protocol
Time 0: Host receives Token and sets TRT = TTRT ( = 8ms in this example)
TRT
8ms Time until next token is expected (TTRT)

Count down

0ms

Time = 5ms: Token arrives & host wants to transmit one or more packets

8ms TRT Reset TRT = TTRT Token is Early

Host is allowed to transmit up to 3ms
(TTRT-TRT) is transferred to a new counter
Token Holding Timer (THT) keeps track of
the amount of time host can transmit
3ms
THT
3ms When THT reaches 0ms
0ms Count down
host cannot start new packet
0ms

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 FDDI performance
– Choose TTRT and synchronous allocations so that:
T = TTRT T ≥ D + Fmax + ∑ Si
D = token rotation time for idle ring (including time to transmit token)
Fmax = maximum frame size
Si = synchronous allocation for station I
– TRT ≤ 2 × TTRT
– Average token cycle time, TRTavg ≤ TTRT
– For a ring with N active stations, no synchronous allocations, and every
station always with a frame to transmit, i.e., fully loaded, utilization, U,
given by
N (T − D)
U=
NT + D
= ( N −1)T + 2D

–and maximum access delay

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 FDDI: Timed Token Example
Assume: 4 hosts, all have full buffers to send.
TTRT = 3ms

Host 1 Host 2 Host 3 Host 4

Frames No Tx No Tx No Tx
TRT expired TRT expired TRT expired
3ms
> 3ms
No Tx Frames No Tx No Tx
TRT expired TRT expired TRT expired

No Tx No Tx Frames No Tx
TRT expired TRT expired TRT expired

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 FDDI: Timed Token Example
Assume: not all transmit buffers are full.

Host 1 Host 2 Host 3 Host 4

Frames No Tx Frames Frames
Nothing to Tx 0.8ms
1.0ms 0.5ms
< 3ms
Frames Frames No Tx Frames
TRT expired
0.7ms 1.0ms 0.5ms
No Tx Frames No Tx
Frames
Nothing to Tx Nothing to Tx
1.5ms 0.5ms

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FDDI Timed Token Protocol
Proof that TRT < TTRT + TRANSP
B

A
Token rotates once
from A back to A

P1 TAB P2 TAB

T1A T1B T 2A T2B

Claim:
IF T2A – T1A < TTRT + TRANSP
THEN T2B – T1B < TTRT + TRANSP

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Proof:

Early Token at A

1. IF TTRT > T2A – T1A THEN

(T2A + P2) – (T1A + P1) < TTRT + TRANSP
Hence
T2B – T1B = T2A – T1A + P2 + P1 < TTRT + TRANSP

Late Token at A
2. IF TTRT < T2A – T1A < TTRT + TRANSP
THEN P2 = 0
HENCE
T2B – T1B = T2A – T1A – P1 < TTRT + TRANSP

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 FDDI MAC Protocol: “Synchronous” Traffic

• So why do we want to guarantee the token rotation time?

• Answer: to support special traffic (called “synchronous traffic”)
that requires a guaranteed access time to the network.

• Each time it receives the token, station i can send Si synch

traffic.
• Si’s are picked so that: sum(Si) < TTRT – TRANSP, which adds
an extra TTRT to maximum TRT.

Therefore: TRT < 2 x TTRT

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 FDDI MAC Protocol: Asynch Traffic
Efficiency

η ~= TTRT - PROP
TTRT

Example: 10km, 100Mbps FDDI ring with 20 nodes

Assume: TTRT = 5ms

η ~= 5 x 10-3 – 104 / 2.5 x 108

5 x 10-3
= 99.2%

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 FDDI – II

• Can operate in hybrid mode

– Packet switched mode
– Circuit switched mode
• Provides 16 wideband channels (WBCs) of
6.144 Mbps.
• Provides a minimum of 768 kbps channel for
packet switched data (Dedicated Packet Group).
• WBCs can be used to transfer asynchronous
data
N Channels of Circuit Switched data = N x 6.144 Mbps
Packet Switched Data = 0.768 + (16-N) x 6.144 Mbps
Overhead (preamble + Cycle header) = 0.928 Mbps
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