DATA LINK

LAYER
Presented by Group 3
Rafer, Alleia
Elimos, Remark
Gutierrez, John Patrick
Ignacio, Arcel Maean
Lunar, Kim Angelo
Padrigon, Noel Jr.
Preyra, Aaron
 AGENDA
INTRODUCTION ERROR CONTROL

MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL SOURCES OF ERRORS

CONTENTION ERROR PREVENTION

CONTROLLED ACCESS ERROR DETECTION

RELATIVE PEFORMANCE ERROR CORRECTION VIA
RETRANSMISSION

TOPICS COVERED
 AGENDA
ERROR CONTROL IN TRANSMISSION EFFICIENCY
PRACTICE
IMPLICATIONS FOR CYBER
DATA LINK PROTOCOLS
SECURITY
ASYNCHRONOUS SUMMARY
TRANSMISSION
SYNCHRONOUS
TRANSMISSION

TOPICS COVERED
INTRODUCTION

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 THE DATA LINK LAYER IS
RESPONSIBLE FOR SENDING AND
RECEIVING MESSAGES TO AND
FROM OTHER COMPUTERS. ITS
JOB IS TO RELIABLY MOVE A
MESSAGE FROM ONE COMPUTER
OVER ONE CIRCUIT TO THE NEXT
COMPUTER WHERE THE MESSAGE
NEEDS TO GO.
1. Framing - data link layer needs to pack bits into frames.
2. Physical Addressing - data link layer is expected to add the header
and trailer with the packet. The Header contains the source and
destination MAC address.
3. Flow Control - end-to-end flow and the speed matching mechanism
4. Access Control - media access control
5. Error Control - Error detection and Error correction
 Logical Link Control(LLC)

the data link layer’s connection to the network

layer above it.
manages communication between the upper
and lower layers
takes the network protocol data and adds
control information to help deliver the packet
to the destination.(Flow Control)
 Media Access Control(MAC)
interacts with the physical layer
At the sending computer, it controls how and
when the physical layer converts bits into the
physical symbols that are sent down the circuit.
At the receiving computer, the MAC sublayer
receives a stream of bits from the physical
layer and translates it into a coherent PDU,
ensuring that no errors have occurred in
transmission, and passes the data link layer PDU
to the LLC sublayer.
 Media Access Control(MAC)

A data link protocol performs three functions:

Data Encapsulation (Framing)

Controls when computers transmit (Media
Access Control addressing)
Detects and corrects transmission errors
(Error Control)
MEDIA ACCESS
CONTROL
 ALL NETWORKS HAVE MORE THAN
ONE COMPUTER WHICH IS REQUIRED
TO SHARE THE SAME DATA
MEDIUM(SUCH AS WIRE). IF TWO
COMPUTERS SIMULTANEOUSLY TRIED
TO PLACE DATA INTO THE WIRE, A
COLLISION CAN OCCUR AND DATA
MIGHT BE CORRUPTED UNLESS A
METHOD IS USED TO RESOLVE THE
COLLISION.
An access method is a set of rules
that defines how data is input into
the cable.

set of rules

PROTOCOL
 Media access control refers to the
need to control when computers
transmit. With point-to-point full-
duplex configurations, media
access control is unnecessary
because there are only two
computers on the circuit, and full-
duplex permits either computer to
transmit at any time.
Media access control becomes important
when several computers share the same
communication circuit, such as a point-
to-point configuration with a half-
duplex configuration that requires
computers to take turns or a multipoint
configuration in which several computers
share the same circuit. Here, it is critical
to ensure that no two computers attempt
to transmit data at the same time—but if
they do, there must be a way to recover
from the problem.
 There are two fundamental
approaches to Media Access Control:

CONTENTION
CONTROLLED ACCESS
CONTENTION

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 In contention, computers
wait until the circuit is free
(i.e., no other computers
are transmitting) and then
transmit whenever they
have data to send.
Collision leads to:

Data packet loss.

Decreases reliability
and increases
retransmission.
Energy consumption
increases and latency
also increases.
Stations can transmit at
any time
Collision exist
Commonly used in
Ethernet—Local Area
Networks (LANs).
There must be some
technique to continue
the conversation after
such a collision occurs.
Two important contention-based protocols:

ALOHA PROTOCOL

CSMA PROTOCOL
ALOHA PROTOCOL
a simple communication protocol where each source in
the network transmits data whenever it has a frame to
be transmitted.
If the frame is transmitted successfully, the next frame
will be transmitted. If the transmission is failed, the
source will send the same frame again.
Slotted Aloha is an improvement to the original Aloha
protocol, where discrete time slots were introduced to
increase the maximum throughput while reducing
collisions.
CSMA(Carrier Sense Multiple Access) PROTOCOL

a probabilistic MAC protocol in which a node verifies

that the channel is free before transmitting on a shared
channel

2 Modification:
1. CSMA w/ Collision Detection(CSMA/CD) - stopping a
transmission as soon as a collision is detected.
2. CSMA w/ Collision Avoidance(CSMA/CA) - delaying the
transmission by a random interval if the channel is
sensed busy.
CONTROLLED
ACCESS
CONTROLLED ACCESS
With controlled access, one device controls the circuit and
determines which clients can transmit at what time. In
addition, the stations seek information from one another to
find which station has the right to send. It allows only one
node to send at a time, to avoid collision of messages on
shared medium.

THERE ARE TWO COMMONLY USED CONTROLLED ACCESS

TECHNIQUES:
1. ACCESS REQUESTS
2. POLLING

 1. ACCESS
RESERVATION REQUEST
RESERVATION

Client computers that want to transmit

send a request to transmit to the device
that is controlling the circuit.

The controlling device grants permission

for one computer at a time to transmit.

When one computer has permission to

transmit, all other computers wait until that
computer has finished, and then, if they have
something to transmit, they use a
contention technique to send an access
request.
2. POLLING
RESERVATION

The process of sending a signal to a client (a computer or

terminal) that gives it permission to transmit or asks it to
receive

With polling, the clients store all messages that need to be

transmitted. Periodically, the server (usually a mainframe
computer) polls the client to see if it has data to send. If the
client has data to send, it does so. If the client has no data to
send, it responds negatively, and the server asks another
client if it has data to send.
POLLING CONTROL ACCESS PROTOCOL
TO HAVE A COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PRIMARY AND
SECONDARY STATIONS, SELECT AND POLL FUNCTIONS IN
POLLING ACCESS METHOD

POLL FUNCTION SELECT FUNCTION

IF THE PRIMARY WANTS IF THE PRIMARY WANTS

TO RECEIVE DATA, IT ASKS TO SEND DATA, IT TELLS
THE SECONDARIES IF THE SECONDARY TO GET
THEY HAVE ANYTHING TO READY TO RECEIVE.
SEND.
POLL FUNCTION
SELECT FUNCTION
EFFICIENCY

USEFUL TIME = TRANSMISSION DELAY OF DATA PACKET = TT

USELESS TIME = TIME WASTED DURING POLLING +
PROPAGATION DELAY OF DATA PACKET = TPOLL + TP

THUS,
 THERE ARE SEVERAL TYPES OF POLLING:
ROLL-CALL POLLING HUB POLLING/
The controller works consecutively TOKEN PASSING
through a list of clients, first One device starts the poll and
polling client 1, then client 2, and so passes it to the next computer on
on, until all are polled. the multipoint circuit, which sends
Roll-call polling can be modified to its message and passes the poll to
select clients in priority so that the next. That computer then
some get polled more often than passes the poll to the next, and so
others. For example, one could on, until it reaches the first
increase the priority of client 1 by computer, which restarts the
using a polling sequence such as 1, process again.
2, 3, 1, 4, 5, 1, 6, 7, 1, 8, 9.
ROLL- CALL
POLLING
The polling requires one of the nodes to
be designated as a Master node (Primary
station).
In particular, the master node first sends
a message to node 1, saying that it (node
1) can transmit up to some maximum
number of frames.
After node 1 transmits some frames, the
master node tells node 2 it (node 2) can
transmit up to the maximum number of
frames.
ROLL- CALL
POLLING

The master node can determine

when a node has finished sending
its frames by observing the lack of
a signal on the channel.
The procedure continues in this
manner, with the master node
polling each of the nodes in a
cyclic manner.
ROLL- CALL
POLLING
 TOKEN
PASSING

Token passing is a channel access method

where a packet called a token is passed between
nodes to authorize that node to communicate.
In contrast to polling access methods, there is
no pre-defined "master" node.
A small, special-purpose frame known as a token
is exchanged among the nodes in some fixed
order.
When a node receives a token, it holds onto the
token only if it has some frames to transmit:
otherwise, it immediately forwards the token to
the next node.
 TOKEN
PASSING
LOGICAL RING
The polling protocol eliminates
the collision
This allows polling to achieve a
much higher efficiency ADVANTAGE
The minimum and maximum
access times and data rates on
the channel are predictable and
fixed.
There is the assignment of
priority in order to ensure faster
access from some secondary.

 The first drawback is that the protocol

introduces a polling delay-the amount
DISADVANTAGE of time required to notify a node that
it can transmit.
There is a high dependency on the
reliability of the controller
Few stations might starve for sending
the data.
Potentially more serious, is that if the
master node fails, the entire channel
becomes inoperative.

 RELATIVE
PERFORMANCE

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 WHICH MEDIA ACCESS
CONTROL APPROACH IS BEST:
CONTROLLED ACCESS OR
CONTENTION?
 Contention approaches work
better than controlled
approaches for small
THE KEY CONSIDERATION networks that have low
IS THROUGHPUT—WHICH usage. In this case, each
APPROACH WILL PERMIT computer can transmit when
THE MOST AMOUNT OF necessary, without waiting for
USER DATA TO BE permission
TRANSMITTED THROUGH
THE NETWORK. For large networks with high
usage, Controlled access
works better
In high-volume networks, many
computers want to transmit,
and the probability of a Controlled access
collision using contention is prevents collisions and
high. Collisions are very costly makes more efficient use of
in terms of throughput because the circuit, and although
they waste circuit capacity response time does increase,
during the collision and require it does so more gradually
both computers to retransmit
later
 THE KEY FOR SELECTING THE
BEST ACCESS CONTROL
TECHNIQUE IS TO FIND THE
CROSSOVER POINT
BETWEEN CONTROLLED
AND CONTENTION

RELATIVE RESPONSE
TIMES
 ERROR
CONTROL
ERROR CONTROL
ERROR CONTROL IS THE TECHNIQUE OF DETECTING AND
CORRECTING BLOCKS OF DATA DURING COMMUNICATION.
 TWO TYPES OF ERROR

HUMAN ERROR NETWORK ERROR

SUCH AS A MISTAKE IN
SUCH AS THOSE THAT
TYPING A NUMBER, OCCUR DURING
USUALLY ARE CONTROLLED TRANSMISSION, ARE
THROUGH THE CONTROLLED BY THE
APPLICATION PROGRAM NETWORK HARDWARE
AND SOFTWARE

 TWO CATEGORIES OF
NETWORK ERRORS
CORRUPTED LOST DATA
DATA
THIS IS WHERE DATA HAVE BEEN THIS WHERE THE DATA
CHANGED ACCIDENTALLY DELETED
 NETWORK SHOULD BE
DESIGNED TO:

1 2 3
PREVENT DETECT CORRECT
INTER-EXCHANGE CARRIERS (IXCS) THAT PROVIDE DATA
TRANSMISSION CIRCUITS PROVIDE STATISTICAL
MEASURES SPECIFYING TYPICAL ERROR RATES AND THE
PATTERN OF ERRORS THAT CAN BE EXPECTED ON THE
CIRCUITS THEY LEASE. FOR EXAMPLE, THE ERROR RATE
MIGHT BE STATED AS 1 IN 500,000, MEANING THERE IS 1
BIT IN ERROR FOR EVERY 500,000 BITS TRANSMITTED
ERROR RATE
THE ERROR RATE IS THE NUMBER OF BIT ERRORS
PER UNIT TIME.

ERROR BURST
THE ERROR BURST ARE ERRORS THAT ARE NOT
UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED IN TIME
SOURCES OF
ERRORS

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 1 Line noise

2 White noise or gaussian noise

SOURCES 3 Impulse noise

OF 4 Cross-talk
ERRORS
5 Echoes

6 Attenuation

7 Intermodulation noise
 LINE NOISE
LINE NOISE AND DISTORTION CAN CAUSE DATA
COMMUNICATION ERRORS. IN THIS CASE, NOISE IS
UNDESIRABLE ELECTRICAL SIGNALS. NOISE IS
INTRODUCED BY EQUIPMENT OR NATURAL
DISTURBANCES, AND IT DEGRADES THE PERFORMANCE
OF A COMMUNICATION CIRCUIT.

WHITE NOISE OR
GAUSIAN NOISE
IT IS CAUSED BY THE THERMAL AGITATION OF ELECTRONS
AND THEREFORE IS INESCAPABLE. EVEN IF THE EQUIPMENT
WERE PERFECT AND THE WIRES WERE PERFECTLY
INSULATED FROM ANY AND ALL EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE,
THERE STILL WOULD BE SOME WHITE NOISE. WHITE NOISE
USUALLY IS NOT A PROBLEM UNLESS IT BECOMES SO
STRONG THAT IT OBLITERATES THE TRANSMISSION
 IMPULSE NOISE
IT IS THE PRIMARY SOURCE OF ERRORS IN DATA
COMMUNICATIONS. IT IS HEARD AS A CLICK OR A
∕
CRACKLING NOISE AND CAN LAST AS LONG AS 1 100
OF A SECOND. SUCH A CLICK DOES NOT REALLY AFFECT
VOICE COMMUNICATIONS, BUT IT CAN OBLITERATE A
GROUP OF DATA, CAUSING A BURST ERROR.

CROSS -TALK OCCURS WHEN ONE CIRCUIT PICKS UP SIGNALS IN

ANOTHER. IT OCCURS BETWEEN PAIRS OF WIRES THAT
ARE CARRYING SEPARATE SIGNALS, IN MULTIPLEXED
LINKS CARRYING MANY DISCRETE SIGNALS, OR IN
MICROWAVE LINKS IN WHICH ONE ANTENNA PICKS UP
A MINUTE REFLECTION FROM ANOTHER ANTENNA.
 ECHOES IT IS THE RESULT OF POOR CONNECTIONS THAT CAUSE THE
SIGNAL TO REFLECT BACK TO THE TRANSMITTING EQUIPMENT.
IF THE STRENGTH OF THE ECHO IS STRONG ENOUGH TO BE
DETECTED, IT CAUSES ERRORS. ECHOES, LIKE CROSS-TALK AND
WHITE NOISE, HAVE SUCH A LOW SIGNAL STRENGTH THAT THEY
NORMALLY ARE NOT BOTHERSOME. ECHOES CAN ALSO OCCUR IN
FIBER-OPTIC CABLES WHEN CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CABLES
ARE NOT PROPERLY ALIGNED.

ATTENUATION
IT IS THE LOSS OF POWER A SIGNAL SUFFERS AS IT TRAVELS
FROM THE TRANSMITTING COMPUTER TO THE RECEIVING
COMPUTER . SOME POWER IS ABSORBED BY THE MEDIUM OR IS
LOST BEFORE IT REACHES THE RECEIVER. AS THE MEDIUM
ABSORBS POWER, THE SIGNAL BECOMES WEAKER, AND THE
RECEIVING EQUIPMENT HAS LESS AND LESS CHANCE OF
CORRECTLY INTERPRETING THE DATA.
INTERMODULATION
NOISE
IT IS A SPECIAL TYPE OF CROSS-TALK. THE SIGNALS
FROM TWO CIRCUITS COMBINE TO FORM A NEW
SIGNAL THAT FALLS INTO A FREQUENCY BAND
RESERVED FOR ANOTHER SIGNAL.
 ERROR
PREVENTION
 TECHNIQUES TO
PREVENT ERRORS
01 02 03 04 05

HAVING
REPEATERS
CHANGING
MOVING MULTIPLEXING TUNING OF
OR
SHIELDING CABLES TECHNIQUE EQUIPMENTS AMPLIFIER
SHIELDING

SHIELDING IS PROTECTING WIRES BY COVERING THEM

WITH AN INSULATING COATING. IT IS ONE OF THE BEST
WAYS TO PREVENT IMPULSE NOISE, CROSS-TALK, AND
INTERMODULATION NOISE
 MOVING CABLES
MOVING CABLES AWAY FROM
SOURCES OF NOISE (ESPECIALLY
POWER SOURCES) CAN ALSO
REDUCE IMPULSE NOISE, CROSS-
TALK, AND INTERMODULATION
NOISE. FOR IMPULSE NOISE, THIS
MEANS AVOIDING LIGHTS AND
HEAVY MACHINERY. LOCATING
COMMUNICATION CABLES AWAY
FROM POWER CABLES IS ALWAYS A
GOOD IDEA. FOR CROSS-TALK, THIS
MEANS PHYSICALLY SEPARATING
THE CABLES FROM OTHER
COMMUNICATION CABLES
CHANGING MULTIPLEXING TECHNIQUE

CROSS-TALK AND INTERMODULATION NOISE ARE OFTEN

CAUSED BY IMPROPER MULTIPLEXING. CHANGING
MULTIPLEXING TECHNIQUES (E.G., FROM FDM [FREQUENCY
DIVISION MULTIPLEXING] TO TDM [TIME
DIVISION MULTIPLEXING]) OR CHANGING THE
FREQUENCIES OR SIZE OF THE GUARDBANDS IN FDM CAN
HELP.
 TUNING OF EQUIPMENTS

MANY TYPES OF NOISE (E.G., ECHOES, WHITE

NOISE) CAN BE CAUSED BY POORLY
MAINTAINED EQUIPMENT OR POOR
CONNECTIONS AND SPLICES AMONG
CABLES. THIS IS PARTICULARLY TRUE FOR
ECHO IN FIBER-OPTIC CABLES, WHICH IS
ALMOST ALWAYS CAUSED BY POOR
CONNECTIONS. THE SOLUTION HERE IS
OBVIOUS: TUNE THE TRANSMISSION
EQUIPMENT AND REDO THE CONNECTIONS
AMPLIFIER REPEATER
AN AMPLIFIER TAKES THE REPEATERS ARE COMMONLY USED ON
INCOMING SIGNAL, INCREASES DIGITAL CIRCUITS. A REPEATER
ITS STRENGTH, AND RETRANSMITS RECEIVES THE INCOMING SIGNAL,
IT ON THE NEXT SECTION OF THE TRANSLATES IT INTO A DIGITAL
CIRCUIT. THEY ARE TYPICALLY MESSAGE, AND RETRANSMITS THE
MESSAGE. BECAUSE THE MESSAGE IS
USED ON ANALOG CIRCUITS SUCH
RECREATED AT EACH REPEATER,
AS THE TELEPHONE COMPANY’S
NOISE AND DISTORTION FROM THE
VOICE CIRCUITS. THE DISTANCE PREVIOUS CIRCUIT ARE NOT
BETWEEN THE AMPLIFIERS AMPLIFIED. THIS PROVIDES A MUCH
DEPENDS ON THE AMOUNT OF CLEANER SIGNAL AND RESULTS IN A
ATTENUATION, ALTHOUGH 1- TO 10- LOWER ERROR RATE FOR DIGITAL
MILE INTERVALS ARE COMMON. CIRCUITS.
 ERROR
DETECTION

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THE ONLY WAY TO DO ERROR DETECTION IS TO SEND EXTRA DATA WITH
EACH MESSAGE. THESE ERROR-DETECTION DATA ARE ADDED TO EACH
MESSAGE BY THE DATA LINK LAYER OF THE SENDER ON THE BASIS OF
SOME MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS PERFORMED ON THE MESSAGE
(IN SOME CASES, ERROR-DETECTION METHODS ARE BUILT INTO THE
HARDWARE ITSELF). THE RECEIVER PERFORMS THE SAME
MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS ON THE MESSAGE IT RECEIVES AND
MATCHES ITS RESULTS AGAINST THE ERROR-DETECTION DATA THAT
WERE TRANSMITTED WITH THE MESSAGE. IF THE TWO MATCH, THE
MESSAGE IS ASSUMED TO BE CORRECT. IF THEY DON’T MATCH, AN
ERROR HAS OCCURRED.
THREE WELL-KNOWN ERROR DETECTION
METHOD

1 2 3
PARITY CHECKING CHECKSUM CYCLIC REDUNDANCY
CHECKING (CRC)
 PARITY CHECKING

ONE OF THE OLDEST AND SIMPLEST ERROR-DETECTION

METHODS IS PARITY.WITH THIS TECHNIQUE, ONE
ADDITIONAL BIT IS ADDED TO EACH BYTE IN THE MESSAGE.
THE VALUE OF THIS ADDITIONAL PARITY
BIT IS BASED ON THE NUMBER OF 1S IN EACH BYTE
TRANSMITTED. THIS PARITY BIT IS SET TO MAKE THE TOTAL
NUMBER OF 1S IN THE BYTE (INCLUDING THE PARITY BIT)
EITHER AN EVEN NUMBER OR AN ODD NUMBER.
 CHECKSUM

THE RECEIVER CALCULATES ITS OWN

CHECKSUM IN THE SAME WAY AND COMPARES IT WITH THE
TRANSMITTED CHECKSUM. IF THE TWO VALUES ARE
EQUAL, THE MESSAGE IS PRESUMED TO CONTAIN NO ERRORS. USE
OF CHECKSUM DETECTS CLOSE TO 95% OF THE
ERRORS FOR MULTIPLE-BIT BURST ERRORS
CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK (CRC)
ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR ERROR-CHECKING SCHEMES IS
CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK (CRC). IT ADDS 8, 16, 24, OR 32 BITS TO
THE MESSAGE. WITH CRC, A MESSAGE IS TREATED AS ONE LONG
BINARY NUMBER, WHICH IS DIVIDED BY A PRESET NUMBER, AND
THE REMAINDER IS USED AS THE CRC CODE. THE PRESET NUMBER
IS CHOSEN SO THAT THE REMAINDER WILL BE EITHER 8 BITS, 16
BITS, 24 BITS, OR 32 BITS. THE RECEIVING HARDWARE DIVIDES THE
RECEIVED MESSAGE BY THE SAME PRESET NUMBER, WHICH
GENERATES A REMAINDER. THE RECEIVING HARDWARE CHECKS IF
THE RECEIVED CRC MATCHES THE LOCALLY GENERATED
REMAINDER. IF IT DOES NOT, THE MESSAGE IS ASSUMED TO BE IN
ERROR.
 DATA SEND: 100100001
DATA: 100100
DIVISOR: 1101
DIVISOR: 1101
 ERROR
CORRECTION VIA
RETRANSMISSION
 RETRANSMISSION
ONCE ERROR HAS BEEN DETECTED, IT MUST BE
CORRECTED. THE SIMPLEST, MOST EFFECTIVE,
LEAST EXPENSIVE, AND MOST COMMONLY USED
METHOD FOR ERROR CORRECTION IS
RETRANSMISSION.

IT IS ALSO KNOWN AS THE BACKWARD ERROR

CORRECTION TECHNIQUE.
 RETRANSMISSION
IF THE RECEIVER DETECTS AN ERROR IN THE
INCOMING FRAME, IT REQUESTS THE SENDER
TO RETRANSMIT THE FRAME. IT IS A RELATIVELY
SIMPLE TECHNIQUE. BUT IT CAN BE EFFICIENTLY
USED ONLY WHERE RETRANSMITTING IS NOT
EXPENSIVE AS IN FIBER OPTICS AND THE TIME
FOR RETRANSMISSION IS LOW RELATIVE TO THE
REQUIREMENTS OF THE APPLICATION.
FORWARD ERROR
CORRECTION

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FORWARD ERROR CORRECTION
FORWARD ERROR CORRECTION USES CODES
CONTAINING SUFFICIENT REDUNDANCY TO
PREVENT ERRORS BY DETECTING AND CORRECTING
THEM AT THE RECEIVING END WITHOUT
RETRANSMISSION OF THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE.

IT RANGES FROM A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF EXTRA BITS TO

100% REDUNDANCY, WITH THE NUMBER OF ERROR-DETECTING
BITS ROUGHLY EQUALING THE NUMBER OF DATA BITS.
FORWARD ERROR CORRECTION

FORWARD ERROR CORRECTION IS COMMONLY

USED IN SATELLITE TRANSMISSION.

A ROUND TRIP FROM THE EARTH STATION TO THE

SATELLITE AND BACK INCLUDES A SIGNIFICANT DELAY.
ERROR RATES CAN FLUCTUATE DEPENDING ON THE
CONDITION OF EQUIPMENT, SUNSPOTS, OR THE
WEATHER.
HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS

THE HAMMING CODE

THE HAMMING CODE TECHNIQUE, WHICH IS AN ERROR-
DETECTION AND ERROR-CORRECTION TECHNIQUE, WAS
PROPOSED BY R.W. HAMMING. WHENEVER A DATA PACKET IS
TRANSMITTED OVER A NETWORK, THERE ARE POSSIBILITIES
THAT THE DATA BITS MAY GET LOST OR DAMAGED DURING
TRANSMISSION.
HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS

THE HAMMING CODE

IT ENCODES FOUR DATA BITS INTO SEVEN BITS BY ADDING
THREE PARITY BITS. IT CAN DETECT AND CORRECT SINGLE-
BIT ERRORS. WITH THE ADDITION OF AN OVERALL PARITY BIT,
IT CAN ALSO DETECT (BUT NOT CORRECT) DOUBLE-BIT
ERRORS.
 HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS

REDUNDANT BITS - ARE SOME EXTRA BINARY BITS THAT ARE NOT PART OF
THE ORIGINAL DATA, BUT THEY ARE GENERATED & ADDED TO THE ORIGINAL
DATA BIT. ALL THIS IS DONE TO ENSURE THAT THE DATA BITS DON'T GET
DAMAGED AND IF THEY DO, WE CAN RECOVER THEM.

PARITY BIT - IS A BIT APPENDED TO THE DATA BITS WHICH ENSURES

THAT THE TOTAL NUMBER OF 1'S ARE EVEN (EVEN PARITY) OR ODD (ODD
PARITY).

THE FORMULA FOR THE PARITY BIT IS 2^N {WHERE N = 0, 1, . . . N }

HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS

WITH A 4-DATA-BIT CODE AS AN EXAMPLE, A CHARACTER MIGHT BE

REPRESENTED BY THE DATA-BIT CONFIGURATION 1010 WITH THE
PARITY BITS OF 101

DATA BITS = 1010

PARITY BITS = 101
 HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS

DATA BITS = 1010

PARITY BITS = 101

P1 IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DATA BITS D3, D5 AND D7

P2 IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DATA BITS D3, D6 AND D7
P4 IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DATA BITS D5, D6 AND D7
 HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS

DATA BITS = 1010

PARITY BITS = 101

P1 = 1 , 0, O ODD P1 = 1
P2 = 1, 1, 0 EVEN P2 = 0 P1 + P2 + P4 = 2 NO ERROR
P4 = 0, 1, 0 ODD P4 = 1
 HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS

DATA BITS = 1011

PARITY BITS = 101

P1 = 1 , 0, 1 P1 = 1 ODD
P2 = 1, 1, 1 P2 = 0 ODD P1 + P2 + P4 = 3 ERROR!
P4 = 0, 1, 1 P4 = 1 ODD
 HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS

DATA BITS = 1011

PARITY BITS = 101

SOLUTION:

P1 D3 D5 D7 P2 D3 D6 D7 P4 D5 D6 D7
A
1 1 0 1 = ODD 0 1 1 1 = ODD 1 0 1 1 = ODD
HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS

P1 D3 D5 D7 P2 D3 D6 D7 P4 D5 D6 D7
A
1 1 0 1 = ODD 0 1 1 1 = ODD 1 0 1 1 = ODD

P1 = 1 P2 = 1 P4 = 1

P4 P2 P1 = 1 1 1 <--- (CONVERT BINARY TO DECIMAL) ANS = 7

HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS
The recieving equipment
reverses the state of the
error bit
HOW ERROR FORWARD CORRECTION WORKS
ERROR CONTROL
IN PRACTICE
ERROR CONTROL IN PRACTICE

IN THE OPEN SYSTEMS INTERCONNECTION (OSI)

MODEL (SEE CHAPTER 1), ERROR CONTROL IS
DEFINED TO BE A LAYER-2 FUNCTION—IT IS THE
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DATA LINK LAYER.
HOWEVER, IN PRACTICE, WE HAVE MOVED
AWAY FROM THIS. MOST NETWORK CABLES—
ESPECIALLY LAN CABLES—ARE VERY RELIABLE,
AND ERRORS ARE FAR LESS COMMON THAN
THEY WERE IN THE 1980S.
ERROR CONTROL IN PRACTICE

THEREFORE, MOST DATA LINK LAYER SOFTWARE

USED IN LANS (I.E., ETHERNET) IS CONFIGURED
TO DETECT ERRORS, BUT NOT CORRECT THEM.
ANY TIME A PACKET WITH AN ERROR IS
DISCOVERED, IT IS SIMPLY DISCARDED.
WIRELESS LANS AND SOME WIDE AREA
NETWORKS (WANS), WHERE ERRORS ARE MORE
LIKELY, STILL PERFORM BOTH ERROR DETECTION
AND ERROR CORRECTION.
DATA LINK
PROTOCOLS

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 In this section, we outline several commonly used data link layer protocols,
which are summarized in Figure 4-5. Here we focus on message delineation,
which indicates where a message starts and stops, and the various parts or
fields within the message. For example, you must clearly indicate which part
of a message or packet of data is the error-control portion; otherwise, the
receiver cannot use it properly to determine if an error has occurred.The data
link layer performs this function by adding a PDU to the packet it receives
from the network layer. This PDU is called a frame.
ASYNCHRONOUS
TRANSMISSION
ASYNCHRONOUS
TRANSMISSION
Asynchronous transmission is often
referred to as start–stop transmission
because the transmitting computer
can transmit a character whenever it
is convenient, and the receiving
computer will accept that character.
ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION

THE START BIT AND STOP BIT ARE THE OPPOSITE OF EACH OTHER. TYPICALLY, THE
START BIT IS A 0 AND THE STOP BIT IS A 1. THERE IS NO FIXED DISTANCE BETWEEN
CHARACTERS BECAUSE THE TERMINAL TRANSMITS THE CHARACTER AS SOON AS IT IS
TYPED, WHICH VARIES WITH THE SPEED OF THE TYPIST. THE RECOGNITION OF THE
START AND STOP OF EACH MESSAGE (CALLED SYNCHRONIZATION) TAKES PLACE FOR
EACH INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER BECAUSE THE START BIT IS A SIGNAL THAT TELLS THE
RECEIVER TO START SAMPLING THE INCOMING BITS OF A CHARACTER SO THE DATA
BITS CAN BE INTERPRETED INTO THEIR PROPER CHARACTER STRUCTURE. A STOP BIT
INFORMS THE RECEIVER THAT THE CHARACTER HAS BEEN RECEIVED AND RESETS IT
FOR RECOGNITION OF THE NEXT START BIT.
ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION

WHEN THE SENDER IS WAITING FOR THE USER TO TYPE THE NEXT CHARACTER, NO
DATA ARE SENT; THE COMMUNICATION CIRCUIT IS IDLE. THIS IDLE TIME REALLY IS
ARTIFICIAL—SOME SIGNAL ALWAYS MUST BE SENT DOWN THE CIRCUIT. FOR
EXAMPLE, SUPPOSE THAT WE ARE USING A UNIPOLAR DIGITAL SIGNALING
TECHNIQUE WHERE +5 VOLTS INDICATES A 1 AND 0 VOLTS INDICATES A 0 (SEE
CHAPTER 3). EVEN IF WE SEND 0 VOLTS, WE ARE STILL SENDING A SIGNAL, A 0 IN
THIS CASE. ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION DEFINES THE IDLE SIGNAL (THE
SIGNAL THAT IS SENT DOWN THE CIRCUIT WHEN NO DATA ARE BEING
TRANSMITTED) AS THE SAME AS THE STOP BIT. WHEN THE SENDER FINISHES
TRANSMITTING A LETTER AND IS WAITING FOR MORE DATA TO SEND, IT SENDS A
CONTINUOUS SERIES OF STOP BITS.
ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION
SYNCHRONOUS
TRANSMISSION

Back to Agenda Page

SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION

WITH SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION, ALL THE LETTERS OR DATA IN ONE GROUP OF

DATA ARE TRANSMITTED AT ONE TIME AS A BLOCK OF DATA. THIS BLOCK OF DATA IS
CALLED A FRAME. FOR EXAMPLE, A TERMINAL OR PERSONAL COMPUTER WILL SAVE ALL
THE KEYSTROKES TYPED BY THE USER AND TRANSMIT THEM ONLY WHEN THE USER
PRESSES A SPECIAL “TRANSMIT” KEY. IN THIS CASE, THE START AND END OF THE ENTIRE
FRAME MUST BE MARKED, NOT THE START AND END OF EACH LETTER. SYNCHRONOUS
TRANSMISSION IS OFTEN USED ON BOTH POINT-TO-POINT AND MULTIPOINT CIRCUITS.
FOR MULTIPOINT CIRCUITS, EACH PACKET MUST INCLUDE A DESTINATION ADDRESS AND
A SOURCE ADDRESS, AND MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL IS IMPORTANT.
SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION
THE START AND END OF EACH FRAME (SYNCHRONIZATION) SOMETIMES ARE ESTABLISHED
BY ADDING SYNCHRONIZATION CHARACTERS (SYN) TO THE START OF THE FRAME.
DEPENDING ON THE PROTOCOL, THERE MAY BE ANYWHERE FROM ONE TO EIGHT SYN
CHARACTERS. AFTER THE SYN CHARACTERS, THE TRANSMITTING COMPUTER SENDS A
LONG STREAM OF DATA THAT MAY CONTAIN THOUSANDS OF BITS. KNOWING WHAT CODE
IS BEING USED, THE RECEIVING COMPUTER COUNTS OFF THE APPROPRIATE NUMBER OF
BITS FOR THE FIRST CHARACTER, ASSUMES THAT THIS IS THE FIRST CHARACTER, AND
PASSES IT TO THE COMPUTER. IT THEN COUNTS OFF THE BITS FOR THE SECOND
CHARACTER, AND SO ON
SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION
 SYNCHRONOUS DATA LINK
CONTROL

SYNCHRONOUS DATA LINK CONTROL (SDLC) IS A MAINFRAME

PROTOCOL DEVELOPED BY IBM IN 1972 THAT IS STILL IN USE
TODAY. IT USES A CONTROLLED-ACCESS MEDIA ACCESS
PROTOCOL. IF YOU USE A 3270 PROTOCOL, YOU’RE USING SDLC.
FLAG

EACH SDLC FRAME BEGINS AND ENDS

WITH A SPECIAL BIT PATTERN (01111110),
KNOWN AS THE FLAG.
ADDRESS

THE ADDRESS FIELD IDENTIFIES THE

DESTINATION. THE LENGTH OF THE
ADDRESS FIELD IS USUALLY 8 BITS BUT
CAN BE SET AT 16 BITS; ALL COMPUTERS
ON THE SAME NETWORK MUST USE THE
SAME LENGTH.
 CONTROL
THE CONTROL FIELD IDENTIFIES
THE KIND OF FRAME THAT IS BEING
TRANSMITTED, EITHER
INFORMATION OR SUPERVISORY. INFORMATION FRAME
AN INFORMATION FRAME IS USED FOR
THE TRANSFER AND RECEPTION OF
MESSAGES, FRAME NUMBERING OF
CONTIGUOUS FRAMES, AND THE LIKE.
SUPERVISORY FRAME
A SUPERVISORY FRAME IS USED TO
TRANSMIT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (ACKS
AND NAKS)
MESSAGE

THE MESSAGE FIELD IS OF

VARIABLE LENGTH AND IS THE
USER’S MESSAGE.
FRAME CHECK
SEQUENCE FIELD

THE FRAME CHECK SEQUENCE

FIELD IS A 32-BIT CRC CODE (SOME
OLDER VERSIONS USE A 16-BIT
CRC).
HIGH-LEVEL DATA LINK
CONTROL

HIGH-LEVEL DATA LINK CONTROL (HDLC) IS A FORMAL STANDARD DEVELOPED BY

THE ISO OFTEN USED IN WANS. HDLC IS ESSENTIALLY THE SAME AS SDLC, EXCEPT
THAT THE ADDRESS AND CONTROL FIELDS CAN BE LONGER. HDLC ALSO HAS
SEVERAL ADDITIONAL BENEFITS THAT ARE BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THIS BOOK, SUCH
AS A LARGER SLIDING WINDOW FOR CONTINUOUS ARQ. IT USES A CONTROLLED-
ACCESS MEDIA ACCESS PROTOCOL. ONE VARIANT, LINK ACCESS PROTOCOL-
BALANCED (LAP-B), USES THE SAME STRUCTURE AS HDLC BUT IS A SCALED-DOWN
VERSION OF HDLC (I.E., PROVIDES FEWER OF THOSE BENEFITS MENTIONED THAT ARE
“BEYOND THE SCOPE OF THIS BOOK”). A VERSION OF HDLC CALLED CISCO HDLC
(CHDLC) INCLUDES A NETWORK PROTOCOL FIELD. CHDLC AND HDLC HAVE
GRADUALLY REPLACED SDLC.
 ETHERNET

ETHERNET IS A VERY POPULAR LAN PROTOCOL, CONCEIVED BY BOB METCALFE IN

1973 AND DEVELOPED JOINTLY BY DIGITAL, INTEL, AND XEROX IN THE 1970S. SINCE
THEN, ETHERNET HAS BEEN FURTHER REFINED AND DEVELOPED INTO A FORMAL
STANDARD CALLED IEEE 802.3AC. THERE ARE SEVERAL VERSIONS OF ETHERNET IN
USE TODAY. ETHERNET USES A CONTENTION MEDIA ACCESS PROTOCOL.
THERE ARE SEVERAL STANDARD VERSIONS OF ETHERNET.
ETHERNET
 ETHERNET II IS ANOTHER COMMONLY USED VERSION OF ETHERNET. LIKE SDLC, IT USES A
PREAMBLE TO MARK THE START OF THE FRAME. IT HAS THE SAME SOURCE AND DESTINATION
ADDRESS FORMAT AS ETHERNET 802.3AC. THE TYPE FIELD IS USED TO SPECIFY AN ACK
FRAME OR THE TYPE OF NETWORK LAYER PACKET THE FRAME CONTAINS (E.G., IP). THE DATA
AND FRAME CHECK SEQUENCE FIELDS ARE THE SAME AS ETHERNET 802.3AC. ETHERNET II
HAS AN UNUSUAL WAY OF MARKING THE END OF A FRAME. IT USES BIPOLAR SIGNALING TO
SEND 1S (POSITIVE VOLTAGE) AND 0S (NEGATIVE VOLTAGE) (SEE CHAPTER 3). WHEN THE
FRAME ENDS, THE SENDING COMPUTER TRANSMITS NO SIGNAL FOR 96 BITS (I.E., NEITHER A 0
OR A 1). AFTER THESE 96 BITS HAVE BEEN ON NO SIGNAL, THE SENDING COMPUTER THEN
TRANSMITS THE NEXT FRAME, WHICH STARTS WITH A PREAMBLE, AND SO ON. IT IS POSSIBLE
THAT IN THE TIME THAT THE COMPUTER IS SENDING NO SIGNAL, SOME OTHER COMPUTER
COULD JUMP IN AND BEGIN TRANSMITTING. IN FACT, THIS 96-BIT PAUSE IS DESIGNED TO
PREVENT ANY ONE COMPUTER FROM MONOPOLIZING THE CIRCUIT
POINT-TO-POINT PROTOCOL

POINT-TO-POINT PROTOCOL (PPP) WAS DEVELOPED IN THE EARLY 1990S AND IS

OFTEN USED IN WANS. IT IS DESIGNED TO TRANSFER DATA OVER A POINT-TO-POINT
CIRCUIT BUT PROVIDES AN ADDRESS SO THAT IT CAN BE USED ON MULTIPOINT
CIRCUITS.
FIGURE 4-9 SHOWS THE BASIC LAYOUT OF A PPP FRAME, WHICH IS VERY SIMILAR TO
AN SDLC OR HDLC FRAME. THE FRAME STARTS WITH A FLAG AND HAS A 1-BYTE
ADDRESS (WHICH IS NOT USED ON POINT-TO-POINT CIRCUITS). THE CONTROL FIELD
IS TYPICALLY NOT USED. THE PROTOCOL FIELD INDICATES WHAT TYPE OF DATA
PACKET THE FRAME CONTAINS (E.G., AN IP PACKET). THE DATA FIELD IS VARIABLE IN
LENGTH AND MAY BE UP TO 1,500 BYTES. THE FRAME CHECK SEQUENCE IS USUALLY
A CRC-16 BUT CAN BE A CRC-32. THE FRAME ENDS WITH A FLAG.
TRANSMISSION
EFFICIENCY
ONE OBJECTIVE OF A DATA COMMUNICATION NETWORK IS TO
MOVE THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE VOLUME OF ACCURATE
INFORMATION THROUGH THE NETWORK. THE HIGHER THE
VOLUME, THE GREATER THE RESULTING NETWORK’S
EFFICIENCY AND THE LOWER THE COST.
 NETWORK EFFICIENCY IS AFFECTED BY
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CIRCUIT:

ERROR RATES AND MAXIMUM TRANSMISSION

SPEED,
THE SPEED OF TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING
EQUIPMENT
THE ERROR-DETECTION AND CONTROL
METHODOLOGY
PROTOCOL USED BY THE DATA LINK LAYER.
EACH PROTOCOL WE DISCUSSED USES SOME BITS OR BYTES TO DELINEATE THE
START AND END OF EACH MESSAGE AND TO CONTROL ERROR.

EACH COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL HAS BOTH INFORMATION BITS AND

OVERHEAD BITS. INFORMATION BITS ARE THOSE USED TO CONVEY THE USER’S
MEANING. OVERHEAD BITS ARE USED FOR PURPOSES SUCH AS ERROR CHECKING
AND MARKING THE START AND END OF CHARACTERS AND PACKETS.
TRANSMISSION EFFICIENCY IS DEFINED AS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF INFORMATION
BITS (I.E., BITS IN THE MESSAGE SENT BY THE USER) DIVIDED BY THE TOTAL BITS IN
TRANSMISSION (I.E., INFORMATION BITS PLUS OVERHEAD BITS).

FOR EXAMPLE, LET’S CALCULATE THE TRANSMISSION EFFICIENCY OF

ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION. ASSUME THAT WE ARE USING 7-BIT ASCII.
WE HAVE 1 BIT FOR PARITY, PLUS 1 START BIT AND 1 STOP BIT. THEREFORE,
THERE ARE 7 BITS OF INFORMATION IN EACH LETTER, BUT THE TOTAL BITS PER
LETTER IS 10 (7 + 3). THE EFFICIENCY OF THE ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION
SYSTEM IS 7 BITS OF INFORMATION DIVIDED BY 10 TOTAL BITS OR 70%.
 IN OTHER WORDS, WITH ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION, ONLY 70% OF THE DATA
RATE IS AVAILABLE FOR THE USER; 30% IS USED BY THE TRANSMISSION PROTOCOL. IF
WE HAVE A COMMUNICATION CIRCUIT USING A DIAL-UP MODEM RECEIVING 56 KBPS,
THE USER SEES AN EFFECTIVE DATA RATE (OR THROUGHPUT) OF 39.2 KBPS. THIS IS
VERY INEFFICIENT. WE CAN IMPROVE EFFICIENCY BY REDUCING THE NUMBER OF
OVERHEAD BITS IN EACH MESSAGE OR BY INCREASING THE NUMBER OF
INFORMATION BITS.

FOR EXAMPLE, IF WE REMOVE THE STOP BITS FROM ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION,

EFFICIENCY INCREASES TO 7/9 OR 77.8%. THE THROUGHPUT OF A DIAL-UP MODEM AT
56 KBPS WOULD INCREASE 43.6 KBPS, WHICH IS NOT GREAT BUT IS AT LEAST A LITTLE
BETTER.
THE SAME BASIC FORMULA CAN BE USED TO CALCULATE THE EFFICIENCY OF

SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION. FOR EXAMPLE, SUPPOSE THAT WE ARE USING

SDLC. THE NUMBER OF INFORMATION BITS IS CALCULATED BY DETERMINING

HOW MANY INFORMATION CHARACTERS ARE IN THE MESSAGE. IF THE

MESSAGE PORTION OF THE FRAME CONTAINS 100 INFORMATION

CHARACTERS AND WE ARE USING AN 8-BIT CODE, THEN THERE ARE 100 × 8 =

800 BITS OF INFORMATION.

 THE TOTAL NUMBER OF BITS IS THE 800 INFORMATION BITS PLUS THE OVERHEAD
BITS THAT ARE INSERTED FOR DELINEATION AND ERROR CONTROL. FIGURE 4-7
SHOWS THAT SDLC HAS A BEGINNING FLAG (8 BITS), AN ADDRESS (8 BITS), A CONTROL
FIELD (8 BITS), A FRAME CHECK SEQUENCE (ASSUME THAT WE USE A CRC-32 WITH 32
BITS), AND AN ENDING FLAG (8 BITS). THIS IS A TOTAL OF 64 OVERHEAD BITS; THUS,
∕
EFFICIENCY IS 800 (800 + 64) = 92.6%. IF THE CIRCUIT PROVIDES A DATA RATE OF
56 KBPS, THEN THE EFFECTIVE DATA RATE AVAILABLE TO THE USER IS ABOUT 51.9
KBPS.
 THIS EXAMPLE SHOWS THAT SYNCHRONOUS NETWORKS USUALLY ARE MORE
EFFICIENT THAN ASYNCHRONOUS NETWORKS AND THAT SOME PROTOCOLS ARE MORE
EFFICIENT THAN OTHERS. THE LONGER THE MESSAGE (1,000 CHARACTERS AS
OPPOSED TO 100), THE MORE EFFICIENT THE PROTOCOL. FOR EXAMPLE, SUPPOSE
THAT THE MESSAGE IN THE SDLC EXAMPLE CONTAINED 1,000 BYTES. THE EFFICIENCY
∕
HERE WOULD BE 99.2% OR 8,000 (8000 + 64), GIVING AN EFFECTIVE DATA RATE OF
ABOUT 55.6 KBPS. THE GENERAL RULE IS THAT THE LARGER THE MESSAGE FIELD, THE
MORE EFFICIENT THE PROTOCOL. SO WHY NOT HAVE 10,000-BYTE OR EVEN 100,000-
BYTE PACKETS TO REALLY INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY? .
THE ANSWER IS THAT ANYTIME A FRAME IS RECEIVED CONTAINING AN
ERROR, THE ENTIRE FRAME MUST BE RETRANSMITTED. THUS, IF AN
ENTIRE FILE IS SENT AS ONE LARGE PACKET (E.G., 100 K) AND 1 BIT IS
RECEIVED IN ERROR, ALL 100,000 BYTES MUST BE SENT AGAIN.
CLEARLY, THIS IS A WASTE OF CAPACITY. FURTHERMORE, THE
PROBABILITY THAT A FRAME CONTAINS AN ERROR INCREASES WITH
THE SIZE OF THE FRAME; LARGER FRAMES ARE MORE LIKELY TO
CONTAIN ERRORS THAN ARE SMALLER ONES, SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THE
LAWS OF PROBABILITY. THUS, IN DESIGNING A PROTOCOL, THERE IS A
TRADE-OFF BETWEEN LARGE AND SMALL FRAMES. SMALL FRAMES ARE
LESS EFFICIENT BUT ARE LESS LIKELY TO CONTAIN ERRORS AND COST
LESS (IN TERMS OF CIRCUIT CAPACITY) TO RETRANSMIT IF THERE IS
AN ERROR (FIGURE 4-10)
THROUGHPUT IS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF INFORMATION BITS RECEIVED PER SECOND,
AFTER TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE OVERHEAD BITS AND THE NEED TO RETRANSMIT
FRAMES CONTAINING ERRORS. GENERALLY SPEAKING, SMALL FRAMES PROVIDE
BETTER THROUGHPUT FOR CIRCUITS WITH MORE ERRORS, WHEREAS LARGER FRAMES
PROVIDE BETTER THROUGHPUT IN LESS-ERROR-PRONE NETWORKS.
FORTUNATELY, IN MOST REAL NETWORKS, THE CURVE SHOWN IN FIGURE 4-10 IS VERY
FLAT ON TOP, MEANING THAT THERE IS A RANGE OF FRAME SIZES THAT PROVIDE
ALMOST OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE. FRAME SIZES VARY GREATLY AMONG DIFFERENT
NETWORKS, BUT THE IDEAL FRAME SIZE TENDS TO BE BETWEEN 2,000 AND 10,000
BYTES.

SO WHY ARE THE STANDARD SIZES OF ETHERNET FRAMES ABOUT 1,500 BYTES?
BECAUSE ETHERNET WAS STANDARDIZED MANY YEARS AGO, WHEN ERRORS WERE
MORE COMMON. JUMBO AND SUPER JUMBO FRAME SIZES EMERGED FROM HIGHER
SPEED, HIGHLY ERROR-FREE FIBER-OPTIC NETWORKS.
 SLEUTHING FOR THE RIGHT FRAME SIZE

OPTIMIZING PERFORMANCE IN A NETWORK, PARTICULARLY A CLIENT–SERVER NETWORK,

CAN BE DIFFICULT BECAUSE FEW NETWORK MANAGERS REALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF
THE FRAME SIZE. SELECTING THE RIGHT—OR THE WRONG—FRAME SIZE CAN HAVE
GREATER EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE THAN ANYTHING YOU MIGHT DO TO THE SERVER

STANDARD COMMERCIAL, A MULTINATIONAL TOBACCO AND AGRICULTURAL COMPANY,

NOTICED A DECREASE IN NETWORK PERFORMANCE WHEN THEY UPGRADED TO A NEW
SERVER. THEY TESTED THE EFFECTS OF USING FRAME SIZES BETWEEN 500 BYTES AND
32,000 BYTES. IN THEIR TESTS, A FRAME SIZE OF 512 BYTES REQUIRED A TOTAL OF
455,000 BYTES TRANSMITTED OVER THEIR NETWORK TO TRANSFER THE TEST MESSAGES.
IN CONTRAST, THE 32,000-BYTE FRAMES WERE FAR MORE EFFICIENT, CUTTING THE
TOTAL DATA BY 44% TO 257,000 BYTES.
 HOWEVER, THE PROBLEM WITH 32,000-BYTE FRAMES WAS A NOTICEABLE RESPONSE
TIME DELAY BECAUSE MESSAGES WERE SAVED UNTIL THE 32,000-BYTE FRAMES WERE
FULL BEFORE TRANSMITTING.

THE IDEAL FRAME SIZE DEPENDS ON THE SPECIFIC APPLICATION AND THE PATTERN
OF MESSAGES IT GENERATES. FOR STANDARD COMMERCIAL, THE IDEAL FRAME SIZE
APPEARED TO BE BETWEEN 4,000 AND 8,000 BYTES. UNFORTUNATELY, NOT ALL
NETWORK SOFTWARE PACKAGES ENABLE NETWORK MANAGERS TO FINE-TUNE FRAME
SIZES IN THIS WAY.
IMPLICATIONS FOR
CYBER SECURITY

Back to Agenda Page

 ONE OF THE MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DATA LINK LAYER IS TO
DETERMINE WHO CAN TRANSMIT AT WHAT TIME AND ENSURE THAT THE
MESSAGE IS DELIVERED TO THE CORRECT COMPUTER. THE DATA LINK
LAYER USES THE MAC ADDRESS (A.K.A. PHYSICAL ADDRESS) TO RECOGNIZE
THE SOURCE AND DESTINATION ADDRESSES OF TWO COMPUTERS THAT
COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER.

IF YOU WANT TO ALLOW ONLY CERTAIN COMPUTERS TO CONNECT TO

YOUR NETWORK, YOU CAN USE MAC ADDRESS FILTERING. MAC ADDRESS
FILTERING WILL CREATE A LIST OF MAC ADDRESSES THAT ARE ALLOWED
TO CONNECT TO A WI-FI NETWORK OR TO A SWITCH IN CORPORATE
NETWORKS. THIS FEATURE ALLOWS FOR SOME DEGREE OF SECURITY.
 HOWEVER, MAC ADDRESS FILTERING CAN OFFER A FALSE SENSE OF
SECURITY BECAUSE OF MAC ADDRESS SPOOFING. THE MAC ADDRESS IS
ASSIGNED TO A COMPUTER NETWORK INTERFACE CARD IN A FACTORY AND
IS THEREFORE HARDCODED ON THE NETWORK INTERFACE CARD (NIC) AND
CANNOT BE CHANGED.

MAC ADDRESS SPOOFING IS A SOFTWARE-ENABLED TECHNIQUE THAT CAN

CHANGE THE HARDCODED MAC ADDRESS TO ANY MAC ADDRESS AND THUS
OVERCOME MAC ADDRESS FILTERING.
SUMMARY

Back to Agenda Page

 SUMMARY
MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL REFERS TO CONTROLLING WHEN COMPUTERS
TRANSMIT. THERE ARE THREE BASIC APPROACHES. WITH ROLL-CALL POLLING, THE SERVER POLLS
CLIENT COMPUTERS TO SEE IF THEY HAVE DATA TO SEND; COMPUTERS CAN TRANSMIT ONLY WHEN
THEY HAVE BEEN POLLED. WITH HUB POLLING OR TOKEN PASSING, THE COMPUTERS THEMSELVES
MANAGE WHEN THEY CAN TRANSMIT BY PASSING A TOKEN TO ONE OTHER; NO COMPUTER CAN
TRANSMIT UNLESS IT HAS THE TOKEN. WITH CONTENTION, COMPUTERS LISTEN AND TRANSMIT ONLY
WHEN NO OTHERS ARE TRANSMITTING. IN GENERAL, CONTENTION APPROACHES WORK BETTER FOR
SMALL NETWORKS THAT HAVE LOW LEVELS OF USAGE, WHEREAS POLLING APPROACHES WORK
BETTER FOR NETWORKS WITH HIGH USAGE

SOURCES AND PREVENTION OF ERROR ERRORS OCCUR IN ALL NETWORKS. ERRORS TEND TO OCCUR IN
GROUPS (OR BURSTS) RATHER THAN 1 BIT AT A TIME. THE PRIMARY SOURCES OF ERRORS ARE IMPULSE NOISES
(E.G., LIGHTNING), CROSS-TALK, ECHO, AND ATTENUATION. ERRORS CAN BE PREVENTED (OR AT LEAST
REDUCED) BY SHIELDING THE CABLES; MOVING CABLES AWAY FROM SOURCES OF NOISE AND POWER
SOURCES; USING REPEATERS (AND, TO A LESSER EXTENT, AMPLIFIERS); AND IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF THE
EQUIPMENT, MEDIA, AND THEIR CONNECTIONS.
ERROR DETECTION AND CORRECTION ALL ERROR-DETECTION SCHEMES ATTACH ADDITIONAL ERROR DETECTION
DATA, BASED ON A MATHEMATICAL CALCULATION, TO THE USER’S MESSAGE. THE RECEIVER PERFORMS THE SAME
CALCULATION ON INCOMING MESSAGES, AND IF THE RESULTS OF THIS CALCULATION DO NOT MATCH THE
ERROR-DETECTION DATA ON THE INCOMING MESSAGE, AN ERROR HAS OCCURRED. PARITY, CHECKSUM, AND CRC
ARE THE MOST COMMON ERROR-DETECTION SCHEMES. THE MOST COMMON ERROR-CORRECTION TECHNIQUE IS
SIMPLY TO ASK THE SENDER TO RETRANSMIT THE MESSAGE UNTIL IT IS RECEIVED WITHOUT ERROR. A DIFFERENT
APPROACH, FORWARD ERROR CORRECTION, INCLUDES SUFFICIENT INFORMATION TO ALLOW THE RECEIVER TO
CORRECT THE ERROR IN MOST CASES WITHOUT ASKING FOR A RETRANSMISSION.

MESSAGE DELINEATION MESSAGE DELINEATION MEANS TO INDICATE THE START AND END OF A MESSAGE.
ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION USES START AND STOP BITS ON EACH LETTER TO MARK WHERE THEY BEGIN AND
END. SYNCHRONOUS TECHNIQUES (E.G., SDLC, HDLC, ETHERNET, PPP) GROUP BLOCKS OF DATA TOGETHER INTO
FRAMES THAT USE SPECIAL CHARACTERS OR BIT PATTERNS TO MARK THE START AND END OF ENTIRE MESSAGES.
 TRANSMISSION EFFICIENCY AND THROUGHPUT EVERY PROTOCOL ADDS ADDITIONAL BITS TO THE
USER’S MESSAGE BEFORE SENDING IT (E.G., FOR ERROR DETECTION). THESE BITS ARE CALLED
OVERHEAD BITS BECAUSE THEY ADD NO VALUE TO THE USER; THEY SIMPLY ENSURE CORRECT DATA
TRANSFER. THE EFFICIENCY OF A TRANSMISSION PROTOCOL IS THE NUMBER OF INFORMATION BITS
SENT BY THE USER DIVIDED BY THE TOTAL NUMBER OF BITS TRANSFERRED (INFORMATION BITS PLUS
OVERHEAD BITS). SYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION PRO VIDES GREATER EFFICIENCY THAN DOES
ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSMISSION. IN GENERAL, PROTOCOLS WITH LARGER FRAME SIZES PROVIDE
GREATER EFFICIENCY THAN DO THOSE WITH SMALL FRAME SIZES. THE DRAWBACK TO LARGE FRAME
SIZES IS THAT THEY ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE AFFECTED BY ERRORS AND THUS REQUIRE MORE RETRANS
MISSION. SMALL FRAME SIZES ARE THEREFORE BETTER SUITED TO ERROR-PRONE CIRCUITS, AND LARGE
FRAMES TO ERROR-FREE CIRCUITS