Multiple Access

Data link layer divided into two functionality-oriented sublayers

Upper sublayer – responsible for data link control

•Called LLC – for flow and error control
Lower sublayer - responsible for resolving access the shared media
•Called MAC – for multiple acceess resolution
Taxonomy of multiple-access protocols
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.
•The decision depends on the state of the medium (idle or busy).
Random Access (Contd…)

 Station compete with each other – Contention

Methods
 More than one station tries to send, access
conflict – Collision – Frames will be either
destroyed or modified
Random Access (Contd…)
 To avoid collision:-
 Each station executes a procedure
 When the station can access the medium?
 What can the station do if the medium is busy?
 How can the station determine the success or
failure during transmission?
 What the station can do if there is an access
conflict?
Random Access (Contd…)
 Random Access Protocols:
 ALOHA – 1970, University of Hawaii
 Simplest procedure
 Slotted ALOHA – Modified version of ALOHA
 Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)
 Improved method of ALOHA
 CSMA/CD – detect the collision
 CSMA/CA – Avoids the collision
ALOHA Network
 Frames in a pure ALOHA network

Pure ALOHA:
Each station sends a frame whenever it has a frame to send
One channel to share, possibility of collision between frames from different stations
Pure ALOHA relies on acknowledgement from the receiver
Procedure for pure ALOHA protocol
Vulnerable time for pure ALOHA protocol
Throughput of an ALOHA Channel

 The start times of the packets in an ALOHA channel may be

modeled as a Poisson point process with
parameter λ packets/second.
 If each packet in the channel lasts τ seconds, the normalized
channel traffic can be defined as
G=λτ
 Vulnerable time for pure ALOHA

 Pure ALOHA vulnerable time = 2 * Tfr

 Throughput for pure ALOHA S = G*e-2G

 Maximum throughput Smax = 0.184, when

G=1/2

 Note:
Frame Transmission time Tfr = Frame Size/Channel Capacity
Frames in a slotted ALOHA network

 Slotted ALOHA:
 Divide the time into slots and force the station to send only at
the beginning of the time slot
Vulnerable time for slotted ALOHA protocol
 Vulnerable time for Slotted ALOHA

 Pure ALOHA vulnerable time = Tfr

 Throughput for pure ALOHA S = G*e-G

 Maximum throughput Smax = 0.368, when

G=1
 Space/time model of the collision in
CSMA
 CSMA – each station first listen to the medium before sending
 Principle : “sense before transmit” or “listen before talk”
Vulnerable time in CSMA
Behavior of three persistence methods

1-Persistent-after station
finds the line idle, send
its frame

Non-persistent-senses the
line; idle: sends
immediately; not idle:
waits random amount of
time and senses again

p-Persistent-the channel
has time slots with
duration equal to or
greater than max
propagation time.
Combines previous two
methods
 Flow diagram for three persistence methods

Persistence methods addresses what a station should if

station is busy/idle?
 Collision of the first bit in CSMA/CD

Collision and abortion in CSMA/CD

CSMA/CD- Augments CSMA algorithm to handle collision

CSMA/CD (Contd…)

 Minimum frame size

 Tfr = 2Tp
 Energy level
 Zero
 Normal
 Abnormal
 Jamming Signal
Energy level during transmission, idleness, or collision

Zero level–channel is idle

Normal level–successfully captured channel and sending frame
Abnormal level-collision and energy twice the normal level
Difference b/w ALOHA and CSMA/CD

1. Addition of persistence methods

2. Usage of Acknowledgement
 Immediate sensing of channel – CSMA, to
avoid collision
 Waits for Ack – ALOHA
 Jamming Signal
Flow diagram for the CSMA/CD
 (Minimum frame size)
A network using CSMA/CD has a bandwidth of 10 Mbps.
If the maximum propagation time (including the delays in
the devices and ignoring the time needed to send a
jamming signal) is 25.6 μs, what is the minimum size of
the frame?
Solution
• The frame transmission time is Tfr = 2 × Tp = 51.2 μs.
• A station needs to transmit for a period of 51.2 μs to detect
the collision.
• The minimum size of the frame is 10 Mbps × 51.2 μs = 512
bits or 64 bytes.
• This is actually the minimum size of the frame for Standard
Ethernet.
CSMA/CA

 Wired Network, Received signal has the

same energy due to amplifiers
 Wireless Network
 Received signal energy will be less.
 Collision may add 5 to 10% additional energy
 Not an effective collision detection
Timing in CSMA/CA

Avoid collisions on wireless network because they cannot be detected

 Station may be using the medium even if it is found idle.
IFS- In CSMA/CA, the IFS can also be used to define the
priority of a station or a frame.
Lesser IFS will have higher priority

Contention window - is divided into time slots

In CSMA/CA, if the station finds the channel busy, it chooses
a random number of slots as its wait time.
it does not restart the timer of the contention window;
contention window size is increased exponentially
It stops and restarts the timer only if the channel is idle.

Acknowledgment- Positive acknowledgment and time out

timer guarantee receiver has
received the frame
Procedure
 Channel need to be sensed
 before and after the IFS
 For each time slot during contention time
 If found idle,
 Timer continues
 Else, timer is stopped and continues once become
idle.
 CSMA/CA mostly intended for wireless
network
 But still can’t handle some issues like
hidden terminals
Flow diagram for
CSMA/CA
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.
•Three popular controlled-access methods.
•Reservation
•Polling
•Token Passing
Reservation access method

• Reservation-station needs to make a reservation before sending

data
• Time is divided into intervals
• Each interval, a reservation frame precedes the data frame sent
in that interval
• N stations = N reservation mini slots
 Polling Access method

 Data exchange must be done through primary device

which controls the link and initiator of the session
 Polling – one device as primary station and the other
device as secondary station
 Select – primary device wants to send data to
secondary device, secondary device gets ready to
receive
 Poll – primary device solicits (ask) transmissions
from secondary devices
Polling Access method
 Token Passing
 Token passing – stations in network organized in a logical ring
– predecessor and successor
 Token – gives station right to access the channel; needs token
management
 Physical ring – station sends the token to successor
 Dual ring – uses second ring which operates in reverse
direction
 Bus ring (token bus) - stations are connected to single cable
called bus, but make logical ring
 Star ring - physical topology star, wiring inside hub makes the
ring
Logical ring and physical topology in token-passing access method
Channelization
 Similar to multiplexing
 Channelization
 A multiple-access method in which the available
bandwidth of a link is shared in time, frequency, or
through code, between different stations.
 Three schemes
 Frequency-Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
 Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA)
 Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
 MULTIPLE ACCESS TECHNIQUES
(contd…)
 In FDMA, It assigns individual channels to individual users.
Each user is allocated a unique frequency band.
 In TDMA, It divides radio spectrum into time slots and in each
slot only one user is allowed to either transmit or receive.
 In CDMA, It allows numerous signals to occupy a single
Transmission channel, optimizing the use of available
bandwidth.
 It employs analog-to-digital conversion & Spread
Spectrum Technology.
 Each user has a unique code word.

 Unlike TDMA or FDMA CDMA has a soft capacity limit.