A.

Introduction

1. Data Link Layer

This communication path starts at the source host, passes through a series of

routers, and ends at the destination host. In order to move a datagram from source

host to destination host, the datagram must be moved over each of the individual

links in the path. The data link layer, which is responsible for transferring a

datagram across an individual link. The data-link layer has responsibility of transferring

datagram from one node to adjacent node over a link.

Data link layer divided into two functionality-oriented sub-layers.

a. Data link control

b. Multiple access resolution

Figure 1. Multiple-access protocols

Based on the above picture multiple access resolution divided to 3 big parts: random

access protocols, controlled access protocols and channelization protocols. In this

article we focused to random access protocols.

 B. Random Access

The terms random access and sequential access are often used to describe data files. A random-

access data file enables you to read or write information anywhere in the file. In a sequential-

access file, you can only read and write information sequentially, starting from the beginning of

the file. Both types of files have advantages and disadvantages. If you are always accessing

information in the same order, a sequential-access file is faster. If you tend to access information

randomly, random access is better. Random access is sometimes called direct access.

The random access MAC protocol specifies how to detect collisions and
how to recover from them (via delayed retransmissions, for example)

Examples of random access MAC protocols:

(a) ALOHA

(b) Slotted ALOHA

(c) CSMA

(d) CSMA/CD

(d) CSMA/CA

(d) EDCA

ALOHA
The first version of the protocol (now called "Pure ALOHA", and the one implemented in

ALOHAnet) was quite simple:

If you have data to send, send the data

If, while you are transmitting data, you receive any data from another station, there has been

a message collision. All transmitting stations will need to try resending "later".
Note that the first step implies that Pure ALOHA does not check whether the channel is busy

before transmitting. Since collisions can occur and data may have to be sent again, ALOHA

cannot use 100% of the capacity of the communications channel. How long a station waits until

it transmits, and the likelihood a collision occurs are interrelated, and both affect how efficiently

the channel can be used. This means that the concept of "transmit later" is a critical aspect: the

quality of the backoff scheme chosen significantly influences the efficiency of the protocol, the

ultimate channel capacity, and the predictability of its behavior.

To assess Pure ALOHA, there is a need to predict its throughput, the rate of (successful)

transmission of frames.

First, let's make a few simplifying assumptions:

All frames have the same length.

Stations cannot generate a frame while transmitting or trying to transmit. (That is, if a station

keeps trying to send a frame, it cannot be allowed to generate more frames to send.)

The population of stations attempts to transmit (both new frames and old frames that collided)

according to a Poisson distribution.

Distributed random access control schemes, like ALOHA and splitting-tree protocols, represent a

simple but popular choice for the multiple access channels. In their basic variants, these

protocols treat packet collisions as waste.

 Figure 2. Pure ALOHA protocol. Boxes indicate frames. Shaded boxes indicate frames which

have collided

The ALOHA protocol was originally implemented (early 1970's) to allow distributed stations on the

islands of Hawaii to communicate over a common radio channel. Specifically, all nodes used a common

frequency band for their packet or frame transmissions to a satellite (the "uplink" band was a common

frequency band for all nodes). The satellite in turn broadcast to all the nodes (on the "downlink"

frequency band) each frame it received successfully. Successful receipt of a frame at the satellite means

that there is no "collision" or overlap between a frame from one node and other frames from other

nodes arriving at the satellite. When a frame is received correctly at the satellite, it broadcasts an ACK

also. Of course each frame has the address of the destination node for which it is intended, as well as

the address of the source node. If a sending node does not see on the downlink within a reasonable

time an ACK for a frame it sent up, it assumes that a collision occurred and re-transmits the frame after
some random delay. Thus ALOHA depends on the ability of a node to detect or learn that a collision has

occurred. Another mechanism enabling this without ACK frames from the satellite is for the sending

node to monitor the downlink frequency band to listen for its frame being re-broadcast by the satellite;

this will only happen if its frame got to the satellite in the first place without collision or interference.

The satellite ignores frames that are received corrupted by errors due to collisions or overlaps. (In the

original network, the "uplink" band of frequencies was centered on 407 MHz, and the satellite

"downlink" operated at a center frequency of 413 MHz. The data rate was 9.6 Kbps). The concept of the

ALOHA system is applicable with modifications in other situations, such as a LAN of nodes attached to a

common coaxial cable bus (the Ethernet concept). The basic characteristics of ALOHA are the following.

The actual implementations may be different, but the underlying concepts are the same for all ALOHA

systems.