Chapter 3

Data Link Layer

 OUTLINES

1. Overview of datalink layer

2. Framming
3. Error detection and correction
4. Error and flow control
1 DATA LINK LAYER

Figure 1
Figure 2 Data link layer

(a) Sender (b) Receiver

Note

Tasks in datalink layer include:

MAC addressing, Framming, Error
control, Flow control and Multiple
Access Control
 2. MAC ADDRESSING

MAC - Media Access Control

+ Unique Identifier for a Network Interface Card (NIC)
+ Using in Data-link layer – IEEE 802
+ 48 bits: FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF – Hexa
+ First 6 digits: identifies the manufacturer

Example: ipconfig /all è

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi / Ethernet adapter Ethernet
Physical Address: F4-8E-38-E9-CA-1D
Example:
CC:46:D6 - Cisco
3C:5A:B4 - Google, Inc.
3C:D9:2B - Hewlett Packard
00:9A:CD - HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES
CO.,LTD
 3 FRAMING

The data link layer needs to pack bits into frames, so

that each frame is distinguishable from another.
 3 FRAMING

Topics discussed in this section:

Fixed-Size Framing
No need for defining the boundaries of the frames;
The size = a delimite

Variable-Size Framing
Define the end of the frame and the beginning of the next
Approaches: character-oriented and bit-oriented
Figure 3 A frame in a character-oriented protocol
Note

Byte stuffing is the process

of adding 1 extra ESC byte
whenever there is a flag or
escape character in the text.
Figure 4 Byte stuffing and unstuffing
Figure 5 A frame in a bit-oriented protocol
Note

Bit stuffing is the process of

adding one extra 0 whenever
five consecutive 1s follow a 0
in the data, so that
the receiver does not mistake
the pattern 0111110 for a flag.
Figure 6 Bit stuffing and unstuffing
 3 FLOW AND ERROR CONTROL

The most important responsibilities of the data link

layer are flow control and error control. Collectively,
these functions are known as data link control.
Note

Flow control refers to a set of procedures

used to restrict the amount of data
that the sender can send before
waiting for acknowledgment.
Note

Error control in the data link layer is

based on automatic repeat request,
which is the retransmission of data.
4 ERROR DETECTION AND CORRECTION

Let us first discuss some issues related, directly or

indirectly, to error detection and correction.
 4.1. Error types

Note

In a single-bit error, only 1 bit in the data

unit has changed.
Figure 9 Single-bit error
 4.2. Error detection

Note

A burst error means that 2 or more bits

in the data unit have changed.
Figure 10 Burst error of length 8
Note

To detect or correct errors, we need to

send extra (redundant) bits with data.
Figure 11 The structure of encoder and decoder
Note

we concentrate on block codes: we divide

our message into blocks, each of k bits, called
datawords. We add r redundant bits to each
block to make the length n = k + r. The
resulting n-bit blocks are called codewords.
Figure 12 Datawords and codewords in block coding
Table 1 A code for error detection
Note

An error-detecting code can detect

only the types of errors for which it is
designed; other types of errors may
remain undetected.
Note

The Hamming distance between two

words is the number of differences
between corresponding bits.
Table 1 A code for error detection
Table 2 A code for error correction (Example 10.3)

dmin = S + 1
Note

- C(n,k) , dmin
- s bits:
dmin = s + 1 è detect in all case
dmin = 2s+1 è correct in all case
Figure 7 Taxonomy of protocols discussed in this chapter
4.1 NOISELESS CHANNELS

Ideal channel :
no frames are lost, duplicated, or corrupted

Topics discussed in this section:

Simplest Protocol – has no flow or error control

Stop-and-Wait Protocol – sender sends one frame,

stops until it receives agree from receiver and then
sends the next frame
Figure 8 The design of the simplest protocol with no flow or error control
Algorithm 1 Sender-site algorithm for the simplest protocol
Algorithm 2 Receiver-site algorithm for the simplest protocol
Figure 13 Flow diagram for Example 1
Figure 14 Design of Stop-and-Wait Protocol
Algorithm 3 Sender-site algorithm for Stop-and-Wait Protocol
Algorithm 4 Receiver-site algorithm for Stop-and-Wait Protocol
Example 2

Figure 15 Flow diagram for Example 11.2

4.1 NOISY CHANNELS

Although the Stop-and-Wait Protocol gives us an idea

of how to add flow control to its predecessor,
noiseless channels are nonexistent. We discuss three
protocols in this section that use error control.
Topics discussed in this section:
Stop-and-Wait Automatic Repeat Request(ARQ)
Go-Back-N Automatic Repeat Request
Selective Repeat Automatic Repeat Request
Note

Error correction in Stop-and-Wait ARQ is

done by keeping a copy of the sent
frame and retransmitting of the frame
when the timer expires.
Note

In Stop-and-Wait ARQ, we use sequence

numbers to number the frames.
The sequence numbers are based on
modulo-2 arithmetic.
Note

In Stop-and-Wait ARQ, the

acknowledgment number always
announces in modulo-2 arithmetic the
sequence number of the next frame
expected.
Figure 16 Design of the Stop-and-Wait ARQ Protocol
Algorithm 5 Sender-site algorithm for Stop-and-Wait ARQ

(continued)
Algorithm 5 Sender-site algorithm for Stop-and-Wait ARQ (continued)
Algorithm 6 Receiver-site algorithm for Stop-and-Wait ARQ Protocol
 Example 3

Figure 17 shows an example of Stop-and-Wait ARQ.

Frame 0 is sent and acknowledged. Frame 1 is lost and
resent after the time-out. The resent frame 1 is
acknowledged and the timer stops. Frame 0 is sent and
acknowledged, but the acknowledgment is lost. The
sender has no idea if the frame or the acknowledgment
is lost, so after the time-out, it resends frame 0, which is
acknowledged.
Figure 11.11 Flow diagram for Example 11.3
 Example 4

Assume that, in a Stop-and-Wait ARQ system, the

bandwidth of the line is 1 Mbps, and 1 bit takes 20 ms to
make a round trip. What is the bandwidth-delay product?
If the system data frames are 1000 bits in length, what is
the utilization percentage of the link?

Solution
The bandwidth-delay product is
 Example 4 (continued)

The system can send 20,000 bits during the time it takes
for the data to go from the sender to the receiver and then
back again. However, the system sends only 1000 bits. We
can say that the link utilization is only 1000/20,000, or 5
percent. For this reason, for a link with a high bandwidth
or long delay, the use of Stop-and-Wait ARQ wastes the
capacity of the link.
 Example 5

What is the utilization percentage of the link in

Example 11.4 if we have a protocol that can send up to
15 frames before stopping and worrying about the
acknowledgments?

Solution
The bandwidth-delay product is still 20,000 bits. The
system can send up to 15 frames or 15,000 bits during a
round trip. This means the utilization is 15,000/20,000, or
75 percent. Of course, if there are damaged frames, the
utilization percentage is much less because frames have
to be resent.