Multiple access links, protocols

two types of “links”:

 point-to-point
 PPP for dial-up access
 point-to-point link between Ethernet switch, host
 broadcast (shared wire or medium)
 old-fashioned Ethernet
 802.11 wireless LAN

shared wire (e.g., shared RF shared RF humans at a

cabled Ethernet) (e.g., 802.11 WiFi) (satellite) cocktail party
(shared air, acoustical)
Multiple access protocols
 single shared broadcast channel
 two or more simultaneous transmissions by nodes:
interference
 collision if node receives two or more signals at the same
time

multiple access protocol

 distributed algorithm that determines how nodes share
channel, i.e., determine when node can transmit
 communication about channel sharing must use channel itself!
 no out-of-band channel for coordination
MAC protocols: taxonomy
Two broad classes:
 channel partitioning
 divide channel into smaller “pieces” (time slots, frequency, code,
space)
 allocate piece to node for exclusive use
 random access
 channel not divided, allow collisions
 “recover” from collisions
Channel partitioning MAC protocols: TDMA
TDMA: time division multiple access
 access to channel in "rounds"
 each station gets fixed length slot (length = pkt
trans time) in each round
 unused slots go idle
 example: 6-station LAN, 1,3,4 have pkt, slots
2,5,6 idle

6-slot 6-slot
frame frame
1 3 4 1 3 4
Channel partitioning MAC protocols: FDMA
FDMA: frequency division multiple access
 channel spectrum divided into frequency bands
 each station assigned fixed frequency band
 unused transmission time in frequency bands go idle
 example: 6-station LAN, 1,3,4 have pkt, frequency bands 2,5,6
idle

frequency bands

FDM cable
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
 In CDMA, the narrowband message signal is multiplied by a
very large bandwidth signal called spreading signal (code)
before modulation and transmission over the air. This is
called spreading.

 CDMA is also called DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread

Spectrum). DSSS is a more general term.

 Message consists of symbols

 Has symbol period and hence, symbol rate

EE 552/452 Spring 2007

Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA)
 Spreading signal (code) consists of chips
 Has Chip period and and hence, chip rate
 Spreading signal use a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence (a pseudo-
random sequence)
 PN sequence is called a codeword
 Each user has its own codeword
 The receiver correlator distinguishes the senders signal
by examining the wideband signal with the same time-
synchronized spreading code
 The sent signal is recovered by despreading process at
the receiver.
CDMA (DSSS) Example
In a CDMA network, assume there are two stations A (chip sequence: 00011011)
and E (chip sequence: 00101110). Figure-1 shows two cases of both stations
transmitting at the same time. Show the transmitted sequences S1 and S2 and how
DSSS does the recovery at receiver.

A E
1 0 A sent 1 and E sent 0
0 - only A sent 0
Figure-1
Solution…
 Consider……0 -1 and 1+1
A (chip sequence: 00011011) and E (chip sequence: 00101110)

 A (-1, -1, -1, +1, +1, -1, +1, +1) E(-1, -1, +1, -1, +1, +1, +1, -1)

 S1 A+Ē  (0, 0, -2, +2, 0, -2, 0, +2) S2 A(bar) (+1,+1,+1,-1,-1,+1,-1,-1)

 S1.A (0+0+2+2+0+2+0+2)/8 = 1 Or S1.A (0+0+2+2+0+2+0+2) = 8

 S2.A (-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1)/8 = -1 Or S2.A (-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1) = -8

 S1.E (0+0-2-2+0-2+0-2)/8 = -1 Or S1.E (0+0-2-2+0-2+0-2 ) = -8

 S2.E (-1-1+1+1-1+1-1+1)/8 = 0 Or S2.E (-1-1+1+1-1+1-1+1) = 0

 S1.A is +VE == A SENT 1 S2.A is -VE == A SENT 0

 S1.E is -VE == E SENT 0 S2.E is zero == E sent Nothing.

CDMA Advantages
 Signal is spread over a larger frequency band.

 All frequency spectrum is used.

 The codeword is known only between the sender

and receiver. Hence other users can not decode
the messages that are in transit.
 Users can start their transmission at any time
CDMA Advantages Cont….

 Cell capacity is not concerete fixed like in TDMA

or FDMA systems. Has soft capacity

 Higher capacity than TDMA and FDMA

 No frequency management

 No equalizers needed

 No guard time needed

 Enables soft handoff

SDMA
 Use spot beam antennas
 The different beam area can use TDMA, FDMA,
CDMA
 Sectorized antenna can be thought of as a SDMA
 Adaptive antennas can be used in the future
(simultaneously steer energy
in the direction of many users)
spot beam
antenna
Features:

 A large number of independently steered high-

gain beams can be formed without any resulting
degradation in SNR ratio.
 Beams can be assigned to individual users, thereby
assuring that all links operate with maximum gain.
 Adaptive beam forming can be easily implemented
to improve the system capacity by suppressing co
channel interference.
Random access protocols
 when node has packet to send
 transmit at full channel data rate R.
 no a priori coordination among nodes
 two or more transmitting nodes ➜ “collision”,
 random access MAC protocol specifies:
 how to detect collisions
 how to recover from collisions (e.g., via delayed
retransmissions)
 examples of random access MAC protocols:
 slotted ALOHA
 ALOHA
 CSMA, CSMA/CD, CSMA/CA
Pure (unslotted) ALOHA
 unslotted Aloha: simpler, no synchronization
 when frame first arrives
 transmit immediately
 collision probability increases:
 frame sent at t0 collides with other frames sent in [t0-
1,t0+1]
Pure ALOHA efficiency
P(success by given node)

… choosing optimum p and then letting n

= 1/(2e) = .18

Worse than slotted Aloha!

Slotted ALOHA
assumptions:
 all frames same size
 time divided into equal size
slots (time to transmit 1
frame)
 nodes start to transmit
only slot beginning
 nodes are synchronized
 if 2 or more nodes transmit
in slot, all nodes detect
collision
operation:
 when node obtains fresh
frame, transmits in next slot
 if no collision: node can send
new frame in next slot
 if collision: node retransmits
frame in each subsequent
slot with prob. p until
success
Slotted ALOHA
node 1 1 1 1 1

node 2 2 2 2

node 3 3 3 3

C E C S E C E S S

Pros:
 single active node can
continuously transmit at
full rate of channel
 highly decentralized: only
slots in nodes need to be
in sync
 simple
Cons:
 collisions, wasting slots
 idle slots
 nodes may be able to
detect collision in less
than time to transmit
packet
 clock synchronization
Slotted ALOHA: efficiency

efficiency: long-run  If N goes to infinity,

fraction of successful slots max efficiency = 1/e = .37
(many nodes, all with many
frames to send)

suppose: N nodes with at best: channel

!

many frames to send, each used for useful
transmits in slot with transmissions 37%
probability p of time!
CSMA (carrier sense multiple access)

CSMA: listen before transmit:

if channel sensed idle: transmit entire frame
 if channel sensed busy, defer transmission

 human analogy: don’t interrupt others!

CSMA Protocol
Packet
ready

Channel
Busy?
yes
no
transmit

delay packet
wait for a transmission
round-trip time k times

positive compute random

yes ack? no backoff integer k
CSMA (cont’d)

 Collisions can occur only when 2 or more stations

begin transmitting within short time.
 If station transmits and no collisions during the time
leading edge of frame propagates to farthest station,
then NO collisions.
CSMA Flavors
 After detecting carrier, a station can persist trying to
transmit after the channel is idle again.
 1-persistent CSMA (IEEE 802.3)
 If medium idle, transmit; if medium busy, wait until idle;
then transmit with p=1.
 If collision, waits random period and starts again.
 Non-persistent CSMA: if medium idle, transmit; otherwise wait a
random time before re-trying.
 Thus, station does not continuously sense channel when it is in
use.
 P-persistent: when channel idle detected, transmits packet in the
first slot with p.
 Slotted channel, i.e., with probability q = p-1, defers to next
slot.
 CSMA vesrsu Aloha

• Comparison of the channel utilization versus

load for various random access protocols.
CSMA/CD (collision detection)
CSMA/CD: carrier sensing, deferral as in CSMA
 collisions detected within short time
 colliding transmissions aborted, reducing channel wastage
 collision detection:
 easy in wired LANs: measure signal strengths, compare
transmitted, received signals
 difficult in wireless LANs: received signal strength
overwhelmed by local transmission strength
 human analogy: the polite conversationalist
Ethernet CSMA/CD algorithm
1. NIC receives datagram 4. If NIC detects another
from network layer, transmission while
creates frame transmitting, aborts and
2. If NIC senses channel sends jam signal
idle, starts frame 5. After aborting, NIC
transmission. If NIC enters binary (exponential)
senses channel busy, backoff:
waits until channel idle,  after mth collision, NIC
then transmits. chooses K at random
3. If NIC transmits entire from {0,1,2, …, 2m-1}.
frame without detecting NIC waits K·512 bit
another transmission, times, returns to Step 2
NIC is done with frame !  longer backoff interval
with more collisions
 Hidden and Exposed Terminals
• A wants to transmit
to B.
• C senses channel – no
idea A is transmitting.
• C initiates
A B
transmission to B.
F
C • Collision at B. – C and
A are hidden from each
D other.

• D could potentially transmit to E but does not – senses A’s

carrier. D is exposed to A. Loss in throughput.
 MACA : Multiple Access with
Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)
RTS
A B
CTS D
C

• Exchange of two short messages – Request to Send (RTS),

and Clear to Send (CTS).
• They are fixed size – when A wishes to transmit to B, it sends
an RTS message.
• RTS message contains duration of proposed transmission
• If B knows that the channel is free, it responds with a CTS
message. (CTS also contains duration of proposed
communication)
• How does this help ?
 RTS
A B
CTS D
C

• Any station that hears the RTS message, defers all

communication for some time until the associated CTS message
has been finished.
• A CTS message defers communication for the duration of the
time indicated in the CTS message.
• When A is transmitting data, C can go ahead and access the
channel.
• What all could go wrong here ?
 Some effects in MACA
• Node B’s CTS message may not be heard by A.
• B found that the channel was already busy.
• RTS packet might collide.
• If A does not receive a CTS, it times-out and schedules the
packet for retransmission.
• MACA uses the binary exponential back-off algorithm to
select the retransmission time.
• B’s CTS message collides at C.
• This would cause C to be unaware of the pending
communication between nodes A and B.
 MACAW Modification
• Include in packet header, the value of the back-off counter.
• Thus, whenever a node hears the packet, it copies the value
indicated into its own back-off counter.
• Thus, each node in the range of the transmitting node has the
same back-off counter.
• Really designed for Wireless LANs.
 The IEEE 802.11 Protocol

• The IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol derives from MACA and

MACAW .
• It uses both a physical and a virtual carrier sense
mechanism.
• It uses an RTS-CTS-DATA-ACK dialogue to accomplish
data transmission.
• Each message in the dialogue contains duration
information for the remainder of the dialogue.
Summary of MAC protocols
 channel partitioning, by time, frequency, code or space
 Time Division, Frequency Division, Code Division, Space Division
 random access (dynamic),
 Pure ALOHA, S-ALOHA, CSMA, CSMA/CD,
CSMA/CA(MACA).
 carrier sensing: easy in some technologies (wire), hard
in others (wireless)
 CSMA/CD used in Ethernet
 CSMA/CA used in 802.11