Chapter 11

Link-Level Flow and Error

Control

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Introduction
 The need for flow and error control
 Link control mechanisms
 Performance of ARQ (Automatic Repeat
Request)

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Flow Control and Error Control
 Fundamental mechanisms that determine
performance
 Can be implemented at different levels:
link, network, or application
 Difficult to model performance
 Simplest case: point-to-point link
– Constant propagation
– Constant data rate
– Probabilistic error rate
– Traffic characteristics
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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Flow Control
 Limits the amount or rate of data that is
sent
 Reasons:
– Source may send PDUs faster than destination
can process headers
– Higher-level protocol user at destination may
be slow in retrieving data
– Destination may need to limit incoming flow
to match outgoing flow for retransmission

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Flow Control at Multiple Protocol
Layers
 X.25 virtual circuits (level 3) multiplexed
over a data link using LAPB (X.25 level 2)
 Multiple TCP connections over HDLC link
 Flow control at higher level applied to
each logical connection independently
 Flow control at lower level applied to total
traffic

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Figure 11.1

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Flow Control Scope
 Hop Scope
– Between intermediate systems that are directly
connected
 Network interface
– Between end system and network
 Entry-to-exit
– Between entry to network and exit from network
 End-to-end
– Between end user systems

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Figure 11.2

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Error Control
 Used to recover lost or damaged PDUs
 Involves error detection and PDU
retransmission
 Implemented together with flow control in
a single mechanism
 Performed at various protocol levels

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Link Control Mechanisms
3 techniques at link level:
 Stop-and-wait
 Go-back-N
 Selective-reject

Latter 2 are special cases of sliding-window

Assume 2 end systems connected by direct link

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Sequence of Frames
Source breaks up message into sequence of
frames
 Buffer size of receiver may be limited
 Longer transmission are more likely to
have an error
 On a shared medium, avoids one station
monopolizing medium

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Stop and Wait
 Source transmits frame
 After reception, destination indicates
willingness to accept another frame in
acknowledgement
 Source must wait for acknowledgement
before sending another frame
 2 kinds of errors:
– Damaged frame at destination
– Damaged acknowledgement at source

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
ARQ
 Automatic Repeat Request
 Uses:
– Error detection
– Timers
– Acknowledgements
– Retransmissions

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
 Figure 11.3

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Figure 11.4

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Stop-and-Wait Link Utilization
 If Tprop large relative to Tframe then
throughput reduced
 If propagation delay is long relative to
transmission time, line is mostly idle
 Problem is only one frame in transit at a
time
 Stop-and-Wait rarely used because of
inefficiency
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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Sliding Window Techniques
 Allow multiple frames to be in transit at
the same time
 Source can send n frames without waiting
for acknowledgements
 Destination can accept n frames
 Destination acknowledges a frame by
sending acknowledgement with sequence
number of next frame expected (and
implicitly ready for next n frames)
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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Figure 11.5

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Figure 11.6

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Go-back-N ARQ
 Most common form of error control based on
sliding window
 Number of un-acknowledged frames determined
by window size
 Upon receiving a frame in error, destination
discards that frame and all subsequent frames
until damaged frame received correctly
 Sender resends frame (and all subsequent
frames) either when it receives a Reject message
or timer expires

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Selective-Reject ARQ
 The only frames retransmitted are those that
receive a negative acknowledgment, in this case
called SREJ, or those that time out.
 The receiver must maintain a buffer large enough
to save post-SREJ frames untill the frame in
error is retransmitted and must contain logic for
reinserting that frame in the proper sequence.

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Figure 11.7

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Error-Free Stop and Wait
T = Tframe + Tprop + Tproc + Tack + Tprop + Tproc

Tframe = time to transmit frame

Tprop = propagation time
Tproc = processing time at station
Tack = time to transmit ack

Assume Tproc and Tack relatively small 23

Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
 T ≈ Tframe + 2Tprop

Throughput = 1/T = 1/(Tframe + 2Tprop) frames/sec

Normalize by link data rate: 1/ Tframe frames/sec

The normalized throughput S ca be expressed as
S = 1/(Tframe + 2Tprop) = Tframe = 1
1/ Tframe Tframe + 2Tprop 1 + 2a

where a = Tprop / Tframe

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Stop-and-Wait ARQ with Errors
P = probability a single frame is in error

Nx = 1
1-P
= average number of times each frame must be
transmitted due to errors

S= 1 = 1-P
Nx (1 + 2a) Nx (1 + 2a)

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
The Parameter a
a = propagation time = d/V = Rd
transmission time L/R VL

where
d = distance between stations
V = velocity of signal propagation
L = length of frame in bits
R = data rate on link in bits per sec

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Figure 11.8

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Table 11.1

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
 Figure 11.9

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Error-Free Sliding Window ARQ
 Case 1: W ≥ 2a + 1
Ack for frame 1 reaches A before A has
exhausted its window
 Case 2: W < 2a +1
A exhausts its window at t = W and cannot send
additional frames until t = 2a + 1

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
 Figure 11.10

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Normalized Throughput
1 W ≥ 2a + 1
S=
W W < 2a +1
2a + 1

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Selective Reject ARQ
1-P W ≥ 2a + 1
S=
W(1 - P) W < 2a +1
2a + 1

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Go-Back-N ARQ
1-P W ≥ 2a + 1
S= 1 + 2aP

W(1 - P) W < 2a +1
(2a + 1)(1 – P + WP)

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Figure 11.11

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Figure 11.12

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
Figure 11.13

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
High-Level Data Link Control
 HDLC is the most important data link
control protocol
 Widely used which forms basis of other
data link control protocols

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
 Figure 11.15

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
HDLC Operation
 Initialization
 Data transfer
 Disconnect

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control
 Figure 11.16

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Chapter 11 Link-Level Flow and Error Control