Flow Control

o It is a set of procedures that tells the sender how much data it can
transmit before the data overwhelms the receiver.
o The receiving device has limited speed and limited memory to
store the data. Therefore, the receiving device must be able to
inform the sending device to stop the transmission temporarily
before the limits are reached.
o It requires a buffer, a block of memory for storing the information
until they are processed.

Elementary Data Link Protocols

Protocols in the data link layer are designed so that this layer can
perform its basic functions: framing, error control and flow control.
Framing is the process of dividing bit - streams from physical layer into
data frames whose size ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand
bytes. Error control mechanisms deals with transmission errors and
retransmission of corrupted and lost frames. Flow control regulates
speed of delivery and so that a fast sender does not drown a slow
receiver.
Types of Data Link Protocols
Data link protocols can be broadly divided into two categories,
depending on whether the transmission channel is noiseless or noisy.
Simplex Protocol
The Simplex protocol is hypothetical protocol designed for unidirectional
data transmission over an ideal channel, i.e. a channel through which
transmission can never go wrong. It has distinct procedures for sender
and receiver. The sender simply sends all its data available onto the
channel as soon as they are available its buffer. The receiver is assumed
to process all incoming data instantly. It is hypothetical since it does not
handle flow control or error control.
Stop – and – Wait Protocol
Stop – and – Wait protocol is for noiseless channel too. It provides
unidirectional data transmission without any error control facilities.
However, it provides for flow control so that a fast sender does not
drown a slow receiver. The receiver has a finite buffer size with finite
processing speed. The sender can send a frame only when it has received
indication from the receiver that it is available for further data
processing.
A----------------------------------------------------------------B
Sliding Window protocol
Sliding window protocols are data link layer protocols for reliable and
sequential delivery of data frames. The sliding window is also used in
Transmission Control Protocol.
In this protocol, multiple frames can be sent by a sender at a time before
receiving an acknowledgment from the receiver. The term sliding
window refers to the imaginary boxes to hold frames. Sliding window
method is also known as windowing.
• In sliding window method, multiple frames are sent by sender at a time
before needing an acknowledgment.
• Multiple frames sent by source are acknowledged by receiver using a
single ACK frame.
• Sliding window refers to an imaginary boxes that hold the frames on
both sender and receiver side.
• It provides the upper limit on the number of frames that can be
transmitted before requiring an acknowledgment.
• Frames may be acknowledged by receiver at any point even when
window is not full on receiver side.
• Frames may be transmitted by source even when window is not yet full
on sender side.

Sliding window of size =4

Stop and Wait ARQ
● Used in Connection-oriented communication.
● It offers error and flow control
● It is used in Data Link and Transport Layers
● Stop and Wait ARQ mainly implements Sliding Window Protocol
concept with Window Size 1

Simple Stop and Wait

Sender:

● Send one data packet at a time.

● Send next packet only after receiving acknowledgement for
previous.

Receiver:

● Send acknowledgement after receiving and consuming of data

packet.
● After consuming packet acknowledgement need to be sent (Flow
Control)
Stop and Wait ARQ for damaged frame
Stop and Wait ARQ for lost data frame

Stop and Wait ARQ for lost acknowledgment

GO Back n
● This is an improved protocol compared to Stop and Wait protocol.
It is a method to overcome the inefficiency of Stop and Wait
protocol by allowing the transmitter to continue sending enough
frames so that the cannel kept busy while the transmitter wait for
acknowledgments.
● It transmits the frames continuously as long as it does not receive
the NAK signal.
● When receiver detects an error it sends the NAK signal to the
sender.
● But this signal takes some time to reach the transmitter by that
time transmitter has transmit the frames.
Selective Repeat ARQ
● This is a better technique compare to Go Back n.
● Selective Repeat protocol provides for sending multiple frames
depending upon the availability of frames in the sending window,
even if it does not receive acknowledgement for any frame in the
interim.
● The maximum number of frames that can be sent depends upon
the size of the sending window.
● The receiver records the sequence number of the earliest incorrect
or un-received frame. It then fills the receiving window with the
subsequent frames that it has received. It sends the sequence
number of the missing frame along with every acknowledgement
frame.
● The sender continues to send frames that are in its sending
window. Once, it has sent all the frames in the window, it
retransmits the frame whose sequence number is given by the
acknowledgements. It then continues sending the other frames.
 Medium Access Control Sublayer (MAC sublayer)

The medium access control (MAC) is a sublayer of the data link layer of
the open system interconnections (OSI) reference model for data
transmission. It is responsible for flow control and multiplexing for
transmission medium. It controls the transmission of data packets via
remotely shared channels. It sends data over the network interface card.
MAC Layer in the OSI Model
The Open System Interconnections (OSI) model is a layered networking
framework that conceptualizes how communications should be done
between heterogeneous systems. The data link layer is the second
lowest layer. It is divided into two sublayers −
● The logical link control (LLC) sublayer
● The medium access control (MAC) sublayer
The following diagram depicts the position of the MAC layer −
Functions of MAC Layer
● It provides an abstraction of the physical layer to the LLC and upper
layers of the OSI network.
● It is responsible for encapsulating frames so that they are suitable
for transmission via the physical medium.
● It resolves the addressing of source station as well as the
destination station, or groups of destination stations.
● It performs multiple access resolutions when more than one data
frame is to be transmitted. It determines the channel access
methods for transmission.
● It also performs collision resolution and initiating retransmission in
case of collisions.
● It generates the frame check sequences and thus contributes to
protection against transmission errors.
Multiple Access

If there is a dedicated link between the sender and the receiver then data
link control layer is sufficient, however if there is no dedicated link
present then multiple stations can access the channel simultaneously.
Hence multiple access protocols are required to decrease collision and
avoid crosstalk. For example, in a classroom full of students, when a
teacher asks a question and all the students (or stations) start answering
simultaneously (send data at same time) then a lot of chaos is
created(data overlap or data lost) then it is the job of the teacher
(multiple access protocols) to manage the students and make them
answer one at a time.

Thus, protocols are required for sharing data on non-dedicated channels.

Multiple access protocols can be subdivided further as –
Random Access Protocol: In this, all stations have same superiority that
is no station has more priority than another station. Any station can send
data depending on medium’s state (idle or busy).
It has two features:
1. There is no fixed time for sending data
2. There is no fixed sequence of stations sending data

ALOHA Protocols

ALOHA, the earliest random access method was developed at the

University of Hawaii in early 1970. It was designed for a radio (wireless)
LAN, but it can be used on any shared medium.
It is obvious that there are potential collisions in this arrangement. The
medium is shared between the stations. When a station sends data,
another station may attempt to do so at the same time. The data from
the two stations collide and become garbled.

Pure ALOHA

The original ALOHA protocol is called pure ALOHA. This is a simple, but
elegant protocol. The idea is that each station sends a frame whenever
it has a frame to send. However, since there is only one channel to share,
there is the possibility of collision between frames from different
stations. The following figure shows an example of frame collisions in
pure ALOHA.
There are four stations (unrealistic assumption) that contend with one
another for access to the shared channel. The figure shows that each
station sends two frames; there are a total of eight frames on the shared
medium. Some of these frames collide because multiple frames are in
contention for the shared channel.

Slotted ALOHA:

Pure ALOHA has a vulnerable time of 2 x Tfr. This is so because there is

no rule that defines when the station can send. A station may send soon
after another station has started or soon before another station has
finished. Slotted ALOHA was invented to improve the efficiency.

In slotted ALOHA we divide the time into slots of Tfr s and force the
station to send only at the beginning of the time slot. The following figure
shows an example of frame collisions in slotted ALOHA.
CSMA
Carrier Sense Multiple Access ensures fewer collisions as the station is
required to first sense the medium (for idle or busy) before transmitting
data. If it is idle then it sends data, otherwise it waits till the channel
becomes idle. However, there is still chance of collision in CSMA due to
propagation delay. For example, if station A wants to send data, it will
first sense the medium. If it finds the channel idle, it will start sending
data. However, by the time the first bit of data is transmitted (delayed
due to propagation delay) from station A, if station B requests to send
data and senses the medium it will also find it idle and will also send data.
This will result in collision of data from station A and B.
CSMA access modes-
● 1-persistent: The node senses the channel, if idle it sends the data,
otherwise it continuously keeps on checking the medium for being
idle and transmits unconditionally (with 1 probability) as soon as
the channel gets idle.
● Non-Persistent: The node senses the channel, if idle it sends the
data, otherwise it checks the medium after a random amount of
time (not continuously) and transmits when found idle.
● P-persistent: The node senses the medium, if idle it sends the data
with p probability. If the data is not transmitted ((1-p) probability)
then it waits for some time and checks the medium again, now if it
is found idle then it send with p probability. This repeat continues
until the frame is sent. It is used in Wifi and packet radio systems.

CSMA/CD
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) is a
network protocol for carrier transmission that operates in the Medium
Access Control (MAC) layer. It senses or listens whether the shared
channel for transmission is busy or not, and defers transmissions until
the channel is free. The collision detection technology detects collisions
by sensing transmissions from other stations. On detection of a collision,
the station stops transmitting, sends a jam signal, and then waits for a
random time interval before retransmission.
Algorithms
The algorithm of CSMA/CD is:
 ● When a frame is ready, the transmitting station checks whether the
channel is idle or busy.
● If the channel is busy, the station waits until the channel becomes
idle.
● If the channel is idle, the station starts transmitting and continually
monitors the channel to detect collision.
● If a collision is detected, the station starts the collision resolution
algorithm.
● The station resets the retransmission counters and completes
frame transmission.
The algorithm of Collision Resolution is:
● The station continues transmission of the current frame for a
specified time along with a jam signal, to ensure that all the other
stations detect collision.
● The station increments the retransmission counters.
● If the maximum number of retransmission attempts is reached,
then the station aborts transmission.
● Otherwise, the station waits for a backoff period which is generally
a function of the number of collisions and restart main algorithm.
 CSMA with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)

Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) is a

network protocol for carrier transmission that operates in the Medium
Access Control (MAC) layer. In contrast to CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense
Multiple Access/Collision Detection) that deals with collisions after their
occurrence, CSMA/CA prevents collisions prior to their occurrence.
Algorithm
The algorithm of CSMA/CA is:
● When a frame is ready, the transmitting station checks whether the
channel is idle or busy.
● If the channel is busy, the station waits until the channel becomes
idle.
● If the channel is idle, the station waits for an Inter-frame gap (IFG)
amount of time and then sends the frame.
● After sending the frame, it sets a timer.
● The station then waits for acknowledgement from the receiver. If
it receives the acknowledgement before expiry of timer, it marks a
successful transmission.
● Otherwise, it waits for a back-off time period and restarts the
algorithm.