Chapter 6

Medium access sub layer

(MAC)
 Roadmap

• Introduction
• Wired MAC Layer
• The LLC Layer, Wireless MAC
• The MAC Layer,
• The Generic Frame Structure,
• Connecting Device at Data Link Layer,
• Virtual LAN
 A. Need of MAC Layer
• Introduction and need for MAC layer
– Shared Channel Concept (need of access point or base station)
– Collision detection and avoidance(prefread in wi-LAN)
– Channel acquisition issues
– Ad-hoc and Infrastructure modes
 MAC – Medium Access Control Layer

• Between DLL and Physical Layer.

• This section deals with broadcast networks and their protocols.

• The basic idea behind broadcast networks is how to determine who gets
to use the channel when many users want to transmit over it.

• The protocols used to determine who goes next on a multiaccess

channel belong to a sublayer of the data link layer called MAC.
 1. Shared Channel Concept OR
What is the need for arbitration?

• When shared channel is used to communicate, issue of who

will transmit arise.
• Rules to allocate each a fair chance to communicate:
– One should not dominate the communication for more
than appropriate time.
– Whenever somebody is communicating, others should
keep quiet.
– There must be some arbitration mechanism to allow only
one from that lot of communicating parties.
• Suppose no arbitration mechanism:
– Two or more person starts communication.
– Collision realized and they stop abruptly.
– Retry after some time.
– This process continues until one of them gets the chance.
• Arbitrator:
– The one who unambiguously determine to the order speakers.
– Must have clear cut arbitration policy.
– Conscious about his role and must be unbiased.

• MAC:
– In networks, this job is performed by MAC Medium Access Control sub layer.
– This layer sits between physical and data link layer.
 2. Collision Detection & Avoidance:

• Collision garble the frames.

• Collision Detection:
– Let collision happen and then solve it.
– If sender detects collision, it can stop sending and restart later by
following ‘binary back-off algorithm’.
– Need a mechanism to listen to channel.
– Used by classic Ethernet.
• Collision Avoidance:
- See that collision do not occur by carefully avoiding it.
– Here, it is possible to extract any component signal from collided signal.
So
retransmission is not needed. We just extract what we need from the
received
signals.
– Preferred by 802.11 wireless LANs.
– CDMA Code Division Multiple Access is used in Mobile phones.
 3. Channel acquisition solutions

• Sender transmit whenever wishes to

– First version of Ethernet and 802.11 or WiFi
• Using token as a prerogative to transmit
• Reservation before sending
– Two phase strategy
– Phase 1: Sending parties get reservation
– Phase 2: Data transmission takes place
• The sender sends only if receiver confirms, intimates neighbor to remain
quite.
– in wireless 802.11 case, ad-hoc mode
• Central authority to decide who acquired the channel
– 802.11 using access points
4. Network Classification: Ad-hoc & Infrastructure Mode

• Infrastructure Mode:
– Access point works as arbitrator.
– All communication happens with access point’s permission.
– So no probability of collision.
– Called PCF, Point Co-ordination Function.

• Ad-hoc Mode:
– Directly communicates, so chance of collision.
– Has problem of Hidden Station and Exposed Station problem.
– Uses RTS and CTS(Request To Send and Clear To Send)
– Called DCF,(Distributed Co-ordination Function. )
By standard, DCF is compulsory, while PCF is not.
• Almost all 802.11 LANs implement both.
• Wired MAC is easy and has less collision issue like hidden and
exposed station problem, whereas, Wireless MAC is a bit complex.
Infrastructure or PCF(Point Coordination Function) mode:
Ad hoc Mode, DCF (Distributed Coordination Function):
Both modes together in same network:
 B. Wired MAC Layer
• ALOHA and Slotted ALOHA
• Ethernet
– Fast Ethernet
– Gigabit Ethernet
– The 10 Gb Ethernet
– Future versions
• Dual speed cards, auto-negotiation and upgrades
• 802.2, the LLC layer
 1. ALOHA

• Norman Abramson at University of Hawaii, in 70’s wanted to connect computer

centers of all the islands of Hawaii.
• Hawaii is a collection of islands and it was not possible to connect them with
telephone lines.
• Joining islands with wires laid on seabed was very expensive, so they started
thinking about wireless solution.
• Solution: ALOHA
– Using short range radios.
- Centralized communication one sender and receiver can’t communicate directly
– Half duplex by nature. At a time, only can send or receiver. Switching also
takes time.
– Two different frequencies, one for sending, another for receiving.
– But, problem of collision, how to solve it?
– Solution: Let the users communicate, if signals collide, not acknowledged and
so, sender resends data.
• Adding randomness reduces the chance of collision. Algorithm is called Binary
Exponential Back-off Algorithm.
• Also had problem: While transmitting, sender can not sense collision.
• In ALOHA, maximum 18 out of 100 packets pass without collision if ALOHA
works with optimum speed.
ALOHA connecting islands at Hawaii
The collision Problem in ALOHA
 Slotted ALOHA
• Solution: Slotted ALOHA
– Robert, in 1972 proposed a scheme.
– Packets are vulnerable to collide with only those packets which were
transmitted before, but not during the lifetime.
– He divided timeslots equal to lifetime of packets.
– Packet can be transmitted only in beginning of next slot only.
– Slotted ALOHA introduces additional delay.
- Eg : B is to be transmitted during A’s lifetime, B will be delayed till next slot.
– Thus, reducing collision probability to half and performance is doubled.
– In slotted ALOHA, 36 out of 100 packets are delivered without collision at
optimum speed.
– In slotted ALOHA time is divided into discrete intervals, each
corresponding to one frame.
– A computer is not permitted to send whenever it has data to send.
-Instead it is required to wait for the next available slot.
-Well, it still needs improvement.
• See next figures that explain Slotted ALOHA.
Slotted ALOHA solution
 2. Ethernet

• Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs are the master mind behind
Ethernet design.
• All system is connected to single central bus using vampire tap
and T-connector.
• Bus is made up of co-axial cable having capacity of 2.94 Mbps.
• Later intel and DEC joined and offered upto 10Mbps.
• This standard was named as DIX By Digital Equipment Co-
operation, Intel and Xerox.
• Later it joined with Compaq and HP.
• This model was found far superior than design of Aloha.
 Ethernet

Characteristics:
– Sender can listen to every node before transmitting and so can stop if somebody is
already transmitting.
– If channel is idle, can start transmitting. If more than 1 sender started transmission,
sender immediately realize collision, stop.
– Then it follows binary exponential back-off algorithm and try after random amount of
time.
– Collision occur only if the first sender’s signal has not reached the second sender.
– If collision occurred, start with min 64 bytes pkt size and less than 2500meters
distance covering limit. This limits loss and bandwidth wastage.
– To inform others that collision has occurred, sender sends JAM Signals.
• Poor design for heavy traffic.
• Types of Ethernet
• Classical Ethernet
• Fast Ethernet
• Gigabit Ethernet
• The 10 Gb Ethernet
Ethernet First Version with Bus
Topology:
 Classic Ethernet 802.3
• Two standards, DIX(DEC, Intel and Xerox) which later became 802.3
(IEEE).
• IEEE assigns a unique number to every standard. Ethernet is assigned
802.3.
• Initially Bus and Hubs were used
• Later switches took over
• Simple Principle: ‘Let everyone transmit whenever they wish to without
any formalities.’
• Classic Ethernet provide 10Mb communication using Manchester
Encoding Technique.
Types of connection: See next table.
– Cat-3 Twisted Pair
– Thin Co-ax
– Thick Co-ax
– Fiber Optics
Problems: Twisted Pair
–It is difficult to attach nodes using coaxial or cat-3 cables.
- A machine cannot be added or removed without affecting others.
– Total capacity is shared which reduces overall capacity for single user.
– Maintenance is difficult.
Problems: Co-axial
– Difficult to locate where the fault is.

Solution: Fiber Optics Cable

– More resistant to error
– Support long distance transmission
Cat 3 has limited its use with star topology with following advantages:
– A node can be added or replaced without disturbing other nodes.
– When switches are deployed, node can enjoy complete 10Mb bandwidth.
– Maintenance is simpler as it is easy to detect faulty node.
Fiber Optics Cable:
– Best distance, 10 Mbps for 100s of KM without the help of repeaters.
– Can minimize the errors.
– Less affected by disturbance and magnetism.
– Initially costly but later bulk production reduced cost too.
– Better immunity to noise.
– Only Problem: Shortage of trained manpower.

Manchester Encoding:
– Digital Signalling
– Also called Baseband Signalling.
– Hence base is added to the names.
– Name carry the features “10 Base 5” means 10 Mbps bandwidth digital signal with
500 m distance covered by co-ax cable.
 Classsic Ethernet Connection
Types
Length
Name Type Advantage
(Max)

10Base5 Thick coax 500 m Good interconnection option.

Flexible and easy to maneuver. It

10Base2 Thin coax 200 m can bend easily than the thicker
cable.
10BaseT UTP (cat-3) 100 m Best for Star topology.

Best option for interconnection.

10BaseF Fiber optics 2 km
Best noise immunity.
 Ethernet Topology :

-Traditionally bus topology is used with co-oxial cables.

-Unique problems related to maintenance:
Thicker coaxial cables use vampire taps for connection.
The taps need to be inserted carefully in wire.
Inexperienced engineer may fail to do it with
perfection.
– Thinner version use BNC connector which require network
shut down before joining individual cable. Inconvenient for
existing users.
-Bandwidth shared among all users. Thicker cables
accommodating 100 users getting 10Mbps. Thin cables can
support 30 users who share 10Mbps.
– A malfunctioning node may disrupt entire network in form of
bus or ring.
 Star Topology

Better solution for maintenance if used with hub or switch.

• Hub broadcast data to all other nodes.
• Switch is selective in receiver.
• Disadvantage of hub:
– It is more prone to collision when multiple senders are transmitting.
– Also, broadcast consume bandwidth.
• Solution Switch.
• See next figure depicting logical and physical view.
Star Topology
 Actual layout of the network
Star topology: physical view
 Cascading the network

• Practically, most implementations are cascaded.

• • Here central device is connected to another central device.
• • It is interesting to see some of the ports are not connected to any machine.
• • Such ports help network to grow.
• • Whenever a new node is required to be added, such empty ports are handy.
Cascading the network
 Using Switch instead of Hub:

• Hub is like repeater hence called multi port repeater.

• Switch has storage capacity and provides point to point transmission.
• Assume in next fig, A is transmitting to B and C is transmitting to D using different
path.
• Gives benefit of bandwidth but a bit costly which replaced hubs.
• Is there a chance of collision?
• Yes. If user sends and receive at same time, using same port, it may collide with
itself.
So, collision domain is reduced to itself.

• Solution?
• Use different path for sending and receiving.
• Switch improved the performance by reducing collision domain
FRAME STRUCTURE

Ethernet Frame Structure DIX and IEEE:

(a) DIX Ethernet (original DEC, Intel, Xerox)

(b) IEEE 802.3 – two changes to DIX:

1. Reduce preamble to 7 bytes and include a Start-Of-Frame (SOF) delimiter
(compatible with 802.4 and 802.5)
2. Change Type field into Length field
Preamble contains 8 bytes having bit pattern 10101010 in DIX and 1010101 SOP:1
in IEEE 802.3.
Two address fields source and destination has:
• o start with 0 for ordinary address
• o start with 1 for group address (multicast,)
• all 1’s then broadcast
Type specifies what to do with frame, specifies that which process should be given to
frame.
Data field contains upto 1500 bytes.
If data portion of frame is less than 46 bytes, Pad field is used to fill out frame upto
64. to minimize chances of collision.
Final field is checksum which contains #code of 32 bits.
Y valid frame must be at least 64 bytes long?
• Two reasons:

1. When transceiver detects collision, it truncates current frame.

o Means, stray bits & piece of frames appear on cable all the time.
o To make easily distinguish valid frames from garbage frames, valid frames must
be at least 64 bytes long.
2. At time =0, station A transmit a frame to station B.
o Just before frame reaches another end, station B starts transmitting.
o When B detects collision, it generates 48bit Noise Burst to warn all other stations.
o That means all station are jammed for random amount of time to start trying again
for transmission.
o If, station tries to transmit shorter frames, & if collision occurs, transmission gets
completed before noise burst reaches sender station.
o And sender wrongly conclude that frame was successfully sent.
Multiplexing at Ethernet
 CSMA
TYPES:
1. Persistent CSMA
2. Non Persistent CSMA
3. P Persistent CSMA
4. CSMA/CD
Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA):
Protocols in which stations listen for a carrier (i.e. transmission) and act accordingly
are called carrier sense protocols.
1-persistent CSMA
o Channel Busy Continue sensing until free and then grab.
o Channel Idle Transmit with probability 1.
o Collision Wait for a random length of time and try again.
Non-persistent CSMA:
o Channel Busy Does not continually sense the channel. Wait for a random
length of time and try again.
o Channel Idle Transmit.
o Collision Wait for a random length of time and try again.
•P-persistent CSMA:
o Channel Busy Continue sensing until free (same as idle).
o Channel Idle Transmit with probability p, and defer transmitting until the next
slot with probability q = 1-p.
o Collision Wait for a random length of time and try again.
Analysis:
o The non-persistent CSMA has better channel utilization but longer delays than 1-
persistent CSMA.
o CSMA are an improvement over ALOHA because they ensure that no station
begins to transmit when it senses the channel busy.
o Another improvement is for stations to abort their transmissions as soon as they
detect a collision.
o Quickly terminating damaged frames saves time and bandwidth.
o This protocol is called CSMA/CD (CSMA with Collision Detection).
•Carrier Sense: Ethernet card listen to channel before transmission and differ to transmit
if somebody else is already transmitting.
Multiple Access: More than one user needs channel access.
Collision Detection: Protocol listen when transmission is going on and find stop
transmitting when it finds colliding.
Interframe gap: As soon as channel becomes free, it waits for small interframe gap
and then transmits. Interframe gap is idle time between frames. After a frame has been
sent, transmitters are required to transmit a minimum of 96 bits (12 octets) of idle line
state before transmitting the next frame.
Maximum distance limitation: Frame size min 64 bytes.
Minimum frame size limitation: Frame length min 250 m.
Both, distance and size can not be increased together.
More bandwidth deteriorates performance.
If first 64 bytes are successfully received, means later there would be no collision.
 Ethernet and C S MA/C D
• Refrain from transmitting if channel is busy
• Realize collision almost immediately
• Wait for a random period before retransmitting..
• collision only if the first sender’s signal has not reached the second
sender
• inherently poor design for heavy traffics.
 C S MA/C D
• Carrier Sense
• Multiple Access
• Collision Detection
• Interframe gap
• Maximum distance limitation
• Minimum frame size limitation
• More bandwidth deteriorates performance
 Binary Exponential Backoff
• Sender sends immediately with idle channel
• Continues to listen while transmitting
• In case of a collision, the sender waits for a random period
(maximum of two time slots)
• In case they collide again, the interval is just doubled every time it
experiences a collision,
• When doubling is repeated to the slot size to 0–1023 it will not
increase further
• Time is divided into discrete slots whose length is equal to the
worst-case round-trip propagation time on the either (2τ).
 •minimum frame is 64 bytes (header + 46 bytes of data) = 512 bits
Channel capacity 10 Mbps, 512/10 M = 51.2μ
After 1st collision, each station waits for 0 or 1 time slot before trying again.
After 2nd collision, each station picks up either 0,1,2 or 3 at random and waits for that
much time slots.
If 3rd collision occurs, then next time number of slots to wait is chosen randomly from
interval 0 to 23-1.
In general, after ith collision, random number between 0 to 2i -1 is chosen, that
number of time slot is skipped.
After 10th collision, randomized interval is frozen at max of 1023 slots.
After 16th collision, controller reports failure back to computer sending and further
recovery is upto higher layers.
This algorithm is called Binary Exponential Back off Algorithm.
Advantage: Ensures a low delay when only a few stations collide, but also assures
that the collision is resolved in a reasonable interval when many stations collide.
Disadvantage: Could introduce significant delay.
 A Fast Ethernet
• 100 Mb version of Ethernet (802.3u)
• The frame structure is same
• permits only star topology.
• Hubs or switches are a must.
• The bus topology and coaxial cables are not used
• FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) and Frame relay were very
complex to maintain and was used for Fibre Channel.
• Fiber Channel restricted its use to SNA (Storage Network
Architecture).
 Fast Ethernet C onnections
Length
Name Type Advantage
(Max)
100 Base T4 UTP 100 m Existing setup can be used.
(cat-3) 100 Mbps outgoing 33.3 Mbps
incoming or viceversa
100 Base TX UTP 100 m 100 Mbps to and fro is
(cat-5) possible.
100 Base FX Fiber 2 km Best option for interconnection.
optics Best noise immunity.
 100Base-T4:

• Category 3 UTP scheme, easily available, backward compatibility, increased carrying

capacity.
• Uses a signalling speed of 25 MHz, only 25 percent faster than standard Ethernet's 20
MHz Manchester Encoding.
• Requires four twisted pairs.
– one is always to the hub,
– one is always from the hub, and
– the other two are switchable to the current transmission direction.
• Ternary signals are sent, so that during a single clock period the wire can contain a 0, a
1, or a 2.
• 33=27 possible symbols can be transmitted.
•8B/6T (8 bits map to 6 traits) works well.
 100Base-TX:
• category 5 wiring.
• can handle clock rates of 125 MHz.
• Two twisted pairs per station are used,
– one to the hub and
– one from it.
• A scheme used is called 4B/5Bis (2 for sending 2 for receiving and 1 extra may be
used for controlling).
• It is taken from FDDI and compatible with it.
• Five clock periods, each containing one of two signal values, yields 32 combinations.
• Clock synchronization is taken care by selecting proper combination of available 32
combinations.
• The 100Base-TX system is full duplex.
• 100Base-TX and 100Base-T4 are collectively referred to as 100Base-T.
 100Base-FX:

Uses two strands of multimode fiber.

• One for each direction.
• Is full duplex with 100 Mbps in each direction.
• In addition, the distance between a station and the hub can be up to 2 km.
• Limited to be used for SNA (Storage Network Architecture).
• Survived for 40 years and competed with developing and transiting technology.
 100Base-T2:
100Base-T2 is allowing fast Ethernet to run over two pairs of existing category 3
wiring.
• However, a sophisticated digital signal processor is needed to handle the encoding
scheme required.
• This option is fairly expensive.
• Rarely used due to its complexity, cost, and the fact that many office buildings
have already been rewired with category 5 UTP.
• Solution: EFM (Ethernet First Mile), Deployed as large networking solution,
interconnecting continents. All Ethernet connection from sender to receiver for first
mile, use only Ethernet and then may opt for other option for long distance
coverage.
The DC Component of a signal

DC component is the positive energy in signal.

DC Component can not pass through devices like transformers and thus
avoided in transmission.
Reduction of DC component is an important aspect for data Communication.
 The DC C omponent of a signal

A signal central around a positive value is equal to a signal centered at zero plus a
positive continuous voltage signal (DC Component).
 A signal central around a positive value
is equal to a signal centered at zero plus a
positive continuous voltage signal (DC
Component)
 The Paradigm S hift: PtoP from
shared
• Coaxial cable and multi-drop is discouraged
• Multidrop :
– Hubs were replaced by switches
– Two machines connected to a single hub can not transmit at the
same time.
– Thus hubs have muti drop characteristic.
• Point to Point and full duplex transmissions
• Reducing collision domain
• Distance limit is lifted, Ethernet is used for first mile now
• Ethernet remain unfazed after 40 years
• Thus paradigm shift has occurred.
 Gigabit Ethernet

• Even faster Ethernet 1000 MHz (802.3z)

• Full and Half Duplex operations.
• Full duplex mode avoid collision and channel sensing. Use switch and
support frame storage in switch buffers to avoid collision.
• If Half Duplex, hubs are used and have issues of collision.
• Prefer switches with little additional cost.
• Speed of 1 Gbps.
• Only use UTP and Fiber Optics. Doesn’t use co-ax as it uses dedicated cables
for upstream and downstream which is not supported by co-ax.
 Gigabit Ethernet

The 1000Base-CX option uses short shielded copper cables.

The 1000Base-T is bundles of four category 5 UTP wires working together.
New encoding scheme, called 8B/10B, was chosen, based on fibre channel. Each 8-
bit byte is encoded on the fiber as 10 bits, hence the name 8B/10B.
But rules are:
No codeword may have more than four identical bits in a row.
No codeword may have more than six 0s or six 1s.
A speed of 1 Gbps is quite fast.
Ethernet, buffer overruns are very likely.
 Max
Name Cable Advantage
dist
Cat-5 or cat-5e or
1000Base-T 100 m Cheapest solution.
cat-6
1000Base- Balanced copper
25 m More reliable than UTP.
CX cabling
1000Base- Good choice for connecting nearby
Multimode fiber 220 to 550 m
SX buildings or networks.
1000Base- Good for connecting nearby
Multimode fiber 550 m
LX buildings.
1000Base- Good for long-haul communication or
Single-mode fiber 5 to 10 km
LX connecting larger set of networks.
1000Base-
Single-mode single- Single strand having two
BX10
strand fiber: 1490 – over 10 km communications in either direction
(Non-
1310 nm upstream over a large distance.
standard)

Gigabit Ethernet C onnections

 Gigabit Ethernet
• Frame bursting and hardware extensions

Gigabit Ethernet Frame structure

7 1 6 6 2 0– 0–46 4 0–448
1500
Pream SOF Dest. Src. Lgth Data Pad Check Extens
ble Add. Add. sum ion
Handling Long Range Transmission:
• How to reduce collision:
– Reduce Distance to 25m(so small!!) or
– Enlarge Frame Size.
• In Gbps speed, frame size is at least 512 bytes.
• If we change the frame size, we may face two problems:
• 1. Hardware Extension :
– Extend smaller frames and make it 512 bits by padding.
– Frame extension : “Extension” last.
– Sender adds and receiver removes using network card.
– Big overhead introduced.
• 2. Frame Bursting :
– Sender club frames making it large enough.
– Only possible in half duplex mode.
– After successful transmission of first frame without collision, sender can send clubbed
frames one after the other successfully.
– Max burst frame size : 2 16 = 65536
 8B/10B C oding
• More than six 0s or 1s are not allowed in a 10-bit word
• Four identical bits are not permitted in a sequence
• The same coding scheme is also used in fiber channel
• All fiber-based mechanisms use 8B/10B
• Cat cables use 4B/5B which is different
 4B/5B C oding

Cat cables use 4B/5B which is different.

– IEEE 802.3ab uses cat-5 or cat-6 (cat-5e, e for extension) wires.
– Converts 4 bits into 5 bits.
– Symbols used here are very different.
– Difference lies in copper (4B/5B) and fiber (8B/10B).
– All four pairs of wire are working on single direction to provide 1Gbps speed,
remaining one for controlling and framing.
– Also named PAM/5 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation)
 The Pause Frame for Flow
C ontrol
7 1 6 6 2 2 2
Pr S Destination Source Length/ MAC MAC Control
ea O address address Type Control Parameters
mb F or 802.3 Op-code
le MAC (00–00 to
Multicast address
Control Pause FF-FF)
01-80-C2-00-00-
(88–08) (00–01)
01
Classic Ethernet, Fast and Gigabit Ethernet working together has issue of speed miss
match.
Performance miss match issue. Flow control possible only in full duplex.
Pause Frame: sent by receiver to sender to pause for time specified so that
process Data, clean buffers and get ready for next frame receiving cycle.
2 bits for pause op and 2 bits for indicating time to wait multiplied with 512.
 10Gb
• Much faster Ethernet having variations 802.ae, ak, ap, an etc
• Standard and non standard variants available which are not listed on table.
• Backplane Ethernet:
• Copper cable with short range not suitable for networking but used by
bridges and switches
• 802.3ap.
• Using 10G Base TX4 and 10G Base-KR.
• Not standardized.
• PAM-8, PAM-10, PAM-12 and PAM-16 work with 10Gbps. (PAM-5 excluded
as it is working with Gigabit Ethernet).
• Explicit support for WAN: PAM-16 using 10BaseW (10GBase-SW, 10GBase-
LW, 10GBase-EW and 10GBase-ZW)
 10Gb connections
Name Cable Maximum Advantage Name
Distance
10G Base-SR Multi-mode 26–82 m Low cost and low 10G Base-
power SR
10G Base-LR Single-mode 10–25 km Expensive better 10G Base-
fiber distance coverage LR
10G Base-ER Single-mode 40 km Long reach 10G Base-
fiber ER
10G Base-T UTP or STP 55 m with cat- Auto negotiation 10G Base-
IEEE cat-6 or cat-6a 6 and 100 m with 1000 Base-T T IEEE
802.3an with cat-6a possible 802.3an
 40-100 Gb
• Super fast Ethernet 802.3ba
• 100 Gb over 40 Km
• Under standardization when this is being written
• Link aggregation
• Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing
 40-100G Ethernet
Name Cable Max. dist. Advantage
40G Base-KR4 Copper cable 1 m at 40 Gbps As backplane
40G Base-CR4 10 m at
Copper cable Cheapest 100G
40 Gbps
40G Base-SR4 Multi-mode 100 m at Conventional LAN
fiber 40 Gbps distance
40G Base-LR4 Single-mode 10 km at
Long-range transmission
fiber 40 Gbps
100G Base-LR4 Single-mode 10 km at
Long-range transmission
fiber 100 Gbps
100G Base-ER4 Single-mode 40 km at
Long-range transmission
fiber 100 Gbps
 Link Aggregation

Also called trucking.

– Merge two or more physical links logically into single link.
– Benefits:
• When 2 nodes are connected with multiple lines, all lines are logically
merged into single link.
• 4 lines of 10Mbps aggregated to achieve 40Mbps.
• More bandwidth and performance.
• Can Manage bandwidth such that it provides quality of service.
• Provide fault tolerance by diverting traffic of one link over another in
case of failure
 DWDM

Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing.

Kind of Frequency Division Multiplexing.
Very high range of frequency (so called wavelength).
Frequency range is very dense and can carry large voluminous data, usually in
Gbps.
Four light carriers on single mode fiber to support 40 Gbps using single fiber.
Capable of supporting both the modes, End to End and Link aggregation.
Basically multiplexes multiple links into one.
 Dual Speed Cards

When Fast Ethernet came, there were 10/100 cards could operate upon two
speeds.
When Gigabit Ethernet came, we had cards capable of supporting 10/100/1000
speed types.
So for users it is easy to upgrade from classic Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernets.
This cards are called Dual Speed Cards.
 Auto Negotiation

10 Mbps when realize that other end is capable of working at 100 Mbps, it
automatically start operating at 100 Mbps.
Even Gigabit Cards can work upon all 3 speeds, 10/100/1000.
This is process of capability negotiation which is done without user’s intervention.
User can upgrade without worry of compatibility with communicating networks.
Can boost speed and performance is used with switch.
 C. The LLC layer
Content of frame is not determined by MAC header, so it is provided by LLC (Logical
Link Layer).
LLC Jobs:
o Hides MAC address from Network Layer.
o Provide connection oriented primitives that MAC can not do.
o Can provide service of establishing connection.
o Gives sequence number
o Providing ACK.
Ethernet do not need LCC, DIX frames can omit LLC layer as internet needs to have
only type of information and no connection establishment service needed.
 D. Wireless MAC Layer
• The Wireless LAN protocol (802.11)
• The DCF Mode
• Fragmentation in DCF mode
• The PCF mode
• Managing PCF and DCF modes together
• The 802.11 frame
 1. Wireless transmission in
802.11
• Problems
• 1. Hidden and Exposed station problem
• 2. Frequency allocation issues
• 3. Signal fading (free space path loss)
• 4. Interference
• 5. Multipath fading
• 6. Restriction on power (sender’s power, signal strength)
• 7. LOS vs NLOS (line of sight)
• 8. Placement of physical obstacle (beneficial as offer bouncing of signals,
see next fig)
• 9. Frequency range (wifi 2.48Ghz, ISM 4.33 MHz long distance)
10. 802.11a is vulnerable to rainfall and vegetation.
11. Modulation scheme (OFDM provides 54Mbps in 802.11g and DSSS only 11Mbps in
802.11b)
Placement of obstacles:
Placement of obstacles
 2. DC F (Ad Hoc) mode
• Computers communicate directly
• Compulsory mode
• With or without CSMA/CA
• Collision invites Binary exponential backoff
• Unlike Ethernet, stop and wait is used
• Fragments are sent when noise is higher
Ad Hoc mode with C S MA/C A
 Steps to manage RTS and CTS:

1. Sense the channel

2. If channel is idle, wait for DIFS (DCF Inter Frame Spacing) time
3. Then transmit RTS
4. If channel is busy, wait for DIFS and then start transmitting
5. Sender waits for CTS from receiver
6. Once receiver got RTS, waits for SIFS(Short InterFrame Spacing) time which is much
smaller than DIFS and then send back CTS.
7. If RTS or CTS is not received on time, everything is started again.
8. Once CTS received, after waiting for SIFS, it can send next frame.
9. One can detect collision only when response is not received.
10. And sender waits for Ack. If not received everything is started from step 1 all over
again.
11. Once Ack received, sender sends next frame.
NAV: Network Allocation Vector

• The neighbours are also involved.

• They observe the duration value and remain silent for that time.
• Similarly neighbours of the receiver also learn that the receiver is about to receive
a frame, so they too enter into silent mode fro time till receiver sends back an
acknowledgement.
• Silent mode is referred as NAV (Network Allocation Vector) mode.
AdHoc mode without
C S MA/C A
Steps: without RTS and CTS:
1. Sender sense channel
2. If channel is idle, waits for DIFS and then transmits the frame.
3. Sender doesn’t check for collision, they learn only if reply is not received.
4. Receiver once receive frame, waits for SIFS and sends back Ack.
5. Sender once received Ack, concludes that it has successfully transmitted the
frames.
6. Upon receipt of Ack, sender sends next frame if required.
3. Fragments in 802.11
 C ontinue
Reduces the chance of data loss:
 4. The PC F mode
• Access point determines who will send when.
• beacon frames for polling each station every few milliseconds
announcing SSID and MAC address.
• Two modes, Default and protected
• Default(unprotected) mode
– Must know the SSID(service set identifier)
• Protected Mode
– MAC address
– IP address
– Or both
• Data transmitting is always encrypted and SSID is never encrypted.
 Access point primitives
Primitive Job Prerequisite Next primitive
Connect node to Access point should be on
Associate Authentication
network and ready to accept
Validate the AP Optional privacy,
Authentica Association must be done
as well as the otherwise data
tion beforehand
optional node transmission
Decide the type
Authentication must be
Privacy of encryption to Data transmission
done beforehand
be used
Disassociation,
Data Association must be done,
Actual data is distribution,
transmissi optionally authentication
sent and received integration,
on and privacy
relocation
 Continue…
Primitive Job Prerequisite Next primitive
Transmission across
Distributi Data Disassociation,
various networks, either
on transmission integration, relocation
wired or wireless
Integrati Transmission across an Disassociation,
Distribution
on Ethernet network relocation
Disassociation,
Relocatio Sender moves from one
Association distribution,
n AP area to another
integration, relocation
De-
Sender logs out from its
authentic Authenticated Disassociate
authenticated account
ation
Node going out of range
Disassoci
or AP going down for Association Associate
ate
maintenance
Different Inter-frame spacing:

Different Inter-frame
spacing
 5. Managing PCF and DCF Modes Together:

• DCF and PCF impose delay but they are the best design to prioritize transmission.
• PCF is given higher priority over DCF
• Before starting any communication, each user need to wait for SIFS and already
communicating parties to complete the communication.
• Each ad hoc mode needs to wait for DIFS which is longer than PIFS to let PCF flows
complete communication.
• Priority from higher to lower goes like this, ACK, CTS, Fragments, then comes PCF
and at last comes DCF and then if errors, NACK.
• Similarly, SIFS then PIFS, DIFS and then EIFS.
• Still there is a chance of collision if at same time two users sends RTS.
6. 802.11 Frame
 Frame C ontrol

Two bytes (16 bits) length

• Protocol version, current 0.
• Type of Frame: 1st Control, 2nd Management and 3rd Data.
• Subtypes:
– Control types : RTS, CTS, ACK.
– Management types: beacon, authentication, de-authentication, association,
dis association, re association, etc.
– Data: Data.
• To AP and From AP: where the frame is coming and going. Used for inter and
intra cell communication.
• More flag: indicates More Fragments expected in DCF mode.
• Retry: To eliminate duplication, frame indicates that this frame is sent again.
• Power Management: wireless transmission handles battery low situation. After
completion of transmission, device enters into power save or sleep mode.
• More Data: indicates if current transmission is over or not.
• W: whether WEP (Wired Equivalence Privacy) is implemented or not.
• O: indicates whether frames are to be processed in ORDER or not.
• Duration: RTS, CTS an NAV process based on this duration observation.
• DSS BSS and 4 Address Fields:
– Wireless area having 1 access point is called cell or BSS (Basic Service Set).
– There is a need of interconnection between two cells (AP) for forwarding packets
if not in range.
– This network becomes distributed and denotes DSS (Distributed Service Set).
– We need 4 addresses here to manage inter-cell and intra-cell transmission.
– Issue here: conversion of wired to wireless and wireless to wired frames.

• Sequence: Sq no. Is allocated to individual frame and fragment.

• Payload: carries network layer data like IP datagram, max size is 2312 but usually kept
1500 for compatibility with ethernet.
• CRC: most important in wireless medium as error rate is very high, same method as
Ethernet.
Intra Cell and Inter Cell Transmission:

Intra Cell Transmission: sender and receiver belongs to same cell.

• Inter Cell Transmission: sender and receiver has multiple Aps between
them and need forwarding of packets from one AP to another.
• Intra Cell uses only two addresses.
• Inter Cell:
– Ethernet – Wireless (Heterogeneous Network) Inter Cell
communication uses 3 addresses and
– Wireless Inter Cell needs all 4 address.
Extended S ervice S et: - connecting multiple
wireless LANs
 Wireless Broadband(802.16)

• WiMax(Wireless for Microwave Access) is slang(informal word). It is

a name of alliance(group) of vendors, IEEE name is 802.16
• 802.16d for Fixed Wireless
• 802.16e included mobility (latest standard)
• Proved useful in case of calamities
 Wireless Broadband Protocol Sub-layers:

• Two capabilities, fixed WiMax and Mobile WiMax.

• Better bandwidth and long distance support.
• OFDMA are used as physical layer in wireless broadband.
• Channel continuously examine noise level and decides which modulation
scheme should be used, QAM-64, QPSK, BPSK(Binary PSK).
• Fixed broadband uses LOC service provides maximum bandwidth.
• MIMO(multiple input multiple output), uses multiple antennas for multi stream
transmission in parallel to get better bandwidth.
 802.16 sublayer Functionality Layer
Service-specific Similar to logical link layer
convergence
sublayer
MAC sublayer Similar to Ethernet layer, Data link
arbitration of the channel and layer
related issues
Security sublayer Facilitates secure transmission
Transmission Provides a consistent interface to
convergence the data link layer while working
sublayer with different physical layers below
Physical
layer
Physical medium BPSK or QPSK or some version of
dependent sublayer QAM depending on the channel
noise level
 Security is Premium in WiMax:

1. Sender and receiver can authenticate each other.

2. Third party can give certificates to parties involved in communication.
3. Videos, Audios, Mails, Files get encrypted, eavesdropping revels no meaningful
information.
4. Articles sent are verified for modification during transmission, know as integrity
check.
5. Carry Subscriber-Carrier relationship: those who provide services to subscriber
can charge subscription fees and is completely private.
Difference between .11 and .16
802.11
• designed for LAN
• 2.4 GHz ISM band for its
versions ‘b’ and ‘g’.
• It used the 5 GHz ISM band
for its version ‘a’.
• 11 MB with type ‘b’ and
54 MB with either ‘a’ or ‘g’.
802.16
• designed for MAN
• 10 to 66 GHz range
• Now also available in the
range near to the 802.11.
• More than 70 Mbps with
less than 1 km of distance
• it can reach up to 50 km
Difference between .11 and .16
802.11
• A small range and no LOS
• Wireless Ethernet
• Connectionless
• Original design include
mobility
• Security is being addressed
now
802.16
• LOS and NLOS are available
• broadband Internet
• Connection oriented
• Latest version include
mobility
• Security is considered in the
beginning
 E. The MAC Layer
• Provides Connection-oriented service. i.e go-backN, sliding window and all
protocols establishing connections are included here.
• Provides QoS (Quality of Service).
• Connection Establishment and Withdrawal is done on every communication.
• But this adds lot of overhead.
• Intelligent to overcome overheads as 802.16 is capable of sending back to back
frames, this is how we can overcome overheads.
• Provides better service to VOIP like apps
• During telephone connection, gap between words are maintained till signals reach
the destination.
• But bandwidth in internet doesn’t remain constant.
• Thus, network service is affected.
• This delay is tolerable while browsing, but not for VoIP applications, video
conferencing and video calling.
Some Facts:
– Latency is less than 100ms doesn’t affect QoS.
– Some users will be able to realize latency over 120ms.
– Most users will notice latency over 150ms.
– Humans are intolerant to speech delays of more than 200ms.
• Four service classes
– Base station polling for first three classes
– Ethernet like response for forth class
– Dynamic allocation of channels
 S ervice C lasses
1. CBR: Unsolicited grant service or constant bit rate(CBR) service,
2. RBR: Real-time polling service (also extended real-time polling service only for Mobile WiMax
in 802.16e) or variable bit rate(RBR) real-time service,
3. NRVBR: Non-real-time polling service or non-real-time variable bit rate(NRBR) service, and
4. Best effort service

• Unsolicited grant service or constant bit rate service,

• Real-time polling service (also extended real-time polling service only for
Mobile WiMax in 802.16e) or variable bit rate real-time service,
• Non-real-time polling service or non-real-time variable bit rate service, and
• Best effort service
CBR: Constant Bit Rate:
• Constant Bit Rate
• Unsolicited grant service
• Constant bandwidth throughout the transmission until connection terminates.
• Eg. Uncompressed video (live videos) needs CBR.
• Lease line also supports the same.
RBR: Real Time Variable Bit Rate:
• Real Time Service.
• Two classes:
– Normal Service (For both Fixed and Mobile WiMax)
– Extended Service (Only for Mobile WiMax)
• Required by senders sending videos in compressed format.
• Here, first frame is uncompressed, remaining all compressed.
• Eg. In the green field, first frame is sent, then following frame carry only the ball motion
indication, others remains same.
• When difference is large, new frame is sent.
• Bandwidth requirement is based on the difference between two consecutive frames.
• Thus, bandwidth requirement is variable.
• If bandwidth is not demanded by user, it is allocated to next service class users.
• Real Time Polling Service: the number of times the user has polled for additional
bandwidth determines the unit of bandwidth to be allocated to that user. This is called
real time polling service.
• Mobile WiMax has combination of Constant Bit Rate and Real Time Variable Bit Rate
where, fixed bandwidth is allocated by CBR and additional bandwidth can be demanded
by user.

NRBR: Non Real Time Variable Bit Rate:

• Variable bit rate requirement.
• But not real time
• Eg: Multimedia Email
• Multimedia clips are added to email demanding bandwidth higher than CBR
• If bandwidth is not available, email can wait, and so, not real time.
• Given less priority than real time apps.
 Best Effort Service:

• Lowest Priority.
• Uses whatever is left over from all above 3 classes.
• Eg. Email having attachment files.
• Demands neither real time nor variable bandwidth.
• Like Ethernet, have chance of collision, resolved by Binary Exponential Back
off Algorithm
 How all 4 class requirement of subscriber fulfilled by
provider?

First Three Class have no issue of collision.

• Last Class handle it with BEB Algo.
• First 3 Classes has both direction transmission distributed like 75% downstream
and 25% upstream.
• Negotiation happens at Subscriber and Base Station (SS and BS).
• Two options:
– Assign SS and he allocates.
– Assign BS individually as per the requirement.
• Priority of VoIP(real time variable bit rate) is higher than File Transfer(best effort
service).

• Bandwidth allocation, two options:

– FDD Frequency Division Duplexing
– TDD Time Division Duplexing (First two frames carry upstream and
downstream free timeslot indication)
• Both use Base Station to inform Upstream and Downstream with system
parameters.
• SS and BS negotiate bandwidth and delay tolerance.
• Inactive SS are grouped and later on given single poll to group instead of
individual polls.
• Best Effort Service need no polling.
• Similar to Railway Reservation, Advanced Booking – CBR, Real Time – Tatkal,
Non Real Time – TC Relation, Best Effort – General.
Generic Frame structures
 Generic Frame structures

• Identification : 0 of Normal Frame and 10 of Control Frame.

• EC : whether encrypted or not.
• Type : Packing type, Single or multiple (data send back to back) or Fragmentation.
• Real time, no chance of errors, no checksum.
• CI : Checksum Indication, checksum = 1 present or checksum = 0 absent.
• EK : Encryption Key. 802.16a uses DES and RC5.
• Length : Frame length with header
• Connection ID : multiple connections are established so separated with connection ID.
• Header CRC : calculated using polynomial, x8 + 1.
• Payload : Arbitrary long data accommodation.
• CRC : 4 bytes of CRC redundancy bits.
• Free bits : Kept for forward error control using Hamming code.
• Control Frame used for requesting bandwidth.
• Bytes Needed : Polling required number of bytes and bandwidth.
• All other same functionality.
 F. Connecting devices at data link
layer
• There is a device called layer-2 switch which is more popular today which
functions in similar fashion as a bridge but having many to many
connections rather than one to one in the bridge.
• Both of them use MAC Layer as the connecting points.
• Why we need a connecting devices as the data link layer.
– When organization has multiple LANs, administrator needs to join them
for information sharing.
– If two nodes are apart by more than 2500m in an Ethernet, then they
cannot become a part of single network. For such requirement we need
to connect LANs.
– One may want to abolish all the networks and have a single network
where all can share data with anyone.
– Employees are scared of viruses and want their machines maintained
well.
 - When two networks are of different types, eg. Wired and Wireless, we need a
communicating device as a mediator between the two networks.
- Bridges can even detect malicious traffic and stop them.
- A Virus on one network can be confined to that network only using a bridge.
-One can use TCPDUMP to spoof the entire network.
- We can have different policies like ‘nobody can access accounts data except his
or her own salary accounts.
- Some networks consume more load than others. Eg. R&D (Research and
Development) Department. They may starve other users for bandwidth as they
eat away 80% of bandwidth.
- Broadcasting is used by lot of application layer protocols. This is not limited to
single network, it will create serious traffic overflow in network.

• Two options are available: 1) Bridge (Physical Connectivity) and 2) VLAN (Logical
Connectivity).
 G. Virtual LAN

• Networks can also be connected in a logical way which is simpler and easier for a
user, but cumbersome for an administrator to manage.
• Solution is called Virtual LAN.
• In Virtual LAN, irrespective of where a node is situated, it can be a part of the
network it wants to be.
• A student with his laptop can get connected to the campus network from any
place.
• Virtual LAN is useful for two important purpose:
o Irrespective of the physical location, a user can be a part of any of his network.
o User receives anything that is broadcasted in his own network.
• A Virtual LAN is a LAN where the machines, without physical proximity, can be a
member of a LAN.
• The machine that changes its network just needs to change its membership status
which is indicated by different color and size and VLAN tags in actual sense.
• In a VLAN, a node can decide the network it belongs to and inform the switch
accordingly.
• An accountant of some department may go and sit in accounts department of the
company in the month of March and come back in middle of April.
• This is done by having switches which are capable of understanding both, physical
connections and logical network they belong to.
• Thus, VLAN aware switch remembers that port 1 belongs to network A, port 2
belongs to network B and so on.
• These switches are configurable such that, a sure can indicate that earlier port-1
belongs to Network B and now it belongs to Network A.
• Manageable switches are the ones which are locally or remotely configurable.
• A user will remotely login to a switch and change the port and other information from
his machine.
• Manageable switches are usually VLAN aware.
 Conventional LAN, moving the node:
Manual Shifting of a machine from one network to another.
Changing the membership VLAN way, changing the port membership.
Virtual LAN. The switches are VLAN-aware. If node ‘b’ wants to join network A, it
can do so without relocating. The node informs the switch which does the needful
by changing a table resident in its memory.
VLAN Standardization and Frame Format:
• Standard: 802.1Q
• VLAN protocol ID: Fixed. 0x8100.
• VLAN tag: Also provides additional information about VLAN
• Only 2 extra fields are added to VLAN enabled Headers. Others are same as
Ethernet.
• The cards that understands this new Header is known as VLAN-Aware Cards.
• Usually switches contain such cards.
• Priority: Indicates that it contains priority value which is not concerned with VLAN
• CFI: Canonical Format Indicator, expecting fixed format.
• VLAN Identifier: It identifies VLAN uniquely.
• See figure on next page.
 VLAN Operations:

• A VLAN operation starts when frame arrives at the first VLAN aware switches or
bridge.
• Fames add VLAN PID and also tag information in the frame.
• If machine do not have VLAN aware card, then switch should attach that information
before forwarding.
• First way to keep the information of configuration table using MAC address.
• MSTP: Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol in 802.1Q can work like spanning tree in
normal LAN. This protocol can block alternate path between any two VLANs, keeping
only one path open to avoid loops. This protocol is backward compatible fully and can
work with legacy Ethernet Bridges and Switches.
• Maximum frame size is extended to 1522
• All machines belong to a unique virtual LAN
• Otherwise the switch should add VLAN tag
• VLAN aware switches
• MAC, IP Address or Port number can be used as a separator
• Not good from purist point of view
• MSTP to avoid loops