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Deterministic Medium Access Control algorithms
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The `Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance` (CSMA/CA) Medium Access Control algorithm was designed for the popular WiFi wireless network technology [IEEE802.11]_. CSMA/CA also senses the transmission channel before transmitting a frame. Furthermore, CSMA/CA tries to avoid collisions by carefully tuning the timers used by CSMA/CA devices.
CSMA/CA uses acknowledgments like CSMA. Each frame contains a sequence number and a CRC. The CRC is used to detect transmission errors while the sequence number is used to avoid frame duplication. When a device receives a correct frame, it returns a special acknowledgment frame to the sender. CSMA/CA introduces a small delay, named `Short Inter Frame Spacing` (SIFS), between the reception of a frame and the transmission of the acknowledgment frame. This delay corresponds to the time that is required to switch the radio of a device between the reception and transmission modes.
Compared to CSMA, CSMA/CA defines more precisely when a device is allowed to send a frame. First, CSMA/CA defines two delays : `DIFS` and `EIFS`. To send a frame, a device must first wait until the channel has been idle for at least the `Distributed Coordination Function Inter Frame Space` (DIFS) if the previous frame was received correctly. However, if the previously received frame was corrupted, this indicates that there are collisions and the device must sense the channel idle for at least the `Extended Inter Frame Space` (EIFS), with :math:`SIFS<DIFS<EIFS`. The exact values for SIFS, DIFS and EIFS depend on the underlying physical layer [IEEE802.11]_.
The figure below shows the basic operation of CSMA/CA devices. Before transmitting, host `A` verifies that the channel is empty for a long enough period. Then, its sends its data frame. After checking the validity of the received frame, the recipient sends an acknowledgment frame after a short SIFS delay. Host `C`, which does not participate in the frame exchange, senses the channel to be busy at the beginning of the data frame. Host `C` can use this information to determine how long the channel will be busy for. Note that as :math:`SIFS<DIFS<EIFS`, even a device that would start to sense the channel immediately after the last bit of the data frame could not decide to transmit its own frame during the transmission of the acknowledgment frame.
Operation of a CSMA/CA device
The main difficulty with CSMA/CA is when two or more devices transmit at the same time and cause collisions. This is illustrated in the figure below, assuming a fixed timeout after the transmission of a data frame. With CSMA/CA, the timeout after the transmission of a data frame is very small, since it corresponds to the SIFS plus the time required to transmit the acknowledgment frame.
Collisions with CSMA/CA
To deal with this problem, CSMA/CA relies on a backoff timer. This backoff timer is a random delay that is chosen by each device in a range that depends on the number of retransmissions for the current frame. The range grows exponentially with the retransmissions as in CSMA/CD. The minimum range for the backoff timer is :math:`[0,7*slotTime]` where the `slotTime` is a parameter that depends on the underlying physical layer. Compared to CSMA/CD's exponential backoff, there are two important differences to notice. First, the initial range for the backoff timer is seven times larger. This is because it is impossible in CSMA/CA to detect collisions as they happen. With CSMA/CA, a collision may affect the entire frame while with CSMA/CD it can only affect the beginning of the frame. Second, a CSMA/CA device must regularly sense the transmission channel during its back off timer. If the channel becomes busy (i.e. because another device is transmitting), then the back off timer must be frozen until the channel becomes free again. Once the channel becomes free, the back off timer is restarted. This is in contrast with CSMA/CD where the back off is recomputed after each collision. This is illustrated in the figure below. Host `A` chooses a smaller backoff than host `C`. When `C` senses the channel to be busy, it freezes its backoff timer and only restarts it once the channel is free again.
Detailed example with CSMA/CA
The pseudo-code below summarizes the operation of a CSMA/CA device. The values of the SIFS, DIFS, EIFS and :math:`slotTime` depend on the underlying physical layer technology [IEEE802.11]_
Another problem faced by wireless networks is often called the `hidden station problem`. In a wireless network, radio signals are not always propagated same way in all directions. For example, two devices separated by a wall may not be able to receive each other's signal while they could both be receiving the signal produced by a third host. This is illustrated in the figure below, but it can happen in other environments. For example, two devices that are on different sides of a hill may not be able to receive each other's signal while they are both able to receive the signal sent by a station at the top of the hill. Furthermore, the radio propagation conditions may change with time. For example, a truck may temporarily block the communication between two nearby devices.
The hidden station problem
To avoid collisions in these situations, CSMA/CA allows devices to reserve the transmission channel for some time. This is done by using two control frames : `Request To Send` (RTS) and `Clear To Send` (CTS). Both are very short frames to minimize the risk of collisions. To reserve the transmission channel, a device sends a RTS frame to the intended recipient of the data frame. The RTS frame contains the duration of the requested reservation. The recipient replies, after a SIFS delay, with a CTS frame which also contains the duration of the reservation. As the duration of the reservation has been sent in both RTS and CTS, all hosts that could collide with either the sender or the reception of the data frame are informed of the reservation. They can compute the total duration of the transmission and defer their access to the transmission channel until then. This is illustrated in the figure below where host `A` reserves the transmission channel to send a data frame to host `B`. Host `C` notices the reservation and defers its transmission.
Reservations with CSMA/CA
The utilization of the reservations with CSMA/CA is an optimization that is useful when collisions are frequent. If there are few collisions, the time required to transmit the RTS and CTS frames can become significant and in particular when short frames are exchanged. Some devices only turn on RTS/CTS after transmission errors.
Deterministic Medium Access Control algorithms
During the 1970s and 1980s, there were huge debates in the networking community about the best suited Medium Access Control algorithms for Local Area Networks. The optimistic algorithms that we have described until now were relatively easy to implement when they were designed. From a performance perspective, mathematical models and simulations showed the ability of these optimistic techniques to sustain load. However, none of the optimistic techniques are able to guarantee that a frame will be delivered within a given delay bound and some applications require predictable transmission delays. The deterministic MAC algorithms were considered by a fraction of the networking community as the best solution to fulfill the needs of Local Area Networks.
The IEEE 802.5 Token Ring technology is defined in [IEEE802.5]_. We use Token Ring as an example to explain the principles of the token-based MAC algorithms in ring-shaped networks. Other ring-shaped networks include the defunct FDDI [Ross1989]_ or Resilient Pack Ring [DYGU2004]_ . A good survey of the early token ring networks may be found in [Bux1989]_ .
A Token Ring network is composed of a set of stations that are attached to a unidirectional ring. The basic principle of the Token Ring MAC algorithm is that two types of frames travel on the ring : tokens and data frames. When the Token Ring starts, one of the stations sends the token. The token is a small frame that represents the authorization to transmit data frames on the ring. To transmit a data frame on the ring, a station must first capture the token by removing it from the ring. As only one station can capture the token at a time, the station that owns the token can safely transmit a data frame on the ring without risking collisions. After having transmitted its frame, the station must remove it from the ring and resend the token so that other stations can transmit their own frames.
A Token Ring network
While the basic principles of the Token Ring are simple, there are several subtle implementation details that add complexity to Token Ring networks. To understand these details let us analyze the operation of a Token Ring interface on a station. A Token Ring interface serves three different purposes. Like other LAN interfaces, it must be able to send and receive frames. In addition, a Token Ring interface is part of the ring, and as such, it must be able to forward the electrical signal that passes on the ring even when its station is powered off.
When powered-on, Token Ring interfaces operate in two different modes : `listen` and `transmit`. When operating in `listen` mode, a Token Ring interface receives an electrical signal from its upstream neighbor on the ring, introduces a delay equal to the transmission time of one bit on the ring and regenerates the signal before sending it to its downstream neighbor on the ring.
The first problem faced by a Token Ring network is that as the token represents the authorization to transmit, it must continuously travel on the ring when no data frame is being transmitted. Let us assume that a token has been produced and sent on the ring by one station. In Token Ring networks, the token is a 24 bits frame whose structure is shown below.
802.5 token format
The token is composed of three fields. First, the `Starting Delimiter` is the marker that indicates the beginning of a frame. The first Token Ring networks used Manchester coding and the `Starting Delimiter` contained both symbols representing `0` and symbols that do not represent bits. The last field is the `Ending Delimiter` which marks the end of the token. The `Access Control` field is present in all frames, and contains several flags. The most important is the `Token` bit that is set in token frames and reset in other frames.
Let us consider the five station network depicted in figure :ref:`fig-tokenring` above and assume that station `S1` sends a token. If we neglect the propagation delay on the inter-station links, as each station introduces a one bit delay, the first bit of the frame would return to `S1` while it sends the fifth bit of the token. If station `S1` is powered off at that time, only the first five bits of the token will travel on the ring. To avoid this problem, there is a special station called the `Monitor` on each Token Ring. To ensure that the token can travel forever on the ring, this `Monitor` inserts a delay that is equal to at least 24 bit transmission times. If station `S3` was the `Monitor` in figure :ref:`fig-tokenring`, `S1` would have been able to transmit the entire token before receiving the first bit of the token from its upstream neighbor.
802.5 data frame format
To capture a token, a station must operate in `Listen` mode. In this mode, the station receives bits from its upstream neighbor. If the bits correspond to a data frame, they must be forwarded to the downstream neighbor. If they correspond to a token, the station can capture it and transmit its data frame. Both the data frame and the token are encoded as a bit string beginning with the `Starting Delimiter` followed by the `Access Control` field. When the station receives the first bit of a `Starting Delimiter`, it cannot know whether this is a data frame or a token and must forward the entire delimiter to its downstream neighbor. It is only when it receives the fourth bit of the `Access Control` field (i.e. the `Token` bit) that the station knows whether the frame is a data frame or a token. If the `Token` bit is reset, it indicates a data frame and the remaining bits of the data frame must be forwarded to the downstream station. Otherwise (`Token` bit is set), this is a token and the station can capture it by resetting the bit that is currently in its buffer. Thanks to this modification, the beginning of the token is now the beginning of a data frame and the station can switch to `Transmit` mode and send its data frame starting at the fifth bit of the `Access Control` field. Thus, the one-bit delay introduced by each Token Ring station plays a key role in enabling the stations to efficiently capture the token.
After having transmitted its data frame, the station must remain in `Transmit` mode until it has received the last bit of its own data frame. This ensures that the bits sent by a station do not remain in the network forever. A data frame sent by a station in a Token Ring network passes in front of all stations attached to the network. Each station can detect the data frame and analyze the destination address to possibly capture the frame.

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