UNIT-3

Media Access Control (MAC)

When nodes or stations are connected and use a common link, called a multipoint or
broadcast link, we need a multiple-access protocol to coordinate access to the link. The
problem of controlling the access to the medium is similar to the rules of speaking in an
assembly.
Many protocols have been devised to handle access to a shared link. All of these protocols
belong to a sublayer in the data-link layer called media access control (MAC). We categorize
them into three groups, as shown in Figure.

Fig: Taxonomy of multiple-access protocols

1. Random Access
In random-access or contention methods, no station is superior to another station and none
is assigned control over another.
In a random-access method, each station has the right to the medium without being controlled
by any other station. However, if more than one station tries to send, there is an access
conflict—collision—and the frames will be either destroyed or modified.
The random-access methods: ALOHA, CSMA, CSMA/CD, CSMA/CA

❖ ALOHA
ALOHA, the earliest random access method was developed at the University of Hawaii in
early 1970. 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 distorted.
⮚ Pure ALOHA
The original ALOHA protocol is called pure ALOHA. This is a simple but well-designed
protocol.
The idea is that each station sends a frame whenever it has a frame to send (multiple access).
However, since there is only one channel to share, there is the possibility of collision between
frames from different stations. Figure shows an example of frame collisions in pure ALOHA.

Fig: Frames in a pure ALOHA network

There are four stations 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.

1
Some of these frames collide because multiple frames are in contention for the shared
channel. Figure shows that only two frames survive: one frame from station 1 and one frame
from station 3.

Pure ALOHA has a method to prevent congesting the channel with retransmitted frames.
After a maximum number of retransmission attempts Kmax, a station must give up and try
later. The value of Kmax is usually chosen as 15. Figure shows the procedure for pure
ALOHA.

Fig: Procedure for pure ALOHA protocol

⮚ Slotted ALOHA
A station may send soon after another station has started or just before another station has
finished. Slotted ALOHA was invented to improve the efficiency of pure ALOHA.
In slotted ALOHA we divide the time into slots of Tfr seconds and force the station to send
only at the beginning of the time slot. Figure shows an example of frame collisions in slotted
ALOHA.

Fig: Frames in a slotted ALOHA network

Because a station is allowed to send only at the beginning of the synchronized time slot, if a
station misses this moment, it must wait until the beginning of the next time slot. This means
that the station which started at the beginning of this slot has already finished sending its
frame.

2. CSMA
To minimize the chance of collision and, therefore, increase the performance, the CSMA
method was developed. The chance of collision can be reduced if a station senses the medium
before trying to use it.
2
Carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) requires that each station first listen to the medium
(or check the state of the medium) before sending. In other words, CSMA is based on the
principle “sense before transmit”.
CSMA can reduce the possibility of collision, but it cannot eliminate it. The reason for this is
shown in Figure, a space and time model of a CSMA network. Stations are connected to a
shared channel.

Fig: Space/time model of a collision in CSMA

The possibility of collision still exists because of propagation delay; when a station sends a
frame, it still takes time for the first bit to reach every station and for every station to sense it.

⮚ Persistence Methods: Three methods have been devised to answer these questions: the
1-persistent method, the nonpersistent method, and the p-persistent method. Figure
shows the behavior of three persistence methods when a station finds a channel busy.

1-Persistent: The 1-persistent method is simple and straightforward. In this method, after the
station finds the line idle, it sends its frame immediately (with probability 1). This method
has the highest chance of collision because two or more stations may find the line idle and
send their frames immediately.

Fig: 1-Persistent

Nonpersistent: In the nonpersistent method, a station that has a frame to send senses the line.
If the line is idle, it sends immediately. If the line is not idle, it waits a random amount of
time and then senses the line again. The nonpersistent approach reduces the chance of
collision because it is unlikely that two or more stations will wait the same amount of time
and retry to send simultaneously

Fig: Nonpersistent
P-Persistent: The p-persistent method is used if the channel has time slots with slot duration
equal to or greater than the maximum propagation time. It reduces the chance of collision and
improves efficiency. In this method, after the station finds the line idle it follows these steps:
1. With probability p, the station sends its frame.
2. With probability q = 1 − p, the station waits for the beginning of the next time slot and
checks the line again.
a. If the line is idle, it goes to step 1.
3
b. If the line is busy, it acts as though a collision has occurred and uses the backoff
procedure.

Fig: p-Persistent

3. CSMA/CD
The CSMA method does not specify the procedure following a collision. Carrier sense
multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) augments the algorithm to handle the
collision.
In this method, a station monitors the medium after it sends a frame to see if the transmission
was successful. If so, the station is finished. If, however, there is a collision, the frame is sent
again.
To better understand CSMA/CD, let us look at the first bits transmitted by the two stations
involved in the collision. Although each station continues to send bits in the frame until it
detects the collision, we show what happens as the first bits collide. In Figure, stations A and
C are involved in the collision.

Fig: Collision of the first bits in CSMA/CD

Procedure: Now let us look at the flow diagram for CSMA/CD in Figure.

Fig: Flow diagram for the CSMA/CD

The sending of a short jamming signal to make sure that all other stations become aware of
the collision.
4
4. CSMA/CA
Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) was invented for wireless
networks. Collisions are avoided through the use of CSMA/CA’s three strategies: the
interframe space, the contention window, and acknowledgments, as shown in Figure.

Interframe Space (IFS). First, collisions are avoided by deferring transmission even if the
channel is found idle. When an idle channel is found, the station does not send immediately.
It waits for a period of time called the interframe space or IFS.

Contention Window. The contention window is an amount of time divided into slots. A
station that is ready to send chooses a random number of slots as its wait time. The number of
slots in the window changes according to the binary exponential backoff strategy.

Fig: Contention window

Acknowledgment. With all these precautions, there still may be a collision resulting in
destroyed data. In addition, the data may be corrupted during the transmission. The positive
acknowledgment and the time-out timer can help guarantee that the receiver has received the
frame.

Procedure:

Fig: Flow diagram of CSMA/CA

5
5. Controlled Access
In controlled access, the stations consult one another to find which station has the right to
send. A station cannot send unless it has been authorized by other stations. We discuss three
controlled-access methods.

❖ Reservation:
● In the reservation method, a station needs to make a reservation before sending data.
Time is divided into intervals.
● In each interval, a reservation frame precedes the data frames sent in that interval. If there
are N stations in the system, there are exactly N reservation minislots in the reservation
frame. Each minislot belongs to a station. When a station needs to send a data frame, it makes
a reservation in its own minislot.
● The stations that have made reservations can send their data frames after the reservation
frame. Figure shows a situation with five stations and a five-minislot reservation frame.
● In the first interval, only stations 1, 3, and 4 have made reservations. In the second
interval, only station 1 has made a reservation.

Fig: Reservation access method

❖ Polling
● Polling works with topologies in which one device is designated as a primary station and
the other devices are secondary stations.
● All data exchanges must be made through the primary device even when the ultimate
destination is a secondary device.
● The primary device controls the link; the secondary devices follow its instructions. It is
up to the primary device to determine which device is allowed to use the channel at a given
time.
● This method uses poll and select functions to prevent collisions.

Fig: Select and poll functions in polling-access method

Select: The select function is used whenever the primary device has something to send.
Remember that the primary controls the link. If the primary is neither sending nor receiving
data, it knows the link is available.

6
● The primary must alert the secondary to the upcoming transmission and wait for an
acknowledgment of the secondary’s ready status.
● Before sending data, the primary creates and transmits a select (SEL) frame, one field of
which includes the address of the intended secondary.

Poll: The poll function is used by the primary device to request transmissions from the
secondary devices.
● When the primary is ready to receive data, it must ask (poll) each device in turn if it has
anything to send.
● When the first secondary is approached, it responds either with a NAK frame if it has
nothing to send or with data (in the form of a data frame) if it does.
● If the response is negative (a NAK frame), then the primary polls the next secondary in
the same manner until it finds one with data to send.
● When the response is positive (a data frame), the primary reads the frame and returns an
acknowledgment (ACK frame), verifying its receipt.

❖ Token Passing
● In the token-passing method, the stations in a network are organized in a logical ring. For
each station, there is a predecessor and a successor.
● The predecessor is the station which is logically before the station in the ring; the
successor is the station which is after the station in the ring.
● The current station is the one that is accessing the channel now. The right to this access
has been passed from the predecessor to the current station.
● The right will be passed to the successor when the current station has no more data to
send.

But how is the right to access the channel passed from one station to another? In this method,
a special packet called a token circulates through the ring.

Token management is needed for this access method. Stations must be limited in the time
they can have possession of the token. The token must be monitored to ensure it has not been
lost or destroyed.
Another function of token management is to assign priorities to the stations and to the types
of data being transmitted. And finally, token management is needed to make low-priority
stations release the token to high-priority stations.

Logical Ring: In a token-passing network, stations do not have to be physically connected in

a ring; the ring can be a logical one. Figure shows four different physical topologies that can
create a logical ring.

Fig: Logical ring and physical topology in token-passing access method

7
6. Channelization
Channelization (or channel partition, as it is sometimes called) is a multiple-access method in
which the available bandwidth of a link is shared in time, frequency, or through code, among
different stations. We discuss three channelization protocols: FDMA, TDMA, and CDMA.

❖ FDMA
● In frequency-division multiple access (FDMA), the available bandwidth is divided into
frequency bands.
● Each station is allocated a band to send its data. In other words, each band is reserved for
a specific station, and it belongs to the station all the time.
● Each station also uses a bandpass filter to confine the transmitter frequencies.
● To prevent station interferences, the allocated bands are separated from one another by
small guard bands. Figure shows the idea of FDMA.

Fig: Frequency-division multiple access (FDMA)

❖ TDMA
In time-division multiple access (TDMA), the stations share the bandwidth of the channel in
time. Each station is allocated a time slot during which it can send data. Each station
transmits its data in its assigned time slot. Figure shows the idea behind TDMA.

Fig: Time-division multiple access (TDMA)

❖ CDMA
Code-division multiple access (CDMA) was conceived several decades ago. In CDMA, one
channel carries all transmissions simultaneously.
In CDMA, the stations use different codes to achieve multiple accesses. CDMA is based on
coding theory and uses sequence of numbers called chips.

Let us assume we have four stations, 1, 2, 3, and 4, connected to the same channel. The data
from station 1 are d1, from station 2 are d2, and so on. The code assigned to the first station is
c1, to the second is c2, and so on.
We assume that the assigned codes have two properties.
1. If we multiply each code by another, we get 0.
2. If we multiply each code by itself, we get 4 (the number of stations).
8
 Fig: Simple idea of communication with code

Chapter-2
Wired LANs
7. IEEE standards
The IEEE standard that encounter in real life. In 1985, the Computer Society of the IEEE
started a project, called Project 802, to set standards to enable intercommunication among
equipment from a variety of manufacturers.
Project 802 does not seek to replace any part of the OSI model or TCP/IP protocol suite.
Instead, it is a way of specifying functions of the physical layer and the data-link layer of
major LAN protocols.

The relationship of the 802 Standard to the TCP/IP protocol suite is shown in Figure.

Fig:IEEE standard for LANs

The IEEE has subdivided the data-link layer into two sublayers: logical link control (LLC)
and media access control (MAC). IEEE has also created several physical-layer standards for
different LAN protocols.

Logical Link Control (LLC)

In IEEE Project 802, flow control, error control, and part of the framing duties are collected
into one sublayer called the logical link control (LLC). Framing is handled in both the LLC
sublayer and the MAC sublayer.
Media Access Control (MAC)
IEEE Project 802 has created a sublayer called media access control that defines the specific
access method for each LAN. For example, it defines CSMA/CD as the media access method
for Ethernet LANs and defines the token-passing method for Token Ring and Token Bus
LANs.
9
8. Standard Ethernet (802.3): 10 Mbps
The Ethernet LAN was developed in the 1970s. Since then, it has gone through four
generations: Standard Ethernet (10 Mbps), Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps), Gigabit Ethernet
(1 Gbps), and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 Gbps), as shown in Figure.

Fig: Ethernet evolution through four generations

We refer to the original Ethernet technology with the data rate of 10 Mbps as the Standard
Ethernet.

❖ MAC Sublayer
● Frame Format: The Ethernet frame contains seven fields, as shown in Figure.

Fig: Ethernet frame

Preamble. This field contains 7 bytes (56 bits) of alternating 0s and 1s that alert the receiving
system to the coming frame and enable it to synchronize its clock if it’s out synchronization.
The pattern provides only an alert and a timing pulse.

Start frame delimiter (SFD). This field (1 byte: 10101011) signals the beginning of the
frame. The last 2 bits are (11)2 and alert the receiver that the next field is the destination
address. This field is actually a flag that defines the beginning of the frame.

Destination address (DA). This field is six bytes (48 bits) and contains the linklayer address
of the destination station or stations to receive the packet.

Source address (SA). This field is also six bytes and contains the link-layer address of the
sender of the packet.

Type. This field defines the upper-layer protocol whose packet is encapsulated in the frame.
This protocol can be IP, ARP, OSPF, and so on.

Data. This field carries data encapsulated from the upper-layer protocols. It is a minimum of
46 and a maximum of 1500 bytes.

10
CRC. The last field contains error detection information, in this case a CRC-32. The CRC is
calculated over the addresses, types, and data field. If the receiver calculates the CRC and
finds that it is not zero (corruption in transmission), it discards the frame.

● Frame Length: Ethernet has imposed restrictions on both the minimum and maximum
lengths of a frame.

Fig: minimum and maximum lengths of a frame

● Addressing: Each station on an Ethernet network has its own network interface card
(NIC). The NIC fits inside the station and provides the station with a link-layer address.
The Ethernet address is 6 bytes (48 bits), normally written in hexadecimal notation, with a
colon between the bytes.
For example, the following shows an Ethernet MAC address: 4A:30:10:21:10:1A

● Access Method: Since the network that uses the standard Ethernet protocol is a broadcast
network, we need to use an access method to control access to the sharing medium. The
standard Ethernet chose CSMA/CD with 1-persistent method.

❖ Physical layer
Implementation: The Standard Ethernet defined several implementations.

Table shows a summary of Standard Ethernet implementations.

10Base5: Thick Ethernet

The first implementation is called 10Base5, thick Ethernet, or Thicknet. 10Base5 was the
first Ethernet specification to use a bus topology with an external transceiver connected via a
tap to a thick coaxial cable. The maximum length of the coaxial cable must not exceed 500
m, otherwise, there is excessive degradation of the signal.

11
9. Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps): 802.3u
Ethernet made a big jump by increasing the transmission rate to 100 Mbps, and the new
generation was called the Fast Ethernet.
The goals of Fast Ethernet can be summarized as follows:
1. Upgrade the data rate to 100 Mbps.
2. Make it compatible with Standard Ethernet.
3. Keep the same 48-bit address.
4. Keep the same frame format.
5. Keep the same minimum and maximum frame lengths.

❖ MAC Sublayer
A decision was made to drop the bus topologies and keep only the star topology. For the star
topology, there are two choices: half duplex and full duplex.
The access method is the same (CSMAlCD) for the half-duplex approach; for full duplex Fast
Ethernet, there is no need for CSMAlCD.

❖ Physical layer
Implementation: Fast Ethernet implementation at the physical layer can be categorized as
either two-wire or fourwire.
The two-wire implementation can be either category 5 UTP (lOOBase-TX) or fiber-optic
cable (lOOBase-FX). The four-wire implementation is designed only for category 3 UTP
(l00Base-T4).

Table shows a summary of Fast Ethernet implementations.

10. Gigabit Ethernet(1 Gbps): 802.3z

The need for an even higher data rate resulted in the design of the Gigabit Ethernet Protocol
(1000 Mbps). The IEEE committee calls it the Standard 802.3z. The goals of the Gigabit
Ethernet were to upgrade the data rate to 1 Gbps.
The goals of the Gigabit Ethernet design can be summarized as follows:
1. Upgrade the data rate to 1 Gbps.
2. Make it compatible with Standard or Fast Ethernet.
3. Use the same 48-bit address.
4. Use the same frame format.
5. Keep the same minimum and maximum frame lengths.

❖ MAC Sublayer
Gigabit Ethernet has two distinctive approaches for medium access: half-duplex and
fullduplex. Almost all implementations of Gigabit Ethernet follow the full-duplex approach,
12
so we mostly ignore the half-duplex mode. The access method is the same (CSMAlCD) for
the half-duplex approach; for full duplex there is no need for CSMAlCD.

❖ Physical Layer
Gigabit Ethernet uses star topology.
Implementation: Gigabit Ethernet can be categorized as either a two-wire or a four-wire
implementation. The two-wire implementations use fiber-optic cable (1000Base-SX, short-
wave, or 1000Base-LX, long-wave), or STP (1000Base-CX). The four-wire version uses
category 5 twisted-pair cable (1000Base-T).

11. 10 Gigabit Ethernet(10 Gbps): 802.3ae

1. Upgrade the data rate to 10 Gbps.
2. Make it compatible with Standard or Fast Ethernet.
3. Use the same 48-bit address.
4. Use the same frame format.
5. Keep the same minimum and maximum frame lengths.

❖ MAC Sublayer
Ten-Gigabit Ethernet operates only in full-duplex mode, which means there is no need for contention;
CSMA/CD is not used in 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
❖ Physical layer
Implementation
Four implementations are the most common: 10GBase-SR, 10GBase-LR, 10GBase-EW, and 10GBase-X4.
Table shows a summary of the 10 Gigabit Ethernet implementations.

Wireless LANs
Wireless communication is one of the fastest-growing technologies. The demand for
connecting devices without the use of cables is increasing everywhere. Wireless LANs can be
found on college campuses, in office buildings, and in many public areas.
Two types of wireless LANs. The first is the wireless LAN defined by the IEEE 802.11
project (sometimes called wireless Ethernet); the second is a personal wireless LAN,
Bluetooth, that is sometimes called personal area network or PAN.

11. IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi)

13
IEEE has defined the specifications for a wireless LAN, called IEEE 802.11, which covers
the physical and data-link layers. It is sometimes called wireless Ethernet.
In some countries, including the United States, the public uses the term Wi-Fi (short for
wireless fidelity) as a synonym for wireless LAN.

❖ Architecture
The standard defines two kinds of services: the basic service set (BSS) and the extended
service set (ESS).

Basic Service Set

IEEE 802.11 defines the basic service set (BSS) as the building blocks of a wireless LAN. A
basic service set is made of stationary or mobile wireless stations and an optional central base
station, known as the access point (AP). Figure shows two sets in this standard.

Fig: Basic service sets (BSSs)

The BSS without an AP is called an ad hoc architecture. A BSS with an AP is sometimes

referred to as an infrastructure BSS.

Extended Service Set

An extended service set (ESS) is made up of two or more BSSs with APs. In this case, the
BSSs are connected through a distribution system, which is a wired or a wireless network.
The distribution system connects the APs in the BSSs.

Fig: Extended service set (ESS)

❖ MAC Sublayer:
Frame Format
The MAC layer frame consists of nine fields, as shown in Figure.

Fig: Frame format

Frame control (FC). The FC field is 2 bytes long and defines the type of frame and some
control information.
14
D. This field defines the duration of the transmission that is used to set the value of NAV. In
one control frame, it defines the ID of the frame.
Addresses. There are four address fields, each 6 bytes long. The meaning of each address
field depends on the value of the To DS and From DS subfields.
Sequence control. This field defines the sequence number, which is the same in all
fragments.
Frame body. This field, which can be between 0 and 2312 bytes, contains information based
on the type and the subtype defined in the FC field.
FCS. The FCS field is 4 bytes long and contains a CRC-32 error-detection sequence.

❖ Physical Layer:

● IEEE 802.11 FHSS: IEEE 802.11 FHSS uses the frequency-hopping spread spectrum
(FHSS) method. FHSS uses the 2.400–4.835 GHz ISM band. The band is divided into 79 sub
bands of 1 MHz. The modulation technique in this specification FSK (frequency shift
keying), which results in a data rate of 1 or 2 Mbps.
● IEEE 802.11 DSSS: IEEE 802.11 DSSS uses the direct-sequence spread spectrum
(DSSS) method. DSSS uses the 2.400–4.835 GHz ISM band. The modulation technique in
this specification is PSK (phase shift keying), which results in a data rate of 1 or 2 Mbps.
● IEEE 802.11 Infrared: IEEE 802.11 infrared uses infrared light in the range of 800 to
950 nm. The modulation technique is called pulse position modulation (PPM).

● IEEE 802.11a OFDM: IEEE 802.11a OFDM describes the orthogonal frequency-
division multiplexing (OFDM) method for signal generation in a 5.725–5.850 GHz ISM
band. OFDM uses PSK and QAM for modulation. The common data rates are 6 Mbps (PSK)
and 54 Mbps (QAM).

● IEEE 802.11b DSSS: IEEE 802.11b DSSS describes the high-rate direct-sequence
spread spectrum (HRDSSS) method for signal generation in the 2.400–4.835 GHz ISM
band. HR-DSSS is similar to DSSS except for the encoding method, which is called
complementary code keying (CCK).

● IEEE 802.11g: This new specification defines forward error correction and OFDM using
the 2.400– 4.835 GHz ISM band. The modulation technique achieves a 22- or 54-Mbps data
rate.

12. Bluetooth (IEEE 802.16 standard)

Bluetooth is a wireless LAN technology designed to connect devices of different functions
such as telephones, notebooks, computers (desktop and laptop), cameras, printers, and even
coffee makers when they are at a short distance from each other.

❖ Architecture
Bluetooth defines two types of networks: piconet and scatternet.
● Piconets

15
A Bluetooth network is called a piconet, or a small net. A piconet can have up to eight
stations, one of which is called the primary; the rest are called secondaries. All the secondary
stations synchronize their clocks and hopping sequence with the primary.

Fig: Piconets

● Scatternet
Piconets can be combined to form what is called a scatternet. A secondary station in one
piconet can be the primary in another piconet. This station can receive messages from the
primary in the first piconet (as a secondary) and, acting as a primary, deliver them to
secondaries in the second piconet. A station can be a member of two piconets.

Fig: Scatternet
❖ Bluetooth Layers
Bluetooth uses several layers that do not exactly match those of the Internet model Figure
shows these layers.

Fig: Bluetooth layers

i. Radio Layer: The radio layer is roughly equivalent to the physical layer of the Internet
model. Bluetooth devices are low-power and have a range of 10 m.
● Band: Bluetooth uses a 2.4-GHz ISM band divided into 79 channels of 1 MHz each.
● FHSS: Bluetooth uses the frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) method in the
physical layer to avoid interference from other devices or other networks.
● Modulation: To transform bits to a signal, Bluetooth uses a sophisticated version of FSK,
called GFSK (FSK with Gaussian bandwidth filtering).

ii. Baseband Layer: The baseband layer is roughly equivalent to the MAC sublayer in
LANs. The access method is TDMA. The primary and secondary stations communicate with
each other using time slots.
● TDMA: Bluetooth uses a form of TDMA that is called TDD-TDMA (time-division
duplex TDMA). TDD-TDMA is a kind of half-duplex communication in which the sender
and receiver send and receive data, but not at the same time (half-duplex).
16
● Single-Secondary Communication If the piconet has only one secondary, the TDMA
operation is very simple. The time is divided into slots of 625 μs. The primary uses even-
numbered slots (0, 2, 4, . . ); the secondary uses odd-numbered slots (1, 3, 5, . . .). TDD-
TDMA allows the primary and the secondary to communicate in half-duplex mode.

● Multiple-Secondary Communication The process is a little more involved if there is

more than one secondary in the piconet. Again, the primary uses the even-numbered Slots.
All secondaries listen on even-numbered slots, but only one secondary sends in any odd
numbered slot.

iii. L2CAP: The Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol, or L2CAP (L2 here
means LL), is roughly equivalent to the LLC sublayer in LANs.
The L2CAP has specific duties: multiplexing, segmentation and reassembly, quality of
service (QoS), and group management.
● Multiplexing: The L2CAP can do multiplexing. At the sender site, it accepts data from
one of the upper-layer protocols, frames them, and delivers them to the baseband layer. At the
receiver site, it accepts a frame from the baseband layer, extracts the data, and delivers them
to the appropriate protocol layer.
● Segmentation and Reassembly: The L2CAP divides these large packets into segments
and adds extra information to define the location of the segments in the original packet. The
L2CAP segments the packets at the source and reassembles them at the destination.
● Group Management: Another functionality of L2CAP is to allow devices to create a type
of logical addressing between themselves. This is similar to multicasting. For example, two
or three secondary devices can be part of a multicast group to receive data from the primary.

17