SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
Laboratory Report Cover Sheet
18ECC303J – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
EVEN SEM 2022-23
Name :
Register No :
Section :
Venue :
Experiment title : Simulation of CSMA/CA protocol and to study its
performance
PARTICULARS MAX MARKS MARKS OBTAINED
Pre lab & Post lab 10
Lab performance 15
Record 05
Viva 10
Total 40
Report Verification
Staff Name:
Signature with date:
4.Simulation of CSMA/CA protocol and to study its performance
4.1 Introduction
The purpose of this experiment is to introduce you the concepts of virtual channel
sensing using RTS/CTS, physical medium reservation and RTS-CTS-DATA-ACK cycle. In
this lab you will be able to implement the CSMA/CA protocol for packet communication
between a number of nodes connected to a common bus.
4.2 Hardware Requirement
• 3PCs with NIU card
• Network Emulation Unit
• Jumper Cables
4.3 Background
Carrier Sense Multiple Access With Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA), in computer
networking, is a wireless network multiple access method in which:
• a carrier sensing scheme is used.
• a node wishing to transmit data has to first listen to the channel for a predetermined
amount of time to determine whether or not another node is transmitting on the channel
within the wireless range. If the channel is sensed "idle," then the node is permitted to
begin the transmission process. If the channel is sensed as "busy," the node defers its
transmission for a random period of time. Once the transmission process begins, it is
still possible for the actual transmission of application data to not occur.
CSMA/CA is a modification of pure Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA). Collision
avoidance is used to improve CSMA performance by not allowing wireless transmission of a
node if another node is transmitting, thus reducing the probability of collision due to the use of
a random time. Optionally, but almost always implemented, an IEEE 802.11 RTS/CTS
exchange can be required to better handle situations such as the hidden node problem in
wireless networking.
CSMA/CA is a layer 2 access method, not a protocol of the OSI model. A node wishing to send
data initiates the process by sending a Request to Send frame (RTS). The destination node
replies with a Clear to send frame (CTS). Any other node receiving the RTS or CTS frame
should refrain from sending data for a given time (solving the hidden node problem). The
amount of time the node should wait before trying to get access to the medium is included in
both the RTS and the CTS frame. This protocol was designed under the assumption that all
nodes have the same transmission range.
RTS/CTS is an additional method to implement virtual carrier sensing in Carrier sense
multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA). By default, 802.11 relies on physical
carrier sensing only which is known to suffer from the hidden terminal problem.
RTS/CTS packet size threshold is 0-2347 octets. Typically, sending RTS/CTS frames does not
occur unless the packet size exceeds this threshold. If the packet size the node wants to transmit
is larger than the threshold, the RTS/CTS handshake gets triggered. Otherwise, the data frame
gets sent immediately. RTS/CTS packets carry the expected duration of the data transmission,
which will have some implications.
4.4 Pre lab questions
1. What is the difference between CSMA/CD and CSMA/CA?
2. What are hidden terminal problem and exposed terminal problem?
3. What is DCF?
4. What is the use of RTS/CTS handshake protocol?
5. What is random back off algorithm?
4.5 Procedure
Steps to configure Receiver:
1. Click on the CSMA/CA icon from the desktop on one PC.
2. Click the Configuration button.
Model Tabulation:
IPD (ms) G Count1 G count2 Ack Ack Practical G X-Practical
count1 count2 Throughput
2000 49 50 43 39 0.099 0.082
800 120 117 67 76 0.237 0.143
400 255 258 82 91 0.513 0.173
200 470 473 99 83 0.948 0.182
100 925 925 98 91 1.85 0.189
40 2046 2046 160 138 4.092 0.298
20 3467 3468 176 43 6.935 0.319
10 5231 5224 184 151 10.455 0.335
Tabulation
IPD (ms) G Count1 G count2 Ack Ack Practical G X-Practical
count1 count2 Throughput
4.6 Post lab questions
1. What is NAV?
2. What do you mean by exponential back off algorithm?
3. Fragment a 1000-byte packet into five 200 bytes packet and compare the throughput obtained
with single 1000-byte packet transmission
4. In what situations can collision occur in WLAN network? How to solve the collisions or
minimize the probability of collisions?
5. What is the choice of contention window?
RESULT
Thus, CSMA/CA protocol is simulated and its performance is studied
