BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 1

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 2

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 3

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 4

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 5

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 6

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 7

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 8

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 9

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 10

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 11

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 12

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 13

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 14

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 15

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 16

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 17

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 18

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 19

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 20

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 21

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 22

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 23

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 BEC702 - Computer Networks & Protocols

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Department of ECE, ATMECE Page 24

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Wired LANs: Ethernet

ETHERNET PROTOCOL

A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that is designed for a limited geographic
area such as a building or a campus. Although a LAN can be used as an isolated network to
connect computers in an organization for the sole purpose of sharing resources, most LANs
today are also linked to a wide area network (WAN) or the Internet. Almost every LAN
except Ethernet has disappeared from the marketplace because Ethernet was able to update
itself to meet the needs of the time

IEEE Project 802

.IN
 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
C
manufacturers.
 Project 802 does not seek to replace any part of the OSI model or TCP/IP protocol suite.
N
Instead, it is a way of specifying functions of the physical layer and the data-link layer of
SY

major LAN protocols.

 The relationship of the 802 Standard to the TCP/IP protocol suite is shown in Figure 13.1.
The IEEE has subdivided the data-link layer into two sub layers:
U

 Logical link control (LLC)

 Media access control (MAC)
VT

IEEE has also created several physical-layer standards for different LAN protocols.

Figure 1: IEEE standard for LANs

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 1

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Logical Link Control (LLC)

 In IEEE Project 802, flow control, error control, and part of the framing duties are
collected into one sub layer called the logical link control (LLC). Framing is handled in
both the LLC sublayer and the MAC sublayer.
 The LLC provides a single link-layer control protocol for all IEEE LANs. This means
LLC protocol can provide interconnectivity between different LANs because it makes the
MAC sub layer transparent.

Media Access Control (MAC)

.IN
 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
C
and Token Bus LANs.
N
 Part of the framing function is also handled by the MAC layer.
SY

Ethernet Evolution
The Ethernet LAN was developed in the 1970s by Robert Metcalfe and David Boggs.
U

The four generations of Ethernet are :

1. Standard Ethernet (10 Mbps)
VT

2. Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps)

3. Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbps) and
4. 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 Gbps)

Figure 2: Ethernet evolution through four generations

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 2

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

STANDARD ETHERNET
Characteristics
1. Connectionless and Unreliable Service
 Ethernet provides a connectionless service, which means each frame sent is
independent of the previous or next frame. Ethernet has no connection establishment
or connection termination phases.
 The sender sends a frame whenever it has, the receiver may or may not be ready for it.
The sender may overwhelm the receiver with frames, which may result in dropping
frames. If a frame drops, the sender will not know about it. Since IP, which is using
the service of Ethernet, is also connectionless, it will not know about it either. If the

.IN
transport layer is also a connectionless protocol, such as UDP, the frame is lost and
salvation may only come from the application layer. However, if the transport layer is
TCP, the sender TCP does not receive acknowledgment for its segment and sends it
again.
C
N
 Ethernet is also unreliable like IP and UDP. If a frame is corrupted during
transmission and the receiver finds out about the corruption, which has a high level of
SY

probability of happening because of the CRC-32, the receiver drops the frame silently.
It is the duty of high-level protocols to find out about it.
U

2. Frame Format
VT

The Ethernet frame contains seven fields, as shown in Figure 3

Figure 3: Ethernet frame

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 3

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
 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 of
synchronization. The pattern provides only an alert and a timing pulse. The 56-bit pattern
allows the stations to miss some bits at the beginning of the frame. The preamble is
actually added at the physical layer and is not part of the frame.

 Start frame delimiter (SFD). This field (1 byte: 10101011) signals the beginning of the
frame. The SFD warns the station or stations that this is the last chance for
synchronization. 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, an
Ethernet frame is a variable-length frame. It needs a flag to define the beginning of the

.IN
frame. The SFD field is also added at the physical layer.

 Destination address (DA). This field is six bytes (48 bits) and contains the link layer
C
address of the destination station or stations to receive the packet. When the receiver sees
N
its own link-layer address, or a multicast address for a group that the receiver is a member
of, or a broadcast address, it decapsulates the data from the frame and passes the data to
SY

the upper layer protocol defined by the value of the type field.

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

the sender of the packet.

VT

 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. In other words, it serves the same
purpose as the protocol field in a datagram and the port number in a segment or user
datagram. It is used for multiplexing and demultiplexing.

 Data. This field carries data encapsulated from the upper-layer protocols. It is a minimum
of 46 and a maximum of 1500 bytes. If the data coming from the upper layer is more than
1500 bytes, it should be fragmented and encapsulated in more than one frame. If it is less
than 46 bytes, it needs to be padded with extra 0s. A padded data frame is delivered to the
upper-layer protocol as it is (without removing the padding), which means that it is the
responsibility of the upper layer to remove or, in the case of the sender, to add the

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 4

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
padding. The upper-layer protocol needs to know the length of its data. For example, a
datagram has a field that defines the length of the data.
 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.

3. Frame Length
 Ethernet has imposed restrictions on both the minimum and maximum lengths of a
frame. The minimum length restriction is required for the correct operation of
CSMA/CD.

.IN
 An Ethernet frame needs to have a minimum length of 512 bits or 64 bytes. Part of
this length is the header and the trailer. If we count 18 bytes of header and trailer (6
bytes of source address, 6 bytes of destination address, 2 bytes of length or type, and 4
C
bytes of CRC), then the minimum length of data from the upper layer is 64 − 18 = 46
N
bytes. If the upper-layer packet is less than 46 bytes, padding is added to make up the
difference.
SY

 The standard defines the maximum length of a frame (without preamble and SFD
field) as 1518 bytes. If we subtract the 18 bytes of header and trailer, the maximum
U

length of the payload is 1500 bytes.

 The maximum length restriction has two historical reasons. First, memory was very
VT

expensive when Ethernet was designed; a maximum length restriction helped to

reduce the size of the buffer. Second, the maximum length restriction prevents one
station from monopolizing the shared medium, blocking other stations that have data
to send.

NOTE:
Minimum frame length: 64 bytes Minimum data length: 46 bytes
Maximum frame length: 1518 bytes Maximum data length: 1500 bytes

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 5

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

Addressing
Each station on an Ethernet network (such as a PC, workstation, or printer) 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:
[Link]

Transmission of Address Bits

The way the addresses are sent out online is different from the way they are written in
hexadecimal notation. The transmission is left to right, byte by byte; however, for each byte,

.IN
the least significant bit is sent first and the most significant bit is sent last. This means that the
bit that defines an address as unicast or multicast arrives first at the receiver. This helps the
receiver to immediately known if the packet is unicast or multicast.
C
N
Example
SY

Show how the address [Link] is sent out online.

Solution: The address is sent left to right, byte by byte; for each byte, it is sent right to left, bit
by bit, as shown below
U
VT

Unicast, Multicast, and Broadcast Addresses

A source address is always a unicast address, the frame comes from only one station. The
destination address, however, can be unicast, multicast, or broadcast. Figure 4 shows how to

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 6

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
distinguish a unicast address from a multicast address. If the least significant bit of the first
byte in a destination address is 0, the address is unicast; otherwise, it is multicast. With the
way the bits are transmitted, the unicast/multicast bit is the first bit which is transmitted or
received. The broadcast address is a special case of the multicast address: the recipients are
all the stations on the LAN. A broadcast destination address is forty-eight 1s.

Example
Define the type of the following destination addresses
a. [Link]
b. [Link]
c. [Link]

.IN
Solution: To find the type of the address, we need to look at the second hexadecimal digit
from the left. If it is even, the address is unicast. If it is odd, the address is multicast. If all
digits are Fs, the address is broadcast. Therefore, we have the following:
C
a. This is a unicast address because A in binary is 1010 (even).
N
b. This is a multicast address because 7 in binary is 0111 (odd).
c. This is a broadcast address because all digits are Fs in hexadecimal.
SY

Access Method
U

Since the network that uses the standard Ethernet protocol is a broadcast network, The
standard Ethernet chose CSMA/CD with 1-persistent method, Let us use a scenario to see
VT

how this method works for the Ethernet protocol.

Figure 5: Implementation of standard Ethernet

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 7

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

 Assume station A in Figure.5 has a frame to send to station D. Station A first should
check whether any other station is sending (carrier sense). Station A measures the level of
energy on the medium (for a short period of time, normally less than 100µs). If there is no
signal energy on the medium, it means that no station is sending (or the signal has not
reached station A). Station A interprets this situation as idle medium. It starts sending its
frame. On the other hand, if the signal energy level is not zero, it means that the medium
is being used by another station. Station A continuously monitors the medium until it
becomes idle for 100µs. It then starts sending the frame. However, station A needs to
keep a copy of the frame in its buffer until it is sure that there is no collision.
 The medium sensing does not stop after station A has started sending the frame. Station A

.IN
needs to send and receive continuously. Two cases may occur:
(a) Station A has sent 512 bits and no collision is sensed (the energy level did not go
above the regular energy level), the station then is sure that the frame will go through
C
and stops sensing the medium. Where does the number 512 bits come from? If we
N
consider the transmission rate of the Ethernet as 10 Mbps, this means that it takes the
station 512/(10 Mbps) = 51.2 μs to send out 512 bits. With the speed of propagation in
SY

a cable (2 × 108 meters), the first bit could have gone 10,240 meters (one way) or
only 5120 meters (round trip), have collided with a bit from the last station on the
U

cable, and have gone back. In other words, if a collision were to occur, it should occur
by the time the sender has sent out 512 bits (worst case) and the first bit has made a
VT

round trip of 5120 meters, if the collision happens in the middle of the cable, not at
the end, station A hears the collision earlier and aborts the transmission. The above
assumption is that the length of the cable is 5120 meters. The designer of the standard
Ethernet actually put a restriction of 2500 meters because we need to consider the
delays encountered throughout the journey. It means that they considered the worst
case. The whole idea is that if station A does not sense the collision before sending
512 bits, there must have been no collision, because during this time, the first bit has
reached the end of the line and all other stations know that a station is sending and
refrain from sending. In other words, the problem occurs when another station (for
example, the last station) starts sending before the first bit of station A has reached it.
The other station mistakenly thinks that the line is free because the first bit has not yet
reached it. The restriction of 512 bits actually helps the sending station: The sending

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 8

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
station is certain that no collision will occur if it is not heard during the first 512 bits,
so it can discard the copy of the frame in its buffer.
(b) Station A has sensed a collision before sending 512 bits. This means that one of the
previous bits has collided with a bit sent by another station. In this case both stations
should refrain from sending and keep the frame in their buffer for resending when the
line becomes available. However, to inform other stations that there is a collision in
the network, the station sends a 48-bit jam signal. The jam signal is to create enough
signal (even if the collision happens after a few bits) to alert other stations about the
collision. After sending the jam signal, the stations need to increment the value of K
(number of attempts). If after increment K = 15, the experience has shown that the
network is too busy, the station needs to abort its effort and try again. If K < 15, the

.IN
station can wait a backoff time (TB) and restart the process. The station creates a
random number between 0 and 2K − 1, which means each time the collision occurs,
the range of the random number increases exponentially. After the first collision (K =
C
1) the random number is in the range (0, 1). After the second collision (K = 2) it is in
N
the range (0, 1, 2, 3). After the third collision (K = 3) it is in the range (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7). So after each collision, the probability increases that the backoff time becomes
SY

longer. This is due to the fact that if the collision happens even after the third or fourth
attempt, it means that the network is really busy; a longer backoff time is needed.
U

Efficiency of Standard Ethernet

VT

The efficiency of the Ethernet is defined as the ratio of the time used by a station to
send data to the time the medium is occupied by this station. The practical efficiency of
standard Ethernet has been measured to be,

Efficiency =

Where, = the number of frames that can fit on the medium.

=
The transmission delay is the time it takes a frame of average size to be sent out and the
propagation delay is the time it takes to reach the end of the medium. As the value of

parameter decreases, the efficiency increases. This means that if the length of the media is

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 9

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

shorter or the frame size longer, the efficiency increases. In the ideal case, = 0 and the
efficiency is 1.

Example 13.3
In the Standard Ethernet with the transmission rate of 10 Mbps, we assume that the length of
the medium is 2500 m and the size of the frame is 512 bits. The propagation speed of a signal
in a cable is normally 2 × 108 m/s.

The example shows that a = 0.24, which means only 0.24 of a frame occupies the whole

.IN
medium in this case. The efficiency is 39 percent, which is considered moderate; it means
that only 61 percent of the time the medium is occupied but not used by a station.

Implementation
C
N
The Standard Ethernet defined several implementations, but only four of them became
popular during the 1980s. Table below shows a summary of Standard Ethernet
SY

implementations.
U
VT

In the nomenclature 10BaseX, the number defines the data rate (10 Mbps), the term Base
means baseband (digital) signal, and X approximately defines either the maximum size of the
cable in 100 meters (for example 5 for 500 or 2 for 185 meters) or the type of cable, T for
unshielded twisted pair cable (UTP) and F for fiber-optic. The standard Ethernet uses a
baseband signal, which means that the bits are changed to a digital signal and directly sent on
the line.

Encoding and Decoding

All standard implementations use digital signaling (baseband) at 10 Mbps. At the sender, data
are converted to a digital signal using the Manchester scheme; at the receiver, the received
signal is interpreted as Manchester and decoded into data. Manchester encoding is

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 10

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
self-synchronous, providing a transition at each bit interval. Figure 6 shows the encoding
scheme for Standard Ethernet.

Figure 6: Encoding in a Standard Ethernet implementation

10Base5: Thick Ethernet
The first implementation is called 10Base5, thick Ethernet, or Thicknet. The nickname

.IN
derives from the size of the cable, which is roughly the size of a garden hose and too stiff to
bend with your hands. 10Base5 was the first Ethernet specification to use a bus topology with
C
an external transceiver (transmitter/receiver) connected via a tap to a thick coaxial cable.
Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of a 10Base5 implementation.
N
SY
U
VT

Figure 7 : 10Base5 implementation

The transceiver is responsible for transmitting, receiving, and detecting collisions. The
transceiver is connected to the station via a transceiver cable that provides separate paths for
sending and receiving. This means that collision can only happen in the coaxial cable.
The maximum length of the coaxial cable must not exceed 500 m, otherwise, there is
excessive degradation of the signal. If a length of more than 500 m is needed, up to five
segments, each a maximum of 500 meters, can be connected using repeaters.

10Base2: Thin Ethernet

The second implementation is called 10Base2, thin Ethernet, or Cheapernet. 10Base2 also
uses a bus topology, but the cable is much thinner and more flexible. The cable can be bent to
pass very close to the stations. In this case, the transceiver is normally part of the network

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 11

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
interface card (NIC), which is installed inside the station. Figure 8 shows the schematic
diagram of a 10Base2 implementation.

.IN
Figure 8: 10Base2 implementation
The collision here occurs in the thin coaxial cable. This implementation is more cost effective
C
than 10Base5 because thin coaxial cable is less expensive than thick coaxial and the tee
connections are much cheaper than taps. Installation is simpler because the thin coaxial cable
N
is very flexible. However, the length of each segment cannot exceed 185 m (close to 200 m)
SY

due to the high level of attenuation in thin coaxial cable.

10Base-T: Twisted-Pair Ethernet

U

The third implementation is called 10Base-T or twisted-pair Ethernet. 10Base-T uses a

physical star topology. The stations are connected to a hub via two pairs of twisted cable, as
VT

shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9: 10Base-T implementation

Two pairs of twisted cable create two paths (one for sending and one for receiving) between
the station and the hub. Any collision here happens in the hub. Compared to 10Base5 or

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 12

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
10Base2, we can see that the hub actually replaces the coaxial cable as far as a collision is
concerned. The maximum length of the twisted cable here is defined as 100 m, to minimize
the effect of attenuation in the twisted cable.

10Base-F: Fiber Ethernet

Although there are several types of optical fiber 10-Mbps Ethernet, the most common is
called 10Base-F. 10Base-F uses a star topology to connect stations to a hub. The stations are
connected to the hub using two fiber-optic cables, as shown in Figure 10.

.IN
C
N
Figure 10: 10Base-F implementation
SY

FAST ETHERNET (100 MBPS)

In the 1990s, some LAN technologies with transmission rates higher than 10 Mbps, such as
U

FDDI and Fiber Channel, appeared on the market. If the Standard Ethernet wanted to survive,
it had to compete with these technologies. Ethernet made a big jump by increasing the
VT

transmission rate to 100 Mbps, and the new generation was called the Fast Ethernet. The
designers of the Fast Ethernet needed to make it compatible with the Standard Ethernet. The
MAC sublayer was left unchanged, which meant the frame format and the maximum and
minimum size could also remain unchanged. By increasing the transmission rate, features of
the Standard Ethernet that depend on the transmission rate, access method, and
implementation had to be reconsidered.
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.

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 13

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
Access Method
The proper operation of the CSMA/CD depends on the transmission rate, the minimum size
of the frame, and the maximum network length. If we want to keep the minimum size of the
frame, the maximum length of the network should be changed. In other words, if the
minimum frame size is still 512 bits, and it is transmitted 10 times faster, the collision needs
to be detected 10 times sooner, which means the maximum length of the network should be
10 times shorter (the propagation speed does not change). So the Fast Ethernet came with two
solutions (it can work with either choice):
1. The first solution was to totally drop the bus topology and use a passive hub and star
topology but make the maximum size of the network 250 meters instead of 2500
meters as in the Standard Ethernet. This approach is kept for compatibility with the

.IN
Standard Ethernet.
2. The second solution is to use a link-layer switch with a buffer to store frames and a
full-duplex connection to each host to make the transmission medium private for each
C
host. In this case, there is no need for CSMA/CD because the hosts are not competing
N
with each other. The link-layer switch receives a frame from a source host and stores
it in the buffer (queue) waiting for processing. It then checks the destination address
SY

and sends the frame out of the corresponding interface. Since the connection to the
switch is full-duplex, the destination address can even send a frame to another station
U

at the same time that it is receiving a frame. In other words, the shared medium is
changed to many point-to- point media, and there is no need for contention.
VT

Auto negotiation
A new feature added to Fast Ethernet is called auto negotiation. It allows a station or a
hub a range of capabilities. Auto negotiation allows two devices to negotiate the mode or
data rate of operation. It was designed particularly to allow incompatible devices to
connect to one another.
It was designed particularly for these purposes:
 To allow incompatible devices to connect to one another. For example, a device with
a maximum capacity of 10 Mbps can communicate with a device with a 100 Mbps
capacity (but which can work at a lower rate).
 To allow one device to have multiple capabilities.
 To allow a station to check a hub’s capabilities.

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 14

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
Physical Layer
Topology
Fast Ethernet is designed to connect two or more stations. If there are only two stations, they
can be connected point-to-point. Three or more stations need to be connected in a star
topology with a hub or a switch at the center.
Encoding
Manchester encoding needs a 200-Mbaud bandwidth for a data rate of 100 Mbps, which
makes it unsuitable for a medium such as twisted-pair cable. For this reason, the Fast
Ethernet designers sought some alternative encoding/decoding scheme. However, it was
found that one scheme would not perform equally well for all three implementations.
Therefore, three different encoding schemes were chosen.

.IN
C
N
SY
U
VT

Figure 11: Encoding for fast Ethernet implementations

1. 100Base-TX uses two pairs of twisted-pair cable (either category 5 UTP or STP). For
this implementation, the MLT-3 scheme was selected since it has good bandwidth
performance. However, since MLT-3 is not a self-synchronous line coding scheme,
4B/5B block coding is used to provide bit synchronization by preventing the

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 15

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
occurrence of a long sequence of 0s and 1s. This creates a data rate of 125 Mbps,
which is fed into MLT-3 for encoding.
2. 100Base-FX uses two pairs of fiber-optic cables. Optical fiber can easily handle high
bandwidth requirements by using simple encoding schemes. The designers of
100Base-FX selected the NRZ-I encoding scheme for this implementation. However,
NRZ-I has a bit synchronization problem for long sequences of 0s (or 1s, based on the
encoding). To overcome this problem, the designers used 4B/5B block encoding, as
we described for 100Base-TX. The block encoding increases the bit rate from 100 to
125 Mbps, which can easily be handled by fiber-optic cable.
A 100Base-TX network can provide a data rate of 100 Mbps, but it requires the use of
category 5 UTP or STP cable. This is not cost-efficient for buildings that have already

.IN
been wired for voice-grade twisted-pair (category 3).
3. 100Base-T4, was designed to use category 3 or higher UTP. The implementation uses
four pairs of UTP for transmitting 100 Mbps. Encoding/decoding in 100Base-T4 is
C
more complicated. As this implementation uses category 3 UTP, each twisted-pair
N
cannot easily handle more than 25 Mbaud. In this design, one pair switches between
sending and receiving. Three pairs of UTP category 3, however, can handle only 75
SY

Mbaud (25 Mbaud) each. We need to use an encoding scheme that converts 100 Mbps
to a 75 Mbaud signal. 8B/6T satisfies this requirement. In 8B/6T, eight data elements
U

are encoded as six signal elements. This means that 100 Mbps uses only (6/8) × 100
Mbps, or 75 Mbaud.
VT

GIGABIT ETHERNET
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, but keep the address length, the frame
format, and the maximum and minimum frame length the same. The goals of the Gigabit
Ethernet design can be summarized as follows:

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 16

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
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.
6. Support autonegotiation as defined in Fast Ethernet.

MAC Sublayer
A main consideration in the evolution of Ethernet was to keep the MAC sublayer untouched.
However, to achieve a data rate of 1 Gbps, this was no longer possible. Gigabit Ethernet has
two distinctive approaches for medium access: half-duplex and fullduplex. Almost all

.IN
implementations of Gigabit Ethernet follow the full-duplex approach, so we mostly ignore
the half-duplex mode.
Full-Duplex Mode
C
In full-duplex mode, there is a central switch connected to all computers or other switches. In
N
this mode, for each input port, each switch has buffers in which data are stored until they are
SY

transmitted. Since the switch uses the destination address of the frame and sends a frame out
of the port connected to that particular destination, there is no collision. This means that
CSMA/CD is not used. Lack of collision implies that the maximum length of the cable is
U

determined by the signal attenuation in the cable, not by the collision detection process.
VT

NOTE: In the full-duplex mode of Gigabit Ethernet, there is no collision; the maximum
length of the cable is determined by the signal attenuation in the cable.

Half-Duplex Mode
The half-duplex approach uses CSMA/CD. the maximum length of the network in this
approach is totally dependent on the minimum frame size.
Three methods have been defined:
 Traditional
 Carrier extension, and
 Frame bursting.

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 17

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
Traditional
In the traditional approach, we keep the minimum length of the frame as in traditional
Ethernet (512 bits). However, because the length of a bit is 1/100 shorter in Gigabit Ethernet
than in 10-Mbps Ethernet, the slot time for Gigabit Ethernet is 512 bits × 1/1000 μs, which is
equal to 0.512 μs. The reduced slot time means that collision is detected 100 times earlier.
This means that the maximum length of the network is 25 m. This length may be suitable if
all the stations are in one room, but it may not even be long enough to connect the computers
in one single office.
Carrier Extension
To allow for a longer network, we increase the minimum frame length. The carrier extension
approach defines the minimum length of a frame as 512 bytes (4096 bits). This means that

.IN
the minimum length is 8 times longer. This method forces a station to add extension bits
(padding) to any frame that is less than 4096 bits. In this way, the maximum length of the
network can be increased 8 times to a length of 200 m. This allows a length of 100m from the
C
hub to the station.
N
Frame Bursting
Carrier extension is very inefficient if we have a series of short frames to send; each frame
SY

carries redundant data. To improve efficiency, frame bursting was proposed. Instead of
adding an extension to each frame, multiple frames are sent. However, to make these multiple
U

frames look like one frame, padding is added between the frames (the same as that used for
the carrier extension method) so that the channel is not idle. In other words, the method
VT

deceives other stations into thinking that a very large frame has been transmitted.

Physical Layer
The physical layer in Gigabit Ethernet is more complicated than that in Standard or Fast
Ethernet.
Topology
Gigabit Ethernet is designed to connect two or more stations. If there are only two stations,
they can be connected point-to-point. Three or more stations need to be connected in a star
topology with a hub or a switch at the center.
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-

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 18

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
LX, long-wave), or STP (1000Base-CX). The four-wire version uses category 5 twisted-pair
cable (1000Base-T).

Encoding

.IN
C
N
SY

Figure 12: Encoding in Gigabit Ethernet implementations

Figure 12 shows the encoding/decoding schemes for the four implementations.
U

 Gigabit Ethernet cannot use the Manchester encoding scheme because it involves a very
high bandwidth (2 GBaud).
VT

 The two-wire implementations use an NRZ scheme, but NRZ does not self-synchronize
properly. To synchronize bits, particularly at this high data rate, 8B/10B block encoding,
is used. This block encoding prevents long sequences of 0s or 1s in the stream, but the
resulting stream is 1.25 Gbps. In this implementation, one wire (fiber or STP) is used for
sending and one for receiving.
 In the four-wire implementation it is not possible to have 2 wires for input and 2 for
output, because each wire would need to carry 500 Mbps, which exceeds the capacity for
category 5 UTP. As a solution, 4D-PAM5 encoding, is used to reduce the bandwidth.
Thus, all four wires are involved in both input and output; each wire carries 250 Mbps,
which is in the range for category 5 UTP cable.

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 19

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]

 17EC64 – COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

10 GIGABIT ETHERNET
 The IEEE committee created 10 Gigabit Ethernet and called it Standard 802.3ae.
 The goals of the 10 Gigabit Ethernet design can be summarized as upgrading the data rate
to 10 Gbps, keeping the same frame size and format, and allowing the interconnection of
LANs, MANs, and WAN possible.
 This data rate is possible only with fiber-optic technology at this time. The standard
defines two types of physical layers: LAN PHY and WAN PHY. The first is designed to
support existing LANs; the second actually defines a WAN with links connected through
SONET OC-192.
Implementation
10 Gigabit Ethernet operates only in full-duplex mode, which means there is no need for

.IN
contention; CSMA/CD is not used in 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
Four implementations are the most common:
1. 10GBase-SR
C
2. 10GBase-LR
N
3. 10GBase-EW and
SY

4. 10GBase-X4.
U
VT

Table: Summary of 10 Gigabit Ethernet implementations

DEPT. of ECE, ATMECE Page 20

Studied smart, not hard — thanks to [Link]