ISO 8802/3 local-area networks

The most widely used form of local-area network is formally defined as the ISO 8802/3 carrier sense multiple access with collision detection system, more commonly known as Ethernet. Different market surveys attribute varying degrees of commercial penetration for Ethernet but within Europe it is generally agreed that it is used for some 50% of all installed local networks (token ring installations accounting for another 25%). It is therefore somewhat surprising to find that there is still a considerable amount of ignorance in understanding how it operates and the range of architectural options available for installations. In fact it is the extent of this ignorance amongst users and network managers which reflects its ease and simplicity of use and which is a tribute to its outstanding product engineering and the efforts of the standardisation organisations     

Token-ring local-area networks and their performance

The major technical concepts underlying token-ring technology are examined, and performance issues arising in the design of such local-area networks (LANs) are detailed. Following a survey of analytical queuing models to describe the basic token-ring operation, three topics are discussed in detail: (1) the IEEE 802.5 token ring and its performance; (2) the ANSI fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) token ring and its performance; and (3) architecture and performance issues arising in the interconnection of token-ring networks with regard to the various components of a multiring architecture demonstrating which congestion-control problems can arise in such a network and how they can be overcome. The author concludes with a number of open questions concerning the understanding of the quantitative behavior of token-ring-based LANs     

Fiber optic backbone boosts local-area networks

The evolving Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) for fiber optic networks, which greatly increases system capacity and flexibility, is discussed. The standard is described in terms of the ISO's Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. The initial FDDI standard defines four protocols: physical layer medium dependent, physical layer, media access control, and station management. Each of these is examined. Optical technology and the use of application-specific integrated circuits required by FDDI are discussed. Applications of FDDI and its future evolution are considered     

The helical window token ring

An access rule for token ring local-area networks called the helical-window token-ring protocol is introduced. It features the use of a window that limits the allowable messages a token-holding station can send. With the window, the operation of the protocol approaches that of a central single-server queuing system in the sense that messages are delivered in near first-come-first-served order on a network-wide basis. The introduction of the window also makes analysis of the networks tractable. Exact analytical formulas for the capacity and for the mean, variance, and moment-generating function of the message waiting time are derived. Numerical simulation is used to verify the results. Comparisons with continuous polling systems show that the imposition of the windowed access rule can lead to significant reductions in the delay variance (at the cost of increasing the mean system time) when the traffic is heavy and/or the message transmission time is large with respect to the walk time of the ring     

Topological design of local-area networks using genetic algorithms

In this paper, we describe an algorithm for designing local-area networks (LANs) with the objective of minimizing the average network delay. The topology design includes issues such as determination of the number of segments in the network, allocating the users to the different segments, and determining the interconnections and routing among the segments. The determination of the optimal LAN topology is a very complicated combinatorial optimization problem. Therefore, a heuristic algorithm that is based on genetic ideas is used. Numerical examples are provided and the quality of the designs obtained by using the algorithm is compared with lower bounds on the average network delay that are developed     

File transfer in high-speed token ring networks: performanceevaluation by approximate analysis and simulation

A model of a multiple-token-ring backbone based on fiber-optic transmission, intended for LAN interconnection, is presented. Because it is one of the most important applications for inter-LAN communication, file transfer is selected for performance evaluation. A mixed traffic environment including interactive traffic is assumed. The suitability of multiple-token-access protocols is studied by approximate analysis and simulation, yielding results for both queue length and packet delay. Sensitivity with respect to medium length and station latency is considered. The results allow performance predictions for high-speed backbone networks     

WTRP - wireless token ring protocol

The wireless token ring protocol (WTRP) is a novel medium access control (MAC) protocol for wireless local area networks (WLANs). In contrast with IEEE 802.11 networks, WTRP guarantees quality of service (QoS) in terms of bounded latency and reserved bandwidth, which are critical in many real-time applications. Compared to 802.11, WTRP improves efficiency by reducing the number of retransmissions due to collisions, and it is more fair as all stations use the channel for the same amount of time. Stations take turns transmitting and give up the right to transmit after a specified amount of time. WTRP is a distributed protocol that supports many topologies, as not all stations need to be connected to each other or to a central station. WTRP is robust against single node failures, and recovers gracefully from multiple simultaneous faults. WTRP is suitable for interaccess point coordination in ITS DSRC, safety-critical vehicle-to-vehicle communications, and home networking, and provides extensions to other networks and Mobile IP.     

Passive optical star bus with collision detection for CSMA/CD-based local-area networks

A prototype 16-terminal passive star bus suitable for carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD)-based fiber-optic local-area network is described. Operation is at 16 Mbit/s over optical path lengths of 600 m. The optical wavelength is 830 nm. A novel and simple collision detection method based on listening onto the bus is incorporated within the system. In addition, data is scrambled instead of Manchester encoded. The effect that scrambling has on the collision detection method, as well as on the detection of both the bus idle state and the beginning and end of data packets is examined in detail. The network efficiency is calculated taking into account the operation of the scrambler as well as the collision detection method.     

Smart-antenna operation for indoor wireless local-area networks using OFDM

This paper reports link-level Monte Carlo simulations for a system that is compatible with the physical layer of the 5-GHz IEEE 802.11a wireless-local-area network and utilizes an adaptive antenna array at the access point for single-user smart-antenna operation, as well as for space-division multiple access (SDMA). For the spatial indoor radio propagation channel, complex impulse-response recordings are used. These are obtained in wideband channel-sounder measurements in three different buildings at 5.3 GHz. Thus, no unrealistic assumptions about channel conditions are involved. The paper studies how the packet-error-rate performance for the downlink (DL) is affected by time evolution of the radio channel that takes place after the uplink operation in which channel estimation is performed, and before DL operation in which the estimated channel information is utilized. Based on simulations two-user SDMA is possible with four-antenna elements under indoor propagation conditions and with six antennas three users can simultaneously be served. Delay spreads, coherence bandwidths, and correlation properties (in space, frequency, and polarization) of the radio channels obtained in the measurements are also discussed. The results suggest that indoor time-division-duplex systems with access-point-controlled scheduling are desirable communication systems which can benefit from SDMA.     

Ethernet-based passive optical local-area networks for fiber-to-the-desk application

We introduce optical local-area network (LAN) architectures based on multimode optical fiber and components, short wavelength lasers and detectors, and the widely used fast Ethernet protocol. These architectures are designed to lower the costs associated with passive optical LAN implementation. Further reduction in overall cost is achieved through decreased network downtime, lower maintenance cost, extended geometrical spans, and larger headroom for future capacity increase. These optically transparent networks represent a novel approach for implementing fiber-to-the-desk.     

A novel fault tolerant token ring network

Token Ring Networks have gained popularity due to their simplicity and ease of maintenance. However, the functioning of the entire network is dependent on the well being of an entity called “token”. The network ceases to function if the token is lost. There are algorithms suggested for improving the fault tolerant capabilities of the network with respect to the token.This paper proposes an algorithm to achieve fault tolerance. The algorithm is implemented on a simulated token ring network.     

Fiber-optic subcarrier multiplexed CDMA local-area networks forsubband image transmission

This paper investigates the application of subcarrier multiplexed code-division-multiple-access (CDMA) techniques to image transmission over fiber-optic local-area networks (LANs). In the hybrid scheme, CDMA is used to suppress the interference caused by the laser nonlinearity in the subcarrier multiplexing (SCM) fiber-optic communication systems. Likewise, the SCM scheme is able to increase the channel data rate of CDMA systems. This hybrid system combines the advantages of both schemes and is particularly well suited to subband coding that divides the image information into multiple parallel data streams using an analysis filter bank, each of which is transmitted via a unique subcarrier-code pair, where the spreading code and subcarrier frequency correspond to the image and one of its subbands, respectively. This hybrid scheme also allows more than one image to be transmitted and be accessed simultaneously at the same channel bandwidth, in which each image is assigned a particular spreading code added to its digital data modulating the subcarrier. After transmission, each received signal is independently recovered at a high-Q surface acoustic wave (SAW) receiver with the matching subcarrier-code pair. Other concurrent signals are rejected by the SAW. Then, all the recovered subbands are reassembled by a synthesis filter bank into a close reproduction to the original image. The image quality of subband image transmission via CDMA/SCM fiber-optic channels is evaluated and examined     

A guide to data communications: high-speed local-area networks

Local area network (LAN) classifications based on speed are defined. The use of optical fiber, the fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) multitoken protocol, linear buses, and the dual queue distributed bus (DQDB) is examined. LAN limits are discussed. Supercomputer LANs and ultra-gigabit networks are considered. The so-called mass of glass, a wavelength-division-multiplexed architecture consisting of a passive optical broadcast medium, is discussed. Future issues and trends are indicated     

Broadband wireless local-area networks at millimeter waves around 60 GHz

During the past few years, research covering propagation, channel characterization, and wireless system performance has yielded a substantial knowledge of the 60 GHz channel. The unlicensed 60 GHz frequency band presents many attractive properties for wireless communications. This paper addresses some wideband propagation characteristics for broadband wireless LANs (BWLANs). Important system-design characteristics, from measured results obtained from two wideband 60 GHz LOS radio links, are presented. Measurements were undertaken using the swept-frequency channel-sounding method. Analysis from the complex frequency responses in a worst-case scenario has yielded a lower-coherence-bandwidth value of 5 MHz. Minimum and maximum B/sub 0.9/ coherence bandwidths, obtained with a directional-horn transmitting antenna and an omnidirectional receiving antenna, were 1.10 MHz and 105.33 MHz, respectively. It was observed that the coherence bandwidth fluctuated significantly with the location of the receiver with respect to the base station. These results can be used for the modeling and design of future BWLANs.     

Are priorities useful in an 802.5 token ring?

The IEEE standard 802.5 token ring protocol defines eight packet priorities. The intent is that high-priority packets should be delivered prior to low-priority packets. A series of simulations shows that this expected behavior occurs when there are very few network stations, very short data packets (but still long relative to ring latency), very short token hold times, and very high network loads. In the general case, priorities did not markedly influence packet delivery time. Use of the priority system generally resulted in more overhead and longer average packet delays than when all packets were carried as a single priority. The features of the protocol operation that are the cause of this increased delay and lack of priority discrimination are described mathematically     

Comments on `Exact results for nonsymmetric token ring systems'

The commenters identify and correct errors in some of the equations in the above-titled paper by Ferguson and Aminetzah (see ibid., vol.COM-33, p.223-31, Mar. 1985), particularly those related to gated service discipline. In addition, they compare equivalent gated and exhaustive systems (using the corrected equations) numerically in terms of the mean waiting time behaviors at the various nodes, and in terms of the overall mean and variance of the mean waiting times across the nodes     

Distributed token circulation in mobile ad hoc networks

This paper presents several distributed algorithms that cause a token to continually circulate through all the nodes of a mobile ad hoc network. An important application of such algorithms is to ensure total order of message, delivery in a group communication service. Some of the proposed algorithms are aware of, and adapt to changes in the ad hoc network topology. When using a token circulation algorithm, a round is said to complete when every node has been visited at least once. Criteria for comparing the algorithms include the average time, required to complete a round, number of bytes sent per round, and number of nodes visited per round. Comparison between the proposed algorithms is performed using simulation results obtained from a detailed simulation model (with ns-2 simulator). We also give a rigorous worst-case analysis of the proposed LR algorithm, which gives the best overall performance in the simulation.     

Output process from a continuous token ring local area network

A token-ring local area network (LAN) with an infinite number of nodes uniformly distributed around the ring is considered. A token that circulates around the ring at a constant speed stops to serve fixed length packets that are generated by the nodes. It is assumed that the cumulative arrival process of packets constitutes a two-dimensional Poisson process. Given a fixed point on the ring, called the origin, the first-order statistics of the interarrival times of packets at the origin are obtained in the form of their Laplace-Stieltjes transform     

A new token ring protocol and its performance for single and dual ring lan systems

This paper presents a new protocol for token ring local computer networks and its performance for single and dual ring networks using simulation modelling. The proposed protocol is a modification of the IEEE 802·5 token ring standard. In this protocol, a station can start transmission if it receives a free token or a data packet passing its interface logic. Idle stations are skipped whenever there is at least one station that has a ready packet to transmit. This is achieved by using two of the reserved bits in the frame status (FS) field. The bits used are called transmission reservation bits (TR-bits). The TR-bits are reset by the sending station and set by the first station that has data to transmit during the round trip of the associated packet along the ring. It is found that the proposed modified token ring (MTR) protocol provides better throughput and delay performance for both the single and dual ring networks. The reduction in mean delay of the MTR as compared to the standard token ring (STR) reaches about 45 per cent under heavy traffic conditions. Moreover, it is found that the performance of the MTR decreases as the packet size increases but remains higher than the corresponding performance of the STR for both the single and dual ring networks. The MTR provides a maximum throughput improvement of about 6 per cent over the STR for both dual and single ring cases. Finally, the proposed protocol (MTR) is easy to implement, with no extra hardware and has low cost/performance characteristics.     

Reliability enhancement by the reversal of token for a basic token ring in the case of a single component failure

The inherent functional property of the unidirectional token movement in a token ring network, is modified in this paper and an algorithm is presented that enables the continuity of operation, in case of a single link component failure, thereby improving the system reliability of a basic conventional token ring network. This phase contributes to the continuity in operation until the maintenance restores the normal ring configuration.