Underlying

Technology

TCP/IP Protocol Suite 1

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 Chapter 3.1 Wired Local Area Network
Outline
3.2 Wireless LANs

3.3 Point-to-Point WANs

3.4 Switched WANs

3.5 Connecting Devices

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Topics Discussed in the Section
✓IEEE Standards
✓Frame Format
✓Addressing
✓Ethernet Evolution
✓Standard Ethernet
✓Fast Ethernet
✓Gigabit Ethernet
✓Ten-Gigabit Ethernet

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What is a MAC Address?
• MAC (Media Access Control) Address is a unique identifier assigned to a network
interface card (NIC) for communication on a local network.
• 48-bit (6-byte) hexadecimal address
• Example: [Link]
• Burned into hardware (but can be spoofed)

Structure of a MAC Address

Bits Description
24 OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier) - Assigned by IEEE to manufacturer
24 NIC Specific - Assigned by the manufacturer

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Types of MAC Addressing
• Unicast: A frame meant for a single device. MAC address of the destination NIC.
E.g., [Link]

• Multicast: Sent to a group of devices (e.g., video streaming).

E.g., addresses starting with 01-00-5E

• Broadcast: Sent to all devices on the LAN.

Special address: [Link]

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ARP – Address Resolution Protocol
When a device knows an IP address but not the MAC address, it uses ARP:

Example:
Host A wants to send to Host B:
• Knows B's IP ([Link]) but not MAC
• Sends ARP Request: "Who has [Link]?"
• Host B replies with ARP Reply: "I have it, here’s my MAC!"
• A stores the MAC in its ARP cache

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LAN Technology
A Local Area Network (LAN) connects computers within a limited area like an office,
campus, or home.
• High speed, low latency
• Private ownership
• Based on technologies like Ethernet or Wi-Fi
Types:
• Wired LANs – Use Ethernet cables, switches
• Wireless LANs (WLANs) – Use Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11)

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IEEE standard and Ethernet
• In 1985, IEEE started a project called 802, to enable intercommunication among
equipment from a variety of manufacturer.
• IEEE 802.3 standard is known as Ethernet, which is one of the mostly used wired
LAN technologies
• Operation in the data Link layer and the physical layer

Ethernet standards
• Define layer 2 protocols and layer 1 technologies
• Two separate sublayer of the data link layer to operate – Logical link control (LLC) and the
MAC sublayers.

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Figure 3.1 IEEE standard for LANs

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Figure 3.2 Ethernet Frame

Field Size (Bytes) Description

Preamble 7 Synchronization bits
SFD 1 Start Frame Delimiter (10101011)
Destination 6 Receiver’s MAC address
Source 6 Sender’s MAC address
Type 2 Protocol type (e.g., IPv4)
Payload 46–1500 Actual data
CRC 4 Error detection (checksum)

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Figure 3.6 Ethernet evolution through four generations

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Figure 3.10 Standard Ethernet implementation

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• IEEE 802.3u
• MAC sublayer
• Star topology
• Half duplex and full duplex approach
• Half duplex and Full duplex

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Figure 3.11 Fast Ethernet implementation

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• IEEE 802.3z
• Mac sublayer
• Star topology
• Half duplex and full duplex

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Figure 3.12 Gigabit Ethernet implementation

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• Upgrade the data rate to 10 Gbps.
• Make it compatible with Standard, Fast, and Gigabit Ethernet.
• Allow the interconnection of existing LANs into a metropolitan area
network (MAN) or a wide area network (WAN).
• Make Ethernet compatible with technologies such as Frame Relay
and ATM
• Operates only in full duplex mode

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• Question: What happens if two devices transmit at the same time?
• Answer: A collision occurs — their signals interfere and neither gets
through.

To solve this, we need Media Access Control (MAC) techniques

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Carrier sense multiple access (CSMA)

• CSMA method is used to minimize the chance of collision and

increase the performance.
• It requires that each station first listen to the medium before sending.
• Reduce the possibility of collision, but it cannot eliminate it.
• Vulnerable time for CSMA is the propagation time Tp.

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CSMA Persistence Methods

• 1-persistent : In this method, after the station finds the line idle, it
sends its frame immediately (with probability 1)
• Nonpersistent : 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
• P-Persistent : is used if the channel has time slots with a slot duration
equal to or greater than the maximum propagation time

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Access Method : CSMA/CD
• IEEE 802.3 standard defines carrier sense multiple access with
collision detection as the access method for traditional ethernet.
• Stations connected using physical bus or star topology.
• Medium is shared between stations
• To minimize the chance of collision CSMA method is developed.
• “sense before transmitting” or “listen before talk”.

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 Figure 3.8 Collision of the first bit in CSMA/CD

• 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 collision happens (both transmit

at once), the device:
• Stops immediately
• Sends a jamming signal
• Waits a random time (using binary
exponential backoff) before retrying
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Topics Discussed in the Section
✓IEEE 802.11
✓MAC Sublayer
✓Addressing Mechanism
✓Bluetooth

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WIRELESS LANS
• Wireless communication is one of the fastest growing technologies.
• The demand for connecting devices without the use of cables is
increasing everywhere.
• A LAN that uses radio waves to connect devices.
• Allows mobility within a coverage area.
• Typically uses Wi-Fi as the technology.
• we concentrate on two wireless technologies for LANs:
• IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs
• Bluetooth

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Wi-Fi Network Architecture
Wi-Fi, based on IEEE 802.11 standards, defines two main architectures
for wireless networks:
1. Infrastructure Mode 2. Ad-Hoc Mode (IBSS – Independent
This is the most common mode in use Basic Service Set)
today. This is a peer-to-peer mode.
Structure: Structure:
• All communication passes through an • Devices communicate directly with
Access Point (AP).
each other without an AP.
• Devices (stations or STAs) do not talk to
each other directly. • No centralized coordination.
• The AP is connected to a wired LAN or
router that provides access to other
networks (e.g., the internet).
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Figure 3.13 Basic service sets (BSSs)

BSS (Basic Service Set):

•A group of stations that
communicate with each other.
•Infrastructure BSS has one AP
and multiple clients.

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 Figure 3.14 Extended service sets (ESSs)

ESS (Extended Service Set):

• Multiple APs interconnected to cover a wider area (like a

university campus).
• Clients can roam between APs using the same Service Set
Identifier SSID (network name).

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 Station Types

IEEE 802.11 defines three types of stations

based on their mobility
• No-transition
• BSS-Transition
• ESS-transition

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Frame format

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Figure 3.18 Control frames

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Wi-Fi Standards & Architecture
• Wi-Fi is based on the IEEE 802.11 standards

Standard Frequency Max Speed Notes

802.11b 2.4 GHz 11 Mbps Old, slower
802.11g 2.4 GHz 54 Mbps Still widely used
802.11n 2.4/5 GHz 600 Mbps Introduced MIMO
802.11ac 5 GHz 1+ Gbps Beamforming, fast
802.11ax 2.4/5 GHz 10 Gbps+ Wi-Fi 6, better for IoT

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 Figure 3.16 CSMA/CA and NAV

Source Destination All other stations

•••

DIFS

1 RTS
SIFS

CTS 2

SIFS
NAV
3 Data (No carrier sensing)

SIFS
ACK 4

• Request to send Time Time Time Time

• Clear to send
• Distributed interframe space
• Short interframe space
• Network allocation vector TCP/IP Protocol Suite 36
Figure 3.19 Hidden station problem

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Note

The CTS frame in CSMA/CA handshake

can prevent collision from a hidden station.

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Figure 3.20 Use of handshaking to prevent hidden station problem

B A C

RTS

CTS CTS

Time Time Time

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3-3 POINT-TO-POINT WANS

A second type of network we encounter in the

Internet is the point-to-point wide area network. A
point-to-point WAN connects two remote devices
using a line available from a public network such as
a telephone network.

Traditional modem technology

• DSL line
• cable modem
• T-lines
• SONET

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Topics Discussed in the Section
✓65K Modems
✓DSL Technology
✓Cable Modem
✓PPP

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3-4 SWITCHED WANS

The backbone networks on the Internet can be

switched WANs. A switched WAN is a wide area
network that covers a large area (a state or a
country) and provides access at several points to the
users. Inside the network, there is a mesh of point-
to-point networks that connects switches. The
switches, multiple port connectors, allow the
connection of several inputs and outputs.
• X.25
• Frame Relay
• ATM
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3-5 CONNECTING DEVICES

LANs or WANs do not normally operate in isolation.

They are connected to one another or to the
Internet. To connect LANs and WANs together we
use connecting devices. Connecting devices can
operate in different layers of the Internet model. We
discuss three kinds of connecting devices: repeaters
(or hubs), bridges (or two-layer switches), and
routers (or three-layer switches).

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Topics Discussed in the Section
✓Repeaters
✓Bridges
✓Routers

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 Figure 3.40 Connecting devices

• LAN or WAN are connected to one another or to the Internet which needs
connecting devices.
• Devices can operate in different layers of the Internet model.
• Three kinds of connecting devices:
• Repeaters (or hubs),
• Bridges (or two-layer switches)
• Routers (or three-layer switches)

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 Figure 3.41 Repeater or hub

• A repeater receives a signal and, before it becomes too weak or corrupted,

regenerates and retimes the original bit pattern then sends the refreshed signal.
• Ethernet LANs were using bus topology; a repeater was used.
• Ethernet LANs use star topology in which a repeater is used with multiport, often
called a hub that can be used to serve as the connecting point and at the same time
function as a repeater.

Sent

Maintained

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Note

A repeater forwards every bit; it has no

filtering capability.

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 Figure 3.42 Bridge and two-Layer switch

• A physical-layer device, it
regenerates the signal it receives.
• As a data link layer device, the
bridge can check the MAC addresses
(source and destination) contained Bridge table
in the frame as the process of Address Port
1
[Link]
filtering. [Link] 2
[Link] 3
• A bridge has a table used in filtering [Link] 4

decisions.

• Two-layer Switch it is a sophisticated

bridge with faster forwarding
capability
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 Figure 3.43 Learning bridge (Transparent Bridges)

• A transparent bridge is a Address Port

a. Original
bridge in which the
stations are completely Address Port
Address
[Link]
Port
1
Address Port
unaware of the bridge’s [Link] 1
[Link]
[Link]
1
4
[Link] 4
[Link] 2
existence [Link] 4
[Link] 2 [Link] 3
c. After D sends a frame to B d. After B sends a frame to A e. After C sends a frame to D
• A system equipped with
transparent bridges must
meet three criteria:
• Frame forwarding
M M
• Automatic learning of M M

forwarding table
• Loops must be prevented
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Note

A bridge does not change the physical

(MAC) addresses in a frame.

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 Figure 3.44 Routing example

• As a physical layer device, it

regenerates the signal it
receives.
• As a data link layer device, the
router checks the physical
addresses (source and
destination) contained in the
packet.
• As a network layer device, a
router checks the network
layer addresses (addresses in
the IP layer).

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 A three-layer switch is a router with an
improved design to allow better performance.
A three-layer switch can receive, process,
and dispatch a packet much faster
than a traditional router even though the
functionality is the same.

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Note

A router has a physical and logical (IP)

address for each of its interfaces

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Note

A repeater or a bridge connects segments

of a LAN.
A router connects independent LANs or
WANs to create an internetwork (internet).

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Note

A router changes the physical addresses in

a packet.

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 Routing Difference between Router, repeater and Bridge

• There are three major differences between a router

and a repeater or a bridge.
• A router has a physical and logical (IP) address for each of its
interfaces.
• A router acts only on those packets in which the physical
destination address matches the address of the interface at
which the packet arrives.
• A router changes the physical address of the packet (both
source and destination) when it forwards the packet.

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